More evidence of basic human decency at the T
By adamg - Fri, 06/06/2008 - 7:43am.
Woman loses passport on the T. Woman gets passport back thanks to a T worker who not only found it but called her mother, whose number was in the passport, to let her know.
Earlier:
Nice people do work at the T.
yeah, that was a nice thing the T employee did
But who brings a passport to a bar instead of a license? Ironically, in any country but this one, she would have been in DEEP trouble without ID...
My friend lost his license
My friend lost his license and is too lazy to get it replaced so he carries his passport around with him instead.
I used to
I had a passport for a good decade before I had a driver's license. Silly kid; thought traveling was more fun than driving.
Passport as ID
I use mine when I travel. It lives with my travel stuff and that way I don't have to hunt it down or think about it if I end up diverting to Canada to check up on some research we fund or taking a tour of Tiajuana when in LA or SanDiego.
One amusing instance where my license wasn't legit: Logan Armpit, April 2007. Knowing that I was going out of town the day after my license expired, I renewed it about eight days before. I didn't have the permanent new copy yet.
UA Gate Agent: You can use your driver's license you know
SwirlyGrrl: Yep
UA Gate Agent: We Prefer it actually ... do you have one?
SwirlyGrrl: Fine then (hands over temporary paper copy and expired hard copy)
UA Gate Agent: Passport it is!
Freakin Massachusetts temporary paper licenses
I love how the paper ones are marked NOT VALID FOR IDENTIFICATION, but the RMV (and why can't it be a DMV like everywhere else?) insists on taking the old license when you make a change or convert your license. One time I asked them, "what am I supposed to use for identification in the meantime?" The guy said, "oh, you can use this." "Then why does it say I can't?" "Uh, next in line please."
One time I did actually convince the person to let me keep it, so it's apparently not even a hard-and-fast rule. I think I was like 25 or 26, and the guy wanted me to hand over my old license. Again, same discussion about how I should just use the paper one for ID. I told the guy that the paper ones aren't accepted by pretty much anyone as proof of age. He's like, "Well, they're issued by us, so they should be." So I'm like, "First of all, it says right on it that it's not valid for identification, and second of all, I really need to have an ID because I don't freakin look 21!" The guy just kind of shrugged and decided I could keep it.
Why even have a taking-the-old-license policy if it's clearly not a strict rule? I mean, I suppose it's to cut down on fake ID use, but the way to do that isn't to forbid people from holding on to their own valid driver's license, especially when someone could just order a duplicate to give to their little sister or whoever. You cut down on fake ID use by asking to see other stuff in the wallet, checking the picture against the person, etc.
They took your old one?
That's a new one on me. I've been renewing mine at Cambridgeside the past couple of times and they let me keep it.
I put the old one in my bike pannier with a copy of my health insurance card - in case of emergency.
It wasn't valid for plane travel - at least, not according to the feds. Neither was the paper copy.
A passport isn't ID?
What planet are you from?
A lot of states won't accept other state's non-driver IDs for identification, so passports are a great option for non-drivers. Also, do we know it's a U.S. passport? A lot of countries don't issue any other type of ID, so it might be the person's only ID.
Drinking and Driving
Before you can drink, you must prove you can drive?
Oh, that makes sense.
Passport no good
I recently got my license revoked after a seizure, so I've just been using my passport as i.d. Unfortunately, I went to a bar this past weekend and they refused to accept it. He said it was for traveling out of the country, not as an i.d. Well a driver's license is used to drive, so what? Besides, a passport is harder to fake than a license anyway. What if an international student who is only in the country for six months wants to go to the bar? "Sorry, you can use it to get into our country, just not into our bars."
I called the guy and genetics some rude names afterwards.