NM man tries to get a marriage license in DC, told he can't because New Mexico is a foreign country

[thewayne]

I kid you not. NM resident presents his driver's license in DC, is told he needs his passport because New Mexico is a foreign country. He argues with the clerk, asks for clerk's supervisor. The supe ALSO claims NM is a state in the United STATES of America! Meanwhile people behind him in line are openly laughing at the idiots behind the counter.

The man is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation and thinks he would've had an easier time if he'd presented that ID. Eventually the clerk relented and the license was issued. And a spokeswoman for the courts apologized in an email, recognizing that New Mexico became a state in 1912.

I have had the same problem where I'll order something over the phone and people will tell me that they can't ship outside of the country. And I'll say "Excuse me? We're the big space between Texas and Arizona and became a state in the same year as the state to our left?"

It's simply amazing at the ignorance of people these days.

HuffPo Article

Comments

[moxie_man]

Typo: "he big space between New Mexico and Arizona..." Last I knew there wasn't a state between those two.

One of the nearby towns to me is China, Maine. Occasionally, mail sent to someone there takes a long time to arrive 'cause some idiot in the postal system sees China, checks the amount of postage on the envelope and returns it to the sender as "insufficient for International shipping".

[dewline]

And doesn't even look for the USPS-standard Zip code...

[thewayne]

But the entire WORLD uses five or 5+4 zip codes, doesn't it? ;-) I had a basic understanding of Canadian zip codes in my very early 20s, but I also had a job maintaining an international mailing list.

[kraig]

harrumph harrumph, postal codes. Not much to understand, the first couple characters will tell you province. The rest tells you everything else. :)

[thewayne]

When you've lived in one place your entire life (up to that point) under the Arizona education system in the '70s, you don't have that big of a world view at that time. Even though now I've only had four addresses, I've at least been to three nation's capitols on two continents.

[kraig]

:D fair enough. Just wanted to note we don't call 'em zipcodes, is all.

I've had 5 addresses in this city alone, although this is likely my last place of residence, barring "too ill, gotta sell house and move into oldfolkshome" or sommat. I've been given to understand that Canadians do tend to move around a fair bit more than Americans, although we typically stick to the same city, or at least province, so I'm a bit of an outlier there too. I'm on my second go-round in Ontario, having also lived in Alberta, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick - five more addresses, not counting two separate residences while I was an undergrad. It's really strange to me sometimes that not everybody has that moving-around experience, especially outside of Canada.

Have you been up to Canada much? I'm guessing one of the capitals you mentioned is likely Ottawa. :)

[thewayne]

I had two addresses in Phoenix: my parents and my condo. When my wife and I married I moved to New Mexico as astronomers are first married to their telescopes, so that was a 500 mile move. Then I got a job in Las Cruces, so got an apartment there. She kept the house, then when my health crashed we moved back to Cloudcroft and my job changed to part-time telecommuting.

Actually, I haven't been to Ottawa! Or at least I don't think I have. ;-) It's possible. In 1973-3ish, my dad bought a tent trailer that could be towed behind our Chevy and we did a huge tour of the USA. We drove south through many Civil War battlefields, then north along the Atlantic Coast to Washington, DC touring revolutionary sites, and went up through New York to Niagara Falls. I know we stayed on the Canadian side, but I don't think we went up to Ottawa. I quite distinctly remember the flower clock and taking the tunnels under/behind the Falls. Quite amazing. I was 11-12 at the time.

I've been to four foreign countries, and Canada and Mexico were the first two. Mexico: growing up in Phoenix and spending a lot of time in Las Cruces, my dad's birth place, I've spent almost all my life within about 100 miles of the southern border and been across it many times. My main extended foreign excursion was Europe: in '15, for our 10th anniversary, my wife and I did a river cruise from Prague to Berlin, thus two foreign capitols in one go! Since this would not be an oft-repeated trip, and I wanted to see a lot more of Berlin than Prague, we flew in and out of Berlin and took a train to Prague to catch the cruise.

Absolutely amazing trip. Had two cameras: a Lumix in my pocket for outdoor photography, and my Canon 6D with a 17-40 over my shoulder for indoor shots. Took over 1300 photos IIRC, mostly over at my web site.

[armiphlage]

Yay! Hi! Didn't know you were still online!

(this is Troy)

[kraig]

I just don't post much. :)

[thewayne]

Oh, that's a good one!  And thanks for catching the typo.  Makes me wonder if Paris, Texas has the same problem.

[silveradept]

About the only thing I'm surprised at this is that it was in D.C.

[thewayne]

Very true.  Just goes to show that standards slip everywhere.

[conuly]

I try not to blame people for their own ignorance, and that's all I can say on this now that I've said that.

[thewayne]

I can overlook quite a bit of ignorance. But if you work for a government agency and your job is to receive, validate, and process identification issued by all 50 states, you should know the names of all 50 states, especially when you are the nation's capital and all 50 states are regular residents and visitors. Having worked most of my life in various government organizations, I know that there are manuals showing what state-issued ID looks like. Not to mention every bit of labeling on the driver's license is in English. One would think that a driver's license issued by the nation of Mexico might have its labeling in Spanish.

No, to me this represent a form of wilful lack of thinking and an inability to type newmexico.gov into a web browser or to look at a map of our country. I freely admit I'm ignorant on any number of subjects, but if I work in a field that I have pockets of ignorance in, I'll work to eliminate those pockets ASAP.

I expect high levels of professionalism from court clerks. This did not meet that. Then again, we have a President who thinks a certain island's residents aren't really Americans, so I guess standards are out the window.