For some reason, reading this American Values Alliance post by Arthur Farnsley on his adventures at the BMV, I was reminded of Bluto in Animal House when he said, “Grab a beer. Don’t cost nothin’.”
Farnsley was unable to get his college specialty plate because of some paperwork problems. Fine. But then, when he abandoned his efforts to get a specialty plate, the helpful BMV worker kept pushing the “In God We Trust” plate. By my count, he had to ask for the regular plate four times before the state employee gave up on pushing the In God We Trust plate.
The paragraph that reminded me of Bluto:
Then she asked, “Are you sure? The ‘In God We Trust’ plates don’t cost any extra.†I said, “No thank you. Absolutely, definitely, regular plates please.†I had the same feeling you get at McDonald’s when they ask, “do you want fries with that?†She gave me my plate and stickers and I left.
You might want to re-read that Doug, and get a calculator too. She asked once about the plate that had expired (his college plate).
Then she asked about the OTHER plates in the rest of his transaction, did he want 08 stickers OR the IGWT plates….
Then, as a last ditch effort to make sure the customer was in fact getting what they wanted, she clarified.
Now considering she is $10 an hour clerk at the BMV, I doubt she had many serious ulterior motives to sway this guy into the “Church Of What’s Happening Now”.
Sounds more like your typical “helpful clerk encounters cranky old man” scenario.
I think we’re both right – he asked for the regular plate 4 times. She responded in various ways.
In any case, like you, I have a hard time being cynical enough to think that these anectdotal stories of pushing IGWT plates are resulting from orders coming down from on high. I can see where the higher ups might be friendly with proponents like Woody Burton and might make it easier to distribute In God We Trust plates with a notion that, the more such plates are out there, the thornier a problem it would be to recall them if they were found to be unconstitutional. I can also see where a few BMV employees took it upon themselves to push the plates as their way of “bearing witness.” But, I have hard time seeing the inclinations of the higher ups joining up in any systematic way with religious zeal of individual employees.
Actually, this new plate is a safety measure.
If you see any signs of the Rapture, and feel you might not be included, AVOID these cars at all costs (if they are moving).
Just out of curiosity, I started counting the 2-letter codes that were assigned to these plates.
I’m well over 20 right now. That means the BMV has potentially over 200,000 of them printed up. They must feel that they have to get rid of them somehow.
I was trying to follow what the lady was saying. Is there not only an IGWT plate, but also an IGWT sticker to upgrade an old non-IGWT plate?
T: I haven’t renewed yet, but I think that for the remainder of this year you can either get the “In God We Trust” plate or a sticker for the waves of grain plate–or whatever it is called–for no *additional* fee. Next year, there will be a new (very utilitarian) plate to replace the waves of grain. The IGWT plate will still be available as standard plate also. That’s my vague understanding, so don’t take my word for it. :)
Can’t remember where I read this, but I do have a very foggy memory of someone posting comments on a blog somewhere (not here) that BMV employees were told to push the IGWT plates. Again, don’t take that as the gospel truth.
That should say, a “plain sticker” above.