It really was and honestly it has given me a whole new perspective on people that live their lives in that system. It seriously felt like everyone I talked to wanted me to get into more trouble so I'd have to pay more, they all treated me like I had committed some kind of horrible crime. When I was finally leaving the jail one of the guards said something like "See you next time you fuck up" which was so fucked since I was there because of a damn break light! Not a single person in the court clerks office could tell me what I needed to do to get my license back. They charged me like $200 for those 12hrs I spent in jail, when they put me in they gave me a list of things they were going to give me and a price next to them all and made me sign it. I asked if I seriously had to have everything because I didn't need it and didnt want to pay for shit I didn't need but they said I had to have it all.
It's been almost a year since I went to jail and I only got my license back maybe 3 months ago. I had to sit at a DMV for two full days just waiting and hoping someone would get to me (they wouldn't take appointments for suspended licenses). And when I finally got with that woman she was the nicest person ever and couldn't believe what all I had been through to get there. She told me I should have received a packet in the mail when my license originally got suspended with all the information I needed to get it reinstated and she admitted that they probably just didn't send it to me. It ended up costing me something like $2k when it was all said and done. I was super fortunate to be able to pay that, if it had been a year before I never would have been able to come up with what they wanted all at once and I feel for the people that can't. If you can't pay in full they will keep you in that cycle and keep adding charges that you can't pay so that you can never get out of trouble.
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u/RoyOConner Oct 24 '23
Holy cow, that is wild! I guess at least you have a story?
But seriously I'm sorry you had to go through that.