On bureaucracy.

So it turns out that while my assailant drives around in my car, recording his farts on my mini-cassette recorder and using my umbrella, I, the victim, have to jump through many hoops. While I do not believe in acting the part of a victim, I also do not think this is very fair. I already got mugged. What more must I suffer through?

In order to rent a car one must have a valid driver's license, even if it was stolen along with the car. OK, the DMV issues replacements. But there isn't, to my knowledge, a bus that goes to the DMV, and insurance doesn't cover public transportation anyway - they cover rental cars (though it should be noted that we were responsible for the $250 down payment). I am very lucky in that I have a partner who I kept home from work to go with me to rent the car, so it was rented in his name and he drove me to the DMV. Applying for a replacement license was very easy. In a move of unprecedented DMV brilliance, they do not require any identification, merely checking the information on your application against your records and the picture on file against, um, your face. However, they do charge a $20 replacement fee. If your wallet is stolen, how are you supposed to get money? Cash - gone. ATM card - gone. You can walk up to a teller, but they require ID in the form of either your bank card or a credit card and photo ID. All of these items were stolen, and if I were a normal person my check book would probably also have been in my purse (as it is, my checkbook currently contains no checks, but if it did the DMV would accept one). Again, lucky I had Will, whose ATM card I used to withdraw cash en route to the DMV. Then we had to go back to Enterprise to add my name, which was luckily 100% painless except for parking at rush hour.

So because of my circumstances I really only lost time (but lots of it, and Will lost a whole day of work). What about the people who are alone and/or paid by the hour? I am utterly horrified at the system.