And not the sort of thing you might think when I say identity crisis.
During exams in April I lost my drivers licence. I went to Service Ontario to get it replaced and my health card updated. I found out the same teller could also renew the sticker for my car. I was a happy camper as this seemed very convenient. Nearly a month later and I get my health card in the mail. The only hitch is, it isn't mine. Its the same name, with a different middle initial, this person has almost the same birthday (same day and year but two months older) The signature on the card is mine as is the address. This perplexing piece of identification is followed rapidly by a driver's licence of similar bent.
When I got the health card I called the 1 800 number. They said I should go back to my local Service Ontario. So I did. But some horrid trick of fate I got the same woman. She acted as if it was all my fault. Didn't I notice the numbers were wrong on the piece of papers she gave me back in April.... The reason this is such an annoyance, aside from the whole wrong person with wrong ID thing, is that I need to get a passport. I need to leave at the end of June to go gather samples for my thesis in the US. I try to explain this to the teller. I get a whole bunch of "not my problem" and "there is nothing we can do"
Frustrated I leave Service Ontario.
I call my Mom to vent, moms are excellent for this. My Dad deals with the ppl in at Service Ontario on a frequent basis. He has been a businessman most of his life and was disgusted by their customer service and the next time he went in he talked to the supervisor. He got the same "not our problem, and nothing we can do" lines. One fellow there suggested I talk to Jeff Leal our local MPP. So I called his office, they were wonderfully eager to help.
An interesting turn happened when my Dad happened to be talking to someone farther up the chain in the Service Ontario ladder (to use a mixed metaphor) by total chance. This came up. She seemed quite angry nothing was done.
Seems my Driver's licence is being couriered to my home tomorrow. I am very grateful to the higher ups at Service Ontario as well as the one worker who suggested I talk to Jeff Leal's office.
