I placed my cup of coffee down on the table in order to rip open the letter I just recieved in the mail. It was from the offices of the lawyer I hired over a year ago to fix some citations I got back then. It's never a good thing when you recieve a letter from a lawyer, an omen of bad things to come. I pulled out the pages from the envelope, yes pages, about twelve to be exact, quickly scanning through them to see what the issue was. Just as I had thought, nothing good. Apparently, they wanted to charge me crap loads of money for the citations which my lawyer had said were taken care of.
You see, I bought my vehicle from an aquaintance I made back when I worked at Starbucks. How could I not? A 96 Ford Mustang in great condition for only $1,000 AND in payments! It was too good to pass on. The only catch was that the car was registered in New Mexico, being that I have a Texas driver's licence, I would have to have it registered in Texas eventually. But I figured I could wait until this aquaintance signed the title over to me. Reasonable no? WRONG! Cut to a Wednesday afternoon, lunch time to be exact. I get pulled over for no good reason and the officer runs the vehicle's VIN through his system. Well, turns out that the car was also registered in Texas. Ofcourse, I had the New Mexico plate still on it. Big Mistake! The officer was so kind as to write me four citations. Which were for not having my front plate, not having my rear plate (since I was displaying a false plate from New Mexico as the officer stated), no Registration sticker, and no inspection sticker. All of which I didn't need if the car had indeed been registered in New Mexico as this aquaintance of mine had led me to believe.
Anyway, not wanting to miss work to go to court to try to get all this settled, I took my citations to a lawyer. He said if I could get all of this fixed, my citations would be dismissed. So on that day I started what was a three month journey in getting my vehicle up to date. Why three months you say? Well, let's just say this aquaintance of mine decided to dissappear from the face of the Earth without ever giving me the title. So I had to go through the system to get it. Luckily I was smart enough to have made of bill of sale which she signed, as well as made sure to have reciepts for every payment I gave her. So it took three months for me to recieve the title under my name. But by then, I had already taken out the above mentioned items which I didn't have before. According to my lawyer, everything was perfect and I had no reason to worry about these citations. Atleast I got my $300 worth of representation. Or so I thought.
Now a year later, I'm sitting here at the table with these citations brought back from the dead. I get on the phone with the offices of my lawyer and question the letter. The woman on the other end of the line asks me to go in so that she can better explain the situation to me. CLICK. End of phone call. I get up, not having finished my coffee, and grab my car keys. Oh believe me woman, I will be going in!
Traffic was horrible on my way to the lawyer's office, god damn drivers from Juarez. I walked into the office which was like walking into the past. The establishment was actually a home, one of those older homes you find down Montana Avenue. With wooden floors, dim lighting, and staircases that led to the creaky floors above. The decor must have been included with the house for it looked just as old. But none of this interested me at the time. I was here for blood!
I went to the front desk and layed out my paperwork infront of the receptionist. Who I have to add I'm positive is a lesbian. Afterall she showed all the stereotypicl signs that she was. Short masculine haircut, button up shirt, slacks, male dress shoes, all she needed was a tool belt. I explained to her how I had already handled this case prior with my lawyer and how he stated everything had been taken care of. Her response was that there was a new judge handling the case and that infact it was this judge who had requested all the eveidence be presented to her.
I couldn't understand what the problem was. I mean shouldn't they still have all this on file? Couldn't they just bring up my file and foward all the neccesary items? No, that would be too easy. Turns out I needed to go with these things and personally present them to the judge. Sounded to me like I might have a warrant out for my arrest. Not doing that again. The receptionist ensured me I had no warrants, but like I would take her word for it. Afterall the lawyer had said these citations were gone and hello, here they are again! No, I wasn't taking any chances. Once I stepped out of the office, I called the warrants line and made sure for myself. No warrants, atleast not yet.
Now I had to drive all the way to the other side of town, to the Eastside. Again, I got a case of road rage on the freeway. God damn people really don't know how to drive in El Paso. I reached my destination and practically ran in wanting to get this sorted. I spoke with yet another front desk receptionist. This one was young maybe 18, and instantly I knew I didn't like her. I explained the situation to her for what felt like the 100th time today. She entered my information into the computer pulling up my file. She starting reading off my charges and stated I needed to pay $450 inorder to have them dismissed.
WHAT THE FUCK?
I was shocked to say the least. I didn't have that much money on me and I wouldn't be paid for another week. I asked her for my options to which she said I had none. It was this or jail. It always is in cases like this. I brought up the subject of a payment plan which apparently I could do. The only thing was that if I chose to make payment installments, the amount would go from $450 to $975 more or less. Jesus fucken Christ!
When I asked her why, she didn't know what to say. I got the feeling that little Miss Muffet here didn't know what the hell she was doing so I requested to speak with a supervisor. The bitch scowled at me as she went to go look for such. While she was away all I could do was think of ways to get that kind of money. I was thinking of things I could pawn, things I could sell, fuck I was even thinking who I could borrow money from.
Quicker than I was expecting, the receptionist came back with her supervisor who was an older, and judging by her eyes, a kinder woman. Again, I explained my situation. She reviewed my information and made it known to me that these were fines for having my citations dismissed. She went into further detail but I don't intend to bore you with the facts right now. I inquired about the payment plan once again, since that seemed like the most reasonable thing to do. I also asked her why my total would go up so high. When I gave her the amount the receptionist quoted me her eyes widened. Turns out they should't be so much. She explained that if I could show proof that I had fixed the violations on my vehicle, the amount would drop considerably.
I went on to show her proof that everything was now in order. I presented her with the inspection report, that was cleared. I showed her the registration paperwork, that was cleared. I then took out photos of my front and rear plates. She said she couldn't accept those. An officer would have to see the vehicle himself to proof the plates were on there. Unfortunatly, no officer was in the office at the time. Just my luck.
I would have to come back in a week, since the building would be closed the entire next week due to fumigation. She printed out my total for the other citations, $175. She did mention that the total for my plates would likely be around $128 and that I could set all of it up for a payment plan.
That's right boys and girls, from $975 I now only have to pay $303.... in payments. Much better! That's for sure. I thanked the supervisor and made sure to make a reminder on my phone to go back in a week. That's all I need, to forget and have a warrant for my arrest issued.
So far things are looking good for me. Well, atleast as good as having to pay fines can be. I'll have to come back in a week to get everything finalized. But a week isn't too long anyway I guess. I went back to my car and thought to myself- If I ever run into that bitch that sold me my car, I'm stomping her god damn face in with my foot!
