Fingerprinting...and dumb things people do.

I went for my fingerprinting this morning at my local police department and boy, was it an experience. First off, I get there and they go over the instructions and everything and then tell me that I have to go the town hall to pay the fee because they don't accept cash at the police station. No problem, the city hall is just a short walk across the street. So, I get there and proceed to pay. The guy behind the counter doesn't even know how much it is. I have to tell him that it is $10 and give him my twenty dollar bill. Then he says that he is not sure that he can make the change. I was thinking about this and it was quite amusing...it was early and we are talking about a town of about 2,000. Is the city really that broke?

Then I cross the street back to the police station and there is a lady that walks in with me. The officer tells me to wash my hands in the bathroom which he apologizes for. The lady doesn't have an emergency, but the officer, being the only one in the station (remember population 2,000), needs to take care of her first. I'll get to her story later in the blog, because I learned something from it today.

The officer was really nice, but the procedure was extremely messy. I was going to go somewhere after that, but my hands were so inky that it would've been obvious that I had been fingerprinted, but not so obvious as to the reason why. The officer let me wash my hands afterward which didn't help very much, but smeared the ink to the rest of my hands that were clean. Then I got to think about it. Now my fingerprints are in the bathroom at the police station. They don't even have to be dusted because they are ink. I thought it would've been rude to ask the officer "can I have some tape so I can remove my fingerprints from the faucet and soap dispenser?" (Can you tell I've watched CSI) Should I be worried that my fingerprints are left at the police station? Here is what my hands looked like AFTER I washed them. :)





So, then I had to go home and wash my hands with dish soap (which took nearly all of it off, btw) and then get back in the car to go to the post office to mail my fingerprint cards. I noticed at the post office that my hair was shedding a lot today. (Somedays I think I shed more than Anakin, my sheltie!) The only thing I didn't leave in this bantam town is my saliva. I can just see it now...In a small town where you can smell pickle brine in the air...

Okay, now on to the lady in the police station with me. She came in to see if she could get her car back. Apparently she drove around two or three barricades (according to the officer, I guess there are no privacy laws when it comes to police) and her car stalled in the water that flooded the road. Now, the funny part...for me, not for her...is that the officer informed her that she was going to get a ticket for going around the barricades. Apparently that is illegal. Surprise! You not only have to pay to get your car back, but pay a ticket as well. The officer said that there was three feet of water over the road. (Bangor as well as the surrounding counties have been in a flood advisory for days...)

Now, if there was two or three road blocks saying that the road is closed, wouldn't you wonder why? Especially since they aren't doing construction on that road? I saw on the news a car in Chicago (which is also flooded) that was going down the highway and went into a puddle (or lake, more like it) and the CAR WAS COVERED in water. Wouldn't you think that if the water comes up over your hood, you would stop?!? You could see the car with about a foot of water on top of it. All you could see was the hood. I don't know about some people...