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About a week or so ago, my wallet either was stolen or just went missing; I spent days tearing apart the car and the house just in case, to no avail. I had all of five bucks in it, so losing cash wasn't a problem, but having to replace the plastic contents was (and I'm still working on that). It was a nifty little Super Mario wallet, too 
Anyhoo, I was really freaking out because I had no proper ID/driver's license, and, when I went to look at my insurance card in the glove compartment of my car, all I had was the original copy that had expired months ago (the current card was in the wallet). Not A Good Thing >_< I couldn't reach them on the phone to see what alternate means of ID's I would need, so I checked their site; the most useful thing to bring would have been a birth cert, an old paycheck, and maybe a utility bill, with the birth cert being the most critical item. Naturally, I have no idea where my copies of the cert are, and getting one without ID nor Soc Sec card is problematic, at best. All I could find was a color photocopy of my DL and SS card (had had to scan them in for Medicaid documentation); I figured, with that, I could at least prove that I had recently acquired/renewed a valid DL, even though I did not expect it to be useful beyond that.
Anyhoo, I just bit the bullet and went down to the ol' DMV to see what could be done, hoping that none of the local cops had developed ESP in the meantime >_> I got there, waited in line (not all that long -- Katrina forced them to shut down the old, Simpsons-style, inefficient hellhole DMV and completely modernize). The way ours is set up, you wait in a line to talk to the Receptionist, who gets your basic info and assigns you a code and number based on your needs; you get called up to a specific section as they finish with the prior customer. As a result, anything that does NOT require a driving test or written test gets done rather quickly -- I've never had to wait more than 30 minutes total, whereas this would have taken no less than 3-4 hours under the old system. Major kudos just for that...
Once I got called up, I explained what had happened. They accepted my photocopy and the old insurance card (I was able to go to the insurance office and get it replaced immediately after this), and, thanks to the new system, the lady there was able to simply look up a digital copy they had of my license photo -- She saw that they matched and issued me a new card on the spot, charging me only the "duplicate card" rate, which is about half of the normal DL price ^_^
So, yeah, a GOOD experience at the DMV for once!
Anyhoo, I was really freaking out because I had no proper ID/driver's license, and, when I went to look at my insurance card in the glove compartment of my car, all I had was the original copy that had expired months ago (the current card was in the wallet). Not A Good Thing >_< I couldn't reach them on the phone to see what alternate means of ID's I would need, so I checked their site; the most useful thing to bring would have been a birth cert, an old paycheck, and maybe a utility bill, with the birth cert being the most critical item. Naturally, I have no idea where my copies of the cert are, and getting one without ID nor Soc Sec card is problematic, at best. All I could find was a color photocopy of my DL and SS card (had had to scan them in for Medicaid documentation); I figured, with that, I could at least prove that I had recently acquired/renewed a valid DL, even though I did not expect it to be useful beyond that.
Anyhoo, I just bit the bullet and went down to the ol' DMV to see what could be done, hoping that none of the local cops had developed ESP in the meantime >_> I got there, waited in line (not all that long -- Katrina forced them to shut down the old, Simpsons-style, inefficient hellhole DMV and completely modernize). The way ours is set up, you wait in a line to talk to the Receptionist, who gets your basic info and assigns you a code and number based on your needs; you get called up to a specific section as they finish with the prior customer. As a result, anything that does NOT require a driving test or written test gets done rather quickly -- I've never had to wait more than 30 minutes total, whereas this would have taken no less than 3-4 hours under the old system. Major kudos just for that...
Once I got called up, I explained what had happened. They accepted my photocopy and the old insurance card (I was able to go to the insurance office and get it replaced immediately after this), and, thanks to the new system, the lady there was able to simply look up a digital copy they had of my license photo -- She saw that they matched and issued me a new card on the spot, charging me only the "duplicate card" rate, which is about half of the normal DL price ^_^
So, yeah, a GOOD experience at the DMV for once!