My Twenty Cents Worth

My Twenty Cents Worth Back in mid-October 2002, my husband Andy borrowed my Ford Taurus to work. His truck was in the shop for the day, and since I was at home with our child, I have my car to leave him.Andy? S daily way of working with a short stay in New York State Thruway, and the toll for this jouey is twenty cents. Fortunately for him, the benevolent Thruway Authority sees something they like to call EZ Pass, where you place the sensor on the windshield and received permission to pass through a special telephone line Lane, without operator. A machine reads the sensor and charge your account, presumably to save the region around the capital? S commuting time from slipping through the alley (in a nice 5 mph) without stopping. Andy is one of these places the sensor to the windshield of the vehicle, and every moing we usually go through the EZ Pass lane.My car is not, however, with a sensor area, since that rarely venture to the Thruway, for any reason. Unfortunately, the days of Andy borrow my car, its autopilot moing commute took him through the EZ Pass lane prohibited. So instead of the usual? Have a nice day? light green, Andy has been harassed by their parents angry red light. Here, the meat of my story is beginning to recognize its error, Andy pulls on the side of street and dodging cars in the moing cold opposite, jogs at a manned tollbooth. I had my wife? S car today? He says sheepishly. ? We apologize for the inconvenience. The tollbooth operator replied that Andy is a special ticket stub from the State, when he made the Thruway, and send with payment. But the payment is only twenty cents? Andy protests. ? Can I? TI Their twenty cents per toll, when I had the Thruway? No.Tus from Andy's wild, illegal drive through the EZ Pass on its way from his taxpayer-funded camera that a strong and clear image of the plate. If Andy just passed twenty cents, and then d no way to tell who had the camera? D, which is valid Dimes, and my white 93 Taurus would be a significant car.Okay.So, Andy constructed a special ticket coupon from the next tollbooth operator that evening, he writes a review of New York State Thruway Authority just twenty cents. He and I joke about how there will be a cost that not only address the Damn Thing, but send to us, because we are among the most honest and upright citizen of the great state of New York.Perhaps a month or so goes by and one day a letter from the Thruway Authority, addressed to me: You have committed a toll evasion and breach of contract must now $ 33.30. That? S $ 8.30 (probably as far as the toll of departure), plus a $ 25 administrative fee.Andy and laugh. Surely you jest. On the invoice there is a toll free number to contact the incident sound violation processing center, Andy and select the number to explain the error. The staff, too of the state demands answers the phone to listen to Andy? S long history and, finally, requesting a copy of the canceled check twenty cents. My bank can not be? T send me all of canceled checks? Says Andy. ? Have an account at the end of each month, and there are checks to be eliminated. The state employees? S weary voice tells Andy to fax a copy of the declaration of the bank, regardless of their number, with a letter explaining the situation.Sigh.We drag my half-Busted, dusty machine and we have to dig through our files for the bank and loss account and we hand-write a letter to these people. We unplug the fax machine in the hallway phone, and Jonah shoo the child away, the radar and the phone cord is happy throughout the fair. After faxing everything with success, you shake your head in mild disgust, Seinfeld retued to our running back, and the matter is closed. Finally.Imagine our joy of thirty days, or later, 2003 is the beginning of another letter. This letter has the words? SECOND OPINION? emblazoned in his heavily white: do not have to pay for violating # T200211059815-0001 (yes, the number is really that long) and said that the payment is scheduled immediately.Now Andy is crazy. ? What the hell? asks the universe. Once again he called the phone number, and obtains its ridiculous, always longer than the story. This time the representative told him that a letter of declaration and send it to the notice itself.Andy, tongue firmly in cheek, has a shiny pin and sarcastic diatribe, in which questions of the intelligence system that hunting after twenty cents offenders as if they were bank robbers. He also operates the scissors at all about us? D has already paid the toll, and in particular the ticket stub and received a notice of payment by mistake, and by fax through our bank statement with the letter of request. In this letter, he adds, envelopes and stamps, and since it is via e-mail, both of us rather a prayer to the gods of New York State Thruway Authority to be found, please contact our sacrifices and rain on us goodwill.The favor and the gods, however, were apparently not satisfied with our offer and our weak willed schäbig prayer yesterday was a bag of this govement agency carefully down through the e-mail slot, and in my hands. This is very surprising, star and verbose. Among other things, said: "Final NOTICE. You have not responded to two previous communications for toll evasion violation (s) in Thruway EZ Pass lanes. Accordingly, the New York Thruway Authority must immediately due FULLTEXT. Violations of this requirement could lead to the Thruway Authority taking further action against you. If we do not receive your payment, your license plates and identification information is stored in a special list of toll evasion enforcement. Against non-compliance with payment of the charge allows the suspension of vehicle registration by the department of motor vehicles or the opportunity to operate the vehicle in the State of New York. "At this point Andy and I are seriously wondering whether it is worth $ 33.30 are so insistent demand only the monkeys on our back. We? Re not rich, but we certainly can not afford to drop $ 33.30 for their mafia. Maybe, just maybe, if? Ll actually recognize the check, cash, and leave us the hell alone evermore.Wait! What should we say? The amount you want is 166? times the amount that Andy has to play this commitment very serious violation. To retu after all, what do we do? I fought it would be a betrayal of principle and also sanity.And E 'a temptation. Suppose that my license and / or do not receive a registration revoked. How do I get my car back on the road? With the initial payment of $ 33.30, and the inevitable increase in interest and service? Or we want to maintain, rather than a late-night TV lawyer and take on the New York State Thruway Authority on our twenty cents of tolerance? Should I keep my child in Daycare, I can court date? I have the feeling that we will decline to pay what they ask. The Bonnie and Clyde were fun while they lasted, but I think that now is the time to withdraw from the criminal life. Why us? Re obviously not very well it.We possible? T removed even with a measly twenty cents .- - - - - - - -**** exciting note ****   14th February, 2003I covered e-mail this essay to multiple media in my area (Albany, NY) and I am pleased to announce that a TV news crew came to my house on Tuesday, a feature piece on our history. Even a local newspaper columnist working on a piece of us well.AND   I have a Public Information Officer at the Thruway Authority and the secretary said sweetly, only that I have collected a number of media interested in my cause.Two hours later I received a call from the assistant operations manager at EZ-Pass. In the nature of the tone is respectful of the rule for the Heads of State or, the man long apologized on behalf of the Thruway Authority and gave me his personal guarantee that the issue is over here, in fact, are supposed to receive a notification writing said guarantee.I thanked him warmly and told me the news yet, though. This is too little, too late.The local news broadcast on Thursday, February 20, 2003 .- - - - - - - - 22 February 2003   Received by post a notice today from the Thruway Authority to me that my "violation" was dismissed.Three days after the same news station EZ-Pass announces the decision to change its procedures related to vehicles that the same mistake Andy did.We must change! Amy Wink Krebs is an author on Writing.Com   Based and can be used by everyone. She works as a freelance writer and lives in New York with a man, a son, a cat and three fish.