Bratty customer gets his comeuppance

[Tigress]

One of my closest friends owns a local gaming store, which is a popular hang-out among the nerdier kids. Most of them are pretty decent, but there's one kid that everyone hates. He harasses and annoys other customers, threatens people with physical violence, and has been convicted of shoplifting at other stores.

My friend hasn't really been able to do anything about him. He's a paying customer, which she hasn't been getting enough of in this crappy economy. His threats are laughable, since he's a stick figure and would be knocked over in a stiff wind. And he hasn't been dumb enough to try shoplifting in her store (yet). He's just a nuisance that we all tolerate until he finally screws up.

Well, he did.

A few weeks ago, while hanging out in the front of the store, he somehow left his brand-new driver's license on one of the store's shelves. Another customer turned in his license to my friend. Well, there's no telling when the boy is going to be in the store next! So the only thing to do is mail his license to the state DMV!

The store has been blessedly quiet over the last few weeks with this brat unable to drive to the store and harass everyone. However, it seems that being sans license has ceased to be a deterrant, since he's been seen skulking around the store again. Yep, he's driving around without his license!

So my friend is having our merry group of enforcers looking for his car to get this license plate number, so she can call the police and inform them about some random teenager driving without a license...

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Well he has a valid license, he just doesn't have it in his possession, I think in terms of the law that violation is not as bad as someone driving who is not licensed at all.

I could be wrong though.

[ArcticChicken]

Over here we call them cat-piss men because our first set always smelled like cat pee, but it now means the inevitable little prick who hangs around game shops annoying the other regulars. They often spend too much money for you to be able to just send them away, and they are too dense to realize that you hate them.

[Tigress]

Well he has a valid license, he just doesn't have it in his possession, I think in terms of the law that violation is not as bad as someone driving who is not licensed at all.

I could be wrong though.

In my state, you do get cited for not having your license on you when you get pulled, since that counts as "driving without a license". Because he already has a criminal record and likes to run his mouth, he could get his license suspended until he's 18.

[Hobbs]

In my state, you do get cited for not having your license on you when you get pulled, since that counts as "driving without a license". Because he already has a criminal record and likes to run his mouth, he could get his license suspended until he's 18.

Texas law is like that too:

Sec. 521.025. LICENSE TO BE CARRIED AND EXHIBITED ON DEMAND; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) A person required to hold a license under Section 521.021 shall:

(1) have in the person's possession while operating a motor vehicle the class of driver's license appropriate for the type of vehicle operated; and

(2) display the license on the demand of a magistrate, court officer, or peace officer.

(b) A peace officer may stop and detain a person operating a motor vehicle to determine if the person has a driver's license as required by this section.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

His behaviour shouldn't be excused because he's a 'paying customer'. If he's being a prick to the others, the business might be losing customers because he's always hanging around. Someone needs to set him straight or kick him out.

There was a guy (a 30-ish adult gaming nerd, with very little in the way of 'social skills') who used to hang around the local comic shop, make a nuisance of himself, insult the kids who were buying games, comics, etc. The owner was starting to lose business... she told me that some kids would tell her that if they saw him in the store, they would not go in. So, finally, one day when he was ragging on a kid about a Warhammer army (or something, I wasn't there), she told him to shut the hell up, stop bothering her customers and get out.

The next day when he tried to enter the store again, she stopped him at the door and asked him if he was going to behave. He said yes. And everything was fine from then on.

(Until the comic shop closed, for other reasons... )

[Canarr]

What I'm not getting is: his license wasn't suspended, or taken away, he just forgot it. So, why wouldn't the DMV notify him to come pick it up once they've received it, or just mail it to him?

[Gravekeeper]

What I'm not getting is: his license wasn't suspended, or taken away, he just forgot it. So, why wouldn't the DMV notify him to come pick it up once they've received it, or just mail it to him?

I think you`re vastly overestimating the speed at which the DMV operates.

and yes, you *must* have the license in your possession. I don`t know of anywhere where you can drive without it.

[MoxisPilot]

We had a very similar guy at our old gaming store in Florida (where my husband worked part-time). He spent literally hundreds of dollars a week, so no one wanted to throw him out, but he was also a total azz to everyone, so no one wanted to hang out with him, either.

He never got the hint.

[GingerBiscuit]

I think this all confuses me because I'm a brit. In the UK, there are plenty of places withing walking or bus distance, so I may not need my driving license to get there- in fact I can't even drive, so I don't have one.

Maybe he's been walking, or caught the bus, or got a friend to give him a lift in?

[workerbee222]

In our state, if one physically loses the actual license, there is no problem getting a replacement.

[persephone]

In our state, if one physically loses the actual license, there is no problem getting a replacement.

Ding, ding, ding!

My guess is even if you did mail his license in, he probably has another one by now. Be careful before wasting the police department's time because he might be perfectly fine to drive and the department probably wouldn't appreciate it.

[BookstoreEscapee]

In our state, if one physically loses the actual license, there is no problem getting a replacement.

That's what I was thinking...when I lost my wallet in college, my mom took me to the DMV over the weekend and I just got a duplicate. (Replacing my social security card was a bit more difficult .)

[wagegoth]

I think this all confuses me because I'm a brit. In the UK, there are plenty of places withing walking or bus distance, so I may not need my driving license to get there- in fact I can't even drive, so I don't have one.

Maybe he's been walking, or caught the bus, or got a friend to give him a lift in?

There are vast chunks of the country that are just empty space with no public transport, except perhaps a train, and other portions that are small towns that have no bus service. I lived in a town that had no local bus service, no train service, a Greyhound once a day, and one taxicab. If you lived more than a few blocks from the main street, you had no way to get anywhere without a car. I used my bike quite a bit, but I also drove.

[AccountingDrone]

I think this all confuses me because I'm a brit. In the UK, there are plenty of places withing walking or bus distance, so I may not need my driving license to get there- in fact I can't even drive, so I don't have one.

Maybe he's been walking, or caught the bus, or got a friend to give him a lift in?

In many areas of the US there is *no* public transportation. Many cities there is minimal public transportation [Hartford, CT for example. What takes her 15 minutes to drive would be a 3 hour and 4 transfer bus ride.] If I were not handicapped, the closest bus system to my house is 17 miles away. Because I am legally handicapped, I can actually call the bus system and ask them to send me a transport car to take me to a bus line - unfortunately that bus line services only the town of Willimantic. I would have to do an intercity bus [probably Peter Pan lines] to get to Hartford, then get somehow taken to a bus transfer point to transfer to a bus to get somewhere. It would literally take me about 7 hours to get to the other side of Hartford to Newington. I can drive it in 1 hour.

In that respect, America sucks. Very few people live where there is adequate public transportation, or there is a rich environment in walking distance. many times our communities are not set up with bike riders or pedestrians in mind.