So I got a ticket a couple months ago for running a red light. Long story short, it's the type of red light running that everybody does (at least around here). Speed limit was 40, I was doing right about that, maybe 42 or so, and the light ahead of me turned yellow. It was one of those scenarios where you either slam on your brakes and stop really hard, or cruise through the intersection as the light turns red. Everyone cruises through, and I've done myself a number of times before. This time there was a cop behind me and he pulled me over and gave me the ticket. I requested the mitigation hearing rather than just paying the fine, but not because I wanted the fine to get lowered or dropped, I could give a shit about the money, but because aside from this, my driving record is perfectly clean and I'd like to keep it that way. So, my intention was to ask at the mitigation hearing if there were anything I could do to make that happen.
Fast forward to today, the day of my hearing. It's at 9:30am. Now, a lot of this stuff is my fault and this whole fiasco could have been avoided if I'd have done things right, but the court is still stupid and here's why.
I missed my hearing this morning because I set my alarm last night for 8PM instead of am. However, I still woke up at about 8:05 this morning, and wondered why my alarm hadn't gone off. "Oh well, no biggie, I'm awake now anyways" I said to myself as I laid my head back down on my pillow. The next time I opened my eyes it was 9:20. How fucking stupid (I'm also angry at myself for this). So I decide I will go to the courthouse on my lunch break because it's within longboarding distance of my work. I leave work at 12pm and get there by 12:20. I go through security and ask them "is this where I go for mitigation hearings?" They said yes. So I get to the motherfucking door of the office and see it says "Hours Monday - Friday: 8:30am - 11:45am and 1:30pm - 4:30pm". What the FUCK?! It was 12:20. Over an hour before anyone would be back. I went down there for no good reason.
So I sit on the bench outside the office and re-read my paperwork I had in my backpack. It says if I miss or am late for my hearing, I can call this number to request a "good cause" hearing, meaning I explain to the judge why I missed my initial one. I get back to work and call the number. After pushing a million buttons to get to an actual person, she tells me that no fines will be added for missing my shit if I pay by 5:00pm today. She tells me I can pay over the phone and in a moment of pressure and indecisiveness, I agreed to doing that knowing full well I didn't have enough money to cover the entire fine in my bank account. I gave her my card number and everything and she gave me the confirmation code for the transaction. THEN I mentioned to her that the whole reason I didn't just pay the fine and requested the hearing was because I wanted to see if I could keep it off my record. That's when she said I could request the good cause, talk to the judge and possibly get the ticket deferred. So we set that up (October 3rd) and then I ask her if she's still going to charge my card. She says yes, but that if they cut me any slack at the good cause hearing, I'll get some money back then.
So long story short, I think I'm more mad at myself for screwing this shit up so bad. But I still can't believe that office is close for almost two hours in the middle of the day.
And to make matters worse, as I was going there in the first place, I was walking with my board (it was kind of uphill) and this super cute girl waves at me and says "Hey come over here, let's talk for a few minutes!" I told her I would love to but that I had a court hearing I needed to get to asap. She looked bummed for a second but then waves and says "Good luck!!" and I kept walking.
I'm very, very unhappy with myself today. I'm too old to screw things like this up for such a stupid reason as falling back asleep when I should have been awake.
Live and learn. Hope that girl finds someone to talk to. I would have, but....
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