In The Spirit of Complaining...

Dear People of Richmond:

You know that there have been tolls in this city on most major roads for, oh, around 40 years, right?  They are in no way, shape or form NEW.  A few years ago, this new, amazing technology was introduced (SmarTag), so that you wouldn't even have to fish for change!  Until recently, you were rewarded for using this breakthrough technology with a small discount on your tolls.  I mean, amazing, right?  You wouldn't have to carry change, or any cash at all!  Truly a breakthrough.  This new development in toll technology in Richmond did NOT remove toll booths completely, they are still there.  And you still have to pay tolls, just as you have had to do for the past four decades. 

PLEASE.  For the love of all that is sacred, PLEASE, tell me why every single day you are in front of me, fiddling around for change?  I see you pull up to the toll both, then I see the driver's head dive down below view as you search for loose dimes and nickles, and sometimes, even a quarter between your sear cushions.  Sometimes, you sit there after you pay the toll and just wait for the gate to magically rise - but your change was rejected, and you don't even THINK to check the reject change compartment to try again.  Or, the best is when you act like the cocky ass you are, and just recklessly throw change into the basket, and you miss, because you are not in fact, an NBA star. 

I know, you are thinking, well, if you are so up on all this new technology, why don't you have a SmarTag, KP?  Well, I do, my friends.  I have a SmarTag, and I love it.  Except when I have to wait behind you at exits that do NOT have a SmarTag only lane.  Like, on the Boulevard Bridge or the Forest Hill exits.  There's no lane for people that anticipate tolls during their Richmond commute and should be rewarded for their advance planning. 

Anyway, People of Richmond, please, PLEASE!, please try to be better prepared for morning and afternoon traffic by keeping this whole toll-paying thing in mind, mmkay?

THANKS!
Hearts, kp