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Pulling forth friendliness
Last week I received a letter from the Illinois Tollway Authority. What could it possibly be about? I opened the envelope and was dismayed to find that I was charged $24.60. That included $5.80 for tolls and $18.80 in fees and fines. How could that be? I had more than enough in my I-Pass account to cover that amount.
The next day I called the Tollway number. I was connected with Donna, and I gave her all the information about my account. When she looked it up, she found that the license numbers given on the notice didn’t match the ones on my account. Of course they didn’t. I know you are always supposed to document any changes in license numbers. In the past 20 years I have bought a car or two, and usually get a new plate. I never registered the new plates. I figured if the toll booths missed the transponder signal, they would have my license plate, and could look it up. Donna informed me that is was my responsibility to keep license information current, and they know longer looked up the number. If the tag number does not relate to a specific I-Pass account, it goes as a skipped toll. When I asked if I still owed the fees and fines, she said “Yes. It was your responsibility to keep your license information current, and you didn’t do it”. I paused, then said, “You know something Donna, I am going to get that money back. It will cost them double. I will curtail my tollway use, and it won’t be long before I have all the money back. I look forward to taking the backroads and enjoying the scenery.” Donna laughed, then replied, ‘I don’t blame you. I don’t like the tollways either. I have a convertible, and I like the backroads.” We then got into a conversation about her summer and her convertible. When the conversation was over, I still owed the money, but had the satisfaction of possibly putting a little spark into someones day. Before the conversation was over, she did not represent the tollway. The tollway was “they!”