I definitely have to blog about the good Mexican Samaritans my daughter, Kristine, and I came across, especially with all the racial problems of today in immigration.
Kristine renewed her driver's license today. We had tried going to the DMV yesterday, later in the day and found the parking lot, not only full, but cars waiting to find a place and this was after 4:00 o'clock. I thought everyone would be hungry by then and gone. I guess everyone left work early to come.
We arrived 8:08 AM and found the parking lot almost empty. I guess in the summer everyone is still in bed sleeping or on vacation.
There was a line outside the building, but it went fast. We got our number G077. Kristine found two empty chairs on the other side of the room.
Already fretting, Kristine wondered how long it would take to be called since the last G number was19 and it was not fast enough for her; although, I thought it would take less time than what I had imagined before I left home. The appointments online were booked ahead by a few weeks and no chance of getting her a set appointment to avoid a long wait before her license expired in 2 days.
The Mexican couple sitting next to me were speaking Spanish. I didn't think they knew English.
The woman looked at me from time to time and I wondered what she thought about a gringo sitting so close to her that we could touch. I felt like talking to her to be social, but I didn't think she spoke English since she and her husband spoke Spanish. I was wondering what they thought about the immigration laws and the problems in Arizona. Did she think of me as someone who discriminates? I didn't know if she understood when Kristine was complaining.
Suddenly, she showed me her number G035 and her husband asked me if we wanted it because they also had the number G034. The husband said the DMV gave them 2 numbers. We could not believe our luck to go from 77 to 35. What a leap. I thought for sure our guardian angels were working over time. The couple spoke excellent English and were so thoughtful. We thanked them repeatedly.
After the good couple left for their window; our newer, lower number was called too. We went to the window and then to the photo line to wait. As we were waiting, we thought we should give our G077 number to someone else since the "good Samaritans" had helped us.
As I pulled the number G077 out of my purse, the 'good Samaritan' man walked up to us and asked if I still had my number. I said I did. He said that, unfortunately, he needed the second number G035; the one they gave us and we used, because he had a different transaction from his wife and it required 2 numbers for 2 people.
We felt so badly, as our good fortune became their bad fortune.
As we left the building, I looked for the numbers on the TV screen to see where the numbers were. It was in the 40's, so I knew he would be there with his wife for at least 2 more hours.
Human kindness comes in all colors and nationalities.
No comments:
Post a Comment