Getting Clever at the DMV

A few weeks ago I wrote:

"Whichever profession you're in, you have The Things You Hear a Million Times. The repetition can be boring, but what's soul-crushing is how clever people think they're being, each and every time."

Yet, still, yesterday I found myself - while surrendering some license plates at the DMV - telling the clerk, as I plopped them down on the counter, "I surrender!" With, of course, a big goofy grin.

She didn't look up, she didn't stop shuffling papers, and she sure as hell didn't smile, but I did spot the tiniest grimace. After a moment's reflection, I decided it wasn't the sort of grimace that's building as she begins to tire of hearing this. No, it was a grimace receding, as she, over the course of many, many years, has learned to stoically suck it up.

The situation was, naturally, non-recoverable for me.