For Every Action…

There are courses of action allowed in most areas that we can take when we feel we’ve been wronged in some way. The idea that we have the freedom to gather the information we need and take action in an appropriate manner are part of the freedoms we enjoy. In this day and age, not only are we allowed to protest for rights and freedoms or to try and have things changed, for the most part we can take to social media or other forms of communication to express our opinions and show which side of an issue we fall on.

Not only do we have the right to protest or to express our opinions we also have a right to obtain information. With the advancements made in communication networks it seems like more companies have made it more difficult for us to get through to a direct line to speak with a live person. Some companies that offer you direct access to a call center of people who actually answer the phone without leaving you stranded with a machine to listen to have even taken to advertising that you can get a person instead of a machine when you call.

For the most part the Department of Motor Vehicles in every state and every area of the country has received a negative reputation for making us wait and leaving us stuck with a ton of bureaucracy to deal with. Because of this reputation it’s easy for us to get irritated and frustrated when we have to deal with the DMV in any area especially when trying to call and get hold of a person who can help us solve the issues we’re having with their call system and being left in perpetual hold or stuck in a loop of electronic menus.

One man chose to take matters into his own hands. He felt specific action was necessary when he wasn’t able to receive the direct number to the DMV in his area. The action he took to start with was to file a request under the Freedom of Information Act when he was stuck perpetually talking to DMV representatives in areas that weren’t near his location at all. His filing was denied and he wasn’t given the access he felt he needed to be able to discuss his business with the DMV in his area of the state.

Not only did this man file a request under the Freedom of Information Act, he also filed three separate lawsuits because of the block he was given when trying to obtain the information he desired. Instead of continuing to fight in this manner, he chose to wheel five wheelbarrows full of change, mostly pennies into the DMV office in his area in order to pay his sales tax on his two vehicles. These coins weighed in at 1,600 pounds and took several hours for the DMV officials to sort and count, which was a serious inconvenience, making this man’s point perfectly.

How do you feel about this action? Should this gentleman have taken these coins in to the DMV offices or should he have found another way to get the information he wanted. It seems with three lawsuits and a denied request for information he certainly was put in a difficult position. The action he took was simply a reaction to his lawsuits being dismissed and his request for information being denied. Maybe it would have made more sense for the DMV to have given him the information he wanted so that he could handle his business directly with someone in his local area.