Permitted

So today I took my permit test at the DMV.

I was so nervous looking down at the unnaturally long page, printed out with question after question. How much must your child weigh before it's allowed in the front seat? You're at a T-intersection on a through street and another car meets you, who goes first?What is the California speed limit for alleys?

The obvious answers- when it's fat enough to stay put in a collision, whoever got there first, and it depends on the alley- were either considered incorrect when it came time to grade my test or were sound absent completely.

As I stood watching the nice DMV worker scratch all up and down my test, I suddenly found myself quite frightened of not passing the test. Suddenly, I wanted to have the privilege of driving, and I was certain that I'd already failed. It was my own fault, I decided, for reading only half the DMV Driving Book.

The woman handed me back my test with a giant MINUS EIGHT across the front and I stared.

"Does this mean I passed?"

"Yup," she responded with a smile, "Congratulations."

As she printed out my permit i could think but one thing; California really needs to raise their standards.