ID Overkill . . .

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Last night my wife and I went to the local Applebees(tm) for dinner. As is my custom I ordered a beer with dinner. Imagine my surprise when the waitress - young enough to be my grand-daughter - asked for my ID.

She immediately shattered any illusion she was trying to flatter my grey, fat, 64-year old physique, but explained that in Tennessee another Applebees lost their license because they provided a beverage to someone who was of sufficient age but their ID HAD EXPIRED.

The patent stupidity and lack of logic is ridiculous.  Not Applebees for protecting itself (I hope Virginia's ABC Board, untrained as a lot of its agents may be - especially in Charlottesville - would go that far). But Tennessee for requiring a "Valid" ID for proof of age.  As an identification, even an expired drivers license should identify the holder.  As a license to drive (or do whatever) the expiration should only mean that the person can no longer do that function legally. 

Do we cease to exist when our ID expires? Should the Right To Life faction of our society be told of this problem and take action? 

So as I was fuming (Rossiferous scale of 1) my wife pointed out that there is a notary she deals with who will refuse to notarize a document if the person signing has an 'expired' ID.

And DMV, which is one of the most hated agencies in the Commonwealth of Virginia (and probably a lot of other states) will not accept an expired driver's license as identification of the individual when they show up two days after it expired to get it renewed. That means the individual has to get their birth certificate or passport or some other 'acceptable' documents to start the licensing process all over again. 

This is not an earth-shattering problem but still a major inconvenience to us.  We need to get our legislators to define 'Valid' ID as one issued by a recognized agency which identifies the holder by whatever criteria required; whether or not expired for the purpose of licensing the holder to perform some function (e.g. driving), is nevertheless valid for purposes of identifying the individual or their age.
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The Fax Blast

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I will freely admit that at times I am slow completing assignments and I try to consider that trait when working with others.  There are times, however, when all involved must move quickly to protect or promote rights of clients and delay hurts.  About once a year I get someone who has a reputation of not responding and -- true to form -- they don't do what they say they will anywhere near timely.
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Enter the Fax Blast.  I learned about it the hard way (see first sentence above)
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It consists of:

• FAXBLAST cover sheet (simply a cover sheet with a line stating "REMINDER NUMBER and a series of numbers 1 thru 25 or so, spaced so they can be circled easily)
• Confirmation sheets (note plural) printed by my fax machine.
• Whatever memo/document the recipient should act upon.

First day, I send the fax, circling "1".   If I don't get a response, on the second day I send the fax again, this time circling "2" and INCLUDE the confirmation sheet from the first day. If no response then each day the memo is sent again, circling the appropriate number, and including ALL previous confirmation sheets.

After a few days I'm using more and more of the recipient's fax paper and ink/toner.

After a week it goes to twice a day.

After two weeks, HOURLY. I've only had to threaten this level once.

It's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it
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