I’m an Idiot…Utah Edition
I told you my trip to Utah two weeks ago produced another “Idiot” moment…so here it is:
It’s 6:00 am and I’m in line to get through screening at DTW. I approach the TSA agent at the podium with my boarding pass and license. She gives me the cursory look and begins examining my documents. Then, she lingers…uh oh…she is staring at my license, flipping it back and forth and then after what seems to be an eternity she asks the other agent “How long do they have after their license expires?”
What?!? Expired driver’s license???
Yuppers! Someone (that being this guy) had a birthday the week before and didn’t bother to notice it was time to renew. I mean who ever looks at the expiration date on their license anyway.
Before you ask, yes, the Secretary of State sent a reminder about both my license and my tabs but me being me conveniently forgot about this and went on my merry way through life.
So here I am at TSA, holding up the line, already pushing to get on my flight and I’ve got an expired license. UGH! Well they let me pass (It turns out that you have 30 days after it expires before it is no longer valid as a form of identification). Yeah me! Oh, but wait…I’m flying to Salt Lake City and have to rent a car to get to Moab which is a good 3.5 hours south. I have an expired license. Oh boy! So the first leg of my flight to Denver, I am freaking out. How the heck am I going to get a car? How can I get to Moab directly?
Plane lands and I am on a short lay over, so I run to Frontier’s Customer Service Desk. I figure that if I can get a flight to Moab, someone can just pick me up from the airport there and case closed. So I am working with the rep on getting on a different flight through Great Lakes Airlines to get to Moab and we find one but then it hits me, I have display and promo materials checked through Salt Lake and if I change carriers, all those press kits, DVDs and other swag are still going to SLC. UGH!!! Looks like I am taking my chances and just flying to Salt Lake.
Upon arrival, I head down to the Alamo counter where my reservation was. I figure might as well just give it a try. When I am called, I walk up and present my Visa, license and reservation paperwork like I normally would. Everything is going smoothly…I just might pull this off…but then the lingering stare at the computer screen and the flipping of my license in his hand…UGH!!! I fain surprise…”I had NO idea.”, “I’ve been traveling so much for work”, blah, blah, blah. None of it worked. His computer would not let him enter me into the system.
This goes on for about 5 minutes when he then reaches into a drawer and pulls out this weathered business card. “Maybe these guys can help you.” he says and makes the call to Discount Car Rental. Yup, DISCOUNT CAR RENTAL. Well beggars can’t be choosers so I wait patiently while the Alamo rep tries to explain my situation to the guy on the other end of the phone. “They can help you” he says and gives me directions to their location. Alright! Feelin’ better!
Now, what type of place rents a car to a guy with a expired license? One that is located about 35 miles away from the airport in an old commercial part of town with a trailer for an office and a lot that included a 1992 Lumina sitting right in front as you entered the chain linked parking lot. Oh boy!
Well, as it turned out, they were great to me. They gave me the newest car they had on the lot, a ’08 Malibu, honored my rate with Alamo and when I returned the car they took me to the airport. If it wasn’t for them, I would have been spending a fortune on another plane ticket from SLC to Moab.
Lemons to lemonade!Â
And yes, I’m an Idiot!
1 comment
I am laughing my butt of right now. Loved it!
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