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  • New job, new types of suck

    Who would have thought that working for the government would get so many new and interesting types of sucky customers?
    Well, for those who haven't heard (so, pretty much anyone who isn't friends on Facebook), I have a new job at a government agency, and has this brought out the best in the people I deal with. Shall we begin?

    Don't admit to crimes we didn't know about
    Here is a very important lesson if you are ever pulled over by Nevada (or any state's) Highway Patrol DON'T MAKE YOUR DEFENSE A CONFESSION OF CRIMES THE OFFICER DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT.
    Yeah, we had someone who was pulled over for not having a properly apportioned plate on a commercial vehicle. All the officer knew was that this guy was illegally operating for that day... what was the driver's defense?
    "Officer, I don't understand the problem, I've been driving with these plates without any type of temporary permit for over three months now."
    So, for those of you keeping score, in addition to any moving violation that NHP assesses, there is also a registration violation that is assessed at a $500 base fine, plus $5 per day of violation, plus $0.15 per estimated mile traveled (based on bill of lading for the vehicle). So, this guy, rather than looking at a fine of roughly $525, in attempting to "defend" himself is now looking at a $2,200 fine. Yeah, don't confess to crimes we don't know about.

    Nice try scammer
    Oh, that's nice, you are trying to claim that you shouldn't have to pay the fine for not having a properly apportioned plate because you had a temporary permit, and you have attached said permit in your appeal... oh, and look, it is a horrible copy that is almost unreadable... that's okay, we recognize which vendor you bought it from, we were able to call them and find out when they sold it to you... oh, you bought it about an hour before you faxed it to us as "proof" that you had a proper permit when you were pulled over and the officer made a mistake...
    Yeah, nice try... I was nice enough to apply what the vendor was going to remit to us towards your fine, but I hope you realize we allow them to take a massive commission, so you really just paid an extra $30 over what you would have paid if you had just been honest enough to pay the fine. Good going.

    Nice try scammer, the sequel
    Another fun appeal to a fine, trying to claim that the vehicle was a personal use vehicle and shouldn't be subject to commercial vehicle laws... and then proceeded to send in a registration that listed the vehicle as a commercial vehicle... oops.

    Nice try scammer, the threequel
    We tend to get a lot of these... appeal came in, this time on a violation of maximum registered weight violation, with the claim that they had fixed their registration and therefor were no longer in violation of the registration rules.... well, here's the problem, we appreciate that you sent us a copy of your current registration, but as it is that you are registered in Nevada, we already had that, oh and we had the registration history and we saw that despite the law saying that you have 30 days after conviction of any moving violation regarding weight class to fix your registration, you didn't fix yours until nearly two months after you were convicted and after we sent you a letter stating that you were facing a fine for not having fixed your registration on time... so, while we appreciate you fixing your registration, don't try to pull a fast one on us and claim you did it on time.

    Oh, I am so scared
    So, how Nevada law works, any violation that involves registration is both a criminal offense and a civil offense. And, with how the law is written, we must wait for the NHP to finish with any criminal fines before we can begin assessing civil fines. Would it be nice if we could just get all fines done at once? Yeah, it would be, but that's not how the law is written.
    Well, I had a fun phone call last week. This lady had sent in a letter stating that she refused to pay the same fine twice, and besides, her driver had purchased a permit right after being notified that he needed one. Great, he fixed his registration violation quickly enough that we can reduce the fines, by quite a lot (specifically, the state mandated minimum fine of $100 in this case). Sent out a letter letting her know that we had accepted her appeal and had reduced the fine to $100, and explicitly stated in the letter that this was a civil assessment separate from and in addition to any criminal fines that had been assessed.
    Well, this lovely lady called and immediately started screaming that we were guilty of double dipping her and she was going to report us to the USDOT.
    Umm, a few things, first, I'm almost positive that the phrase you were looking for was double jeopardy, and nope, criminal and civil are two separate things, this is why OJ was found not guilty of murder but guilty of wrongful death. Second, USDOT doesn't give a damn about registration rules, they are responsible for safety rules, and that is it. Third, the person you'd want to contact is the US Attorney General, and I doubt the USAG is going to get involved in your complaint about being given a civil assessment separate from your criminal one. Fourth, go on, sue us, no, sue me personally, I invite it, my boss has the state's AG on speed dial, let's just see where this goes, it will amuse us.
    If you wish to find meaning, listen to the music not the song

  • #2
    Oh my word. Do these people qualify for World's Dumbest Criminals?
    Customers should always be served . . . to the nearest great white.

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    • #3
      Quoth Kristev View Post
      Oh my word. Do these people qualify for World's Dumbest Criminals?
      Sadly, no. I think the bar was pretty much set by the bunch that set up an illegal marijuana grow next door to a police headquarters. What's worse, it took the cops a couple of years to notice it.
      You're only delaying the inevitable, you run at your own expense. The repo man gets paid to chase you. ~Argabarga

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      • #4
        Oy, and these are 'professional' drivers? I used to carry a class E license and was prolly the only one in the city just cause it was the law.

        Speaking of double dipping, we're currently sparring with the city over a true case of that, two tickets for the same parking violation 8 minutes apart, one to me, one to the landlord, both of which the city says both are valid and have to be paid.
        Seph
        Taur10
        "You're supposed to be the head of covert intelligence. Right now, I'm not seeing a hell of a lot of intelligence. Covert, overt, or otherwise!"-Lochley, B5, A View from the Gallery

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        • #5
          Welcome to the wonderful world of government service. If you ever wondered why government workers always seem to look old beyond their years...you are in the process of learning it.

          OTOH, bennies and retirement. So, we slog into work every day just to get another day closer to retirement. (932 working days left for me)

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          • #6
            Quoth Slave to the Phone View Post
            Welcome to the wonderful world of government service. If you ever wondered why government workers always seem to look old beyond their years...you are in the process of learning it.

            OTOH, bennies and retirement. So, we slog into work every day just to get another day closer to retirement. (932 working days left for me)
            The thing is, I actually quite enjoy my job... for once, I don't have to live by the mantra "the customer is always right", no, I get to follow the mantra "the citizen needs to follow the law". Oh, that is a good feeling, like 20 year old me working customer service would never have imagined how good it would feel not to have to bow down to the customer is always right.
            Besides, most of our "customers" are really good, the benefits of working on the commercial rather than individual side, I'm dealing with other people who run businesses of their own that mostly understand that the regulatory environment is just something they have to deal with and that like them, we are just doing our jobs. Of course, that doesn't mean we don't get the occasional scammer, irrational banshee, or nutjob, but overall, pretty good people. Honestly, the "sucky" customers aren't the ones I hate dealing with, those ones are easy, I've got a few hundred pages of Nevada Revised Statutes backing me up when I deal with them... no, the people that I always have trouble helping are the nice ones who done fucked up and now I have a few hundred pages of Nevada Revised Statutes holding me back.

            ETA- I really should start a thread in brain burps about the people who just honestly done fucked up and are trying to fix it... something to think about when I actually have time.
            If you wish to find meaning, listen to the music not the song

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            • #7
              Yea Smiley found another job! I'm glad. I know you didn't like the last one (I personally love hospitality but it would take a lot to convince me to work in a casino, and even then I'd be front of house, not in the back (mis)counting money.

              Government jobs tend to have good benefits, and believe me, they need someone halfway competent. I've dealt with benefits people enough to know that. Best of luck in the new position!
              "I try to be curious about everything, even things that don't interest me." -Alex Trebek

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              • #8
                Can someone actually get fined for admitting to that? What's to stop them from saying "whoops - I was kidding about doing it for the last 30 days"?

                Either way - guy should have known better.

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                • #9
                  I'm glad that you are enjoying your new job. It IS awesome to be able to point out the regulations that back you up. People get mad at me because I won't break the rules for them. Sorry about that. I do want to help you, but not enough to lose my job for you.

                  Yes, you can talk to my supervisor. She will say the same thing I did, but will use different words. Yes, you can talk to her supervisor. She will say the same thing we did with different words but the same meaning. We all use the same book.

                  (an aside to WishfulSpirit, I sure do wish you lived in my state. You wouldn't be saying those sort of things about benefit workers. We WANT to help and we can usually find ways to help.)

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                  • #10
                    Quoth Kittish View Post
                    Sadly, no. I think the bar was pretty much set by the bunch that set up an illegal marijuana grow next door to a police headquarters. What's worse, it took the cops a couple of years to notice it.
                    Not as dumb as you might think. It really IS the last place the law would look. When they found Bin Laden, he was holed up only a couple of blocks from the people who were supposed to be looking for him.

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Kittish View Post
                      Sadly, no. I think the bar was pretty much set by the bunch that set up an illegal marijuana grow next door to a police headquarters. What's worse, it took the cops a couple of years to notice it.
                      There was a story I read a few years back about a couple heroin addicts finding a parking lot to shoot up. No big deal, right? Only they chose to shoot up in a police station parking lot.
                      If anyone breaks the three pint rule, they'll be running all night to the pisser and back.

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