DC is full of special people

So I have continued to be rubbish with the blogging.  I've been sick, completely failing at working out, had a friend's bachelorette this weekend, and my wedding is in a month.  But here we go again:

One of the joyous tasks I had on my plate this week was to apply for an alcohol license in DC, so that we could serve alcohol at the wedding.

To do this, I not only needed to fill out a long form, and submit all of this documentation from the Carnegie, AND pay them $300 dollars!!


BUT

I also needed to get a police clearance.  From both DC and Fairfax county.

The DC police station... is full of people who are not my people.  By any stretch of the imagination.  I had to fill out this form on one floor, go down to another floor to pay the $6 fee (cash only, mind you) (in a room full of people waiting to have their court hearings), then go back up again to pick up the form that said I had a clean record.  I'm convinced they only make you go downstairs to pay is to give them enough time to stamp your form.


In the Fairfax police station, in contrast, the police officers behind the counter seemed to think I couldn't possibly be in the right place, and kept asking if what I needed.  Brandon is of the opinion that this is so they could continue to check me out, which is interesting because not only was Brandon there standing next to me, but I could have sworn I said I needed the clearance for the alcohol permit for my wedding.

Having collected these two precious sheets of paper, I got ready for the big one.  I got up early, bc the DC office where you get these permits actually opens before my office does, and headed to U Street.  Where I witnessed an interesting handoff in the window of the Starbucks I was waiting in.  Come on, 8am people?  Some of us just needed some coffee, take your shady deals elsewhere.  Particularly so because 3 minutes later, a policeman walked in.

Got to the builing, which houses a ton of DC regulatory boards and other city government functions, just as it was opening to the public.  I put my purse on the xray machine, and made pleasant conversation with the two ladies running the security check in.  A little Asian gentleman clutching an envelope also got into the elevator with me, also going to the fourth floor.  It took him 10 minutes to end up in the same reception area I found in 30 seconds though, so by that point the line for him was probably an hour long.

When I walked in, I was the first customer, and a very helpful lady behind the desk started going through my paperwork.  She finished reviewing everything I had brought, looked up and smiled.  "High five for having everything you need!"  I guess that doesn't happen to her much, and my guess is people are not too pleasant to her either.

She typed all my stuff into the computer, charged me the $300 its going to take to serve liquor and not just beer and wine, and casually mentioned that had I not gotten my paperwork in that day, I couldn't have gotten my license for another 2 weeks because the board was going to recess.  Veeeeeeery lucky.

I was out of that office in 15 minutes.  When I came back to pick my permit up the following week at lunchtime (after being complimented on both my top and my purse by the ladies of the security desk) I had my permit, all names spelled correctly, in less than 2.  So way to go alcohol permitting board.

After all that nonsense, I am finished.  And I can serve booze at the wedding!  Success :)