Before I tell you this, let me preface it by telling you that I was driving since I was ten years old (various farm equipment, trucks, and cars. My father even let me drive at age twelve to deliver to my newspaper route customers - alone!)
Now to make a long story even longer, when I turned seventeen, I took Driver's Ed in HS, and naturally, I aced it; I got the only A+ ever awarded! So, I made an appointment to take the road test.
As soon as my dad and I arrived at the test site, an examiner approached my dad's car. he asked how long I had been practicing and I "truthfully" told him about four months, He said, "Good. Let's go!" entered the car, after checking fpr oncoming traffic and immediately adjusted the side view and rear view mirror. (At the time, there were no seat belts, so I din't have to fasten one!). The examiner said, "OK, whenever you're ready, start the car, and pull away from the curb". I immediately started the car, looked over my shoulder, put on the signal and pulled away. the examiner then said something strange. He said, "You know, son, I have a wife and four kids in school and they ALL need shoes". I, being naive, let the remark pass right over my head. He then had me proceed to the corner, stop, and make a left turn, followed by the mandatory u-turn and parking, drive around the block one time and return to the test staging area. Needless to say, I told my dad, "Piece of cake! I'm sure I passed!" Guess what? I failed. The reason given was "failure to come to a complete stop at three stop signs". I told my dad that there weren't three stop signs on the test.
The following week, I rescheduled the test. Same examiner, same story ("I have a wife and four childred ...shoes"). Now I had told my dad about the remark and he sort of laughed. However, he wasn't laughing when I failed for the exacvt same reason.
next week, same story - same result. My dad was getting angrier and angrier. He said, ""let's do this one more time; I GUARANTEE you'll pass THIS time!"
I couldn't see how that was going to happen, but, when we got to the test site the fourth time, the examiner came to the car, and my dad refused to allow him to enter with me! The Chief Examiner saw a commotion and came over to ask what was going on. My dad said, this man has failed my son three weeks in a row and I know he hasn't been ignoring any stop signs!"
The head man took off his cap, and got in the car with me; he asked me to start and pull away from the curb, which I did after using all the signals (hand and electric); he then proceeded to take me for a twenty-five minute test - which I passed, easily. The chief examiner's comments were handwritten below my new driver's license, "Good job - a perfect score!"
The other man eventually lost his job for soliciting and accepting bribes, but that's another story ....
I hope I've answered all three of your questions to your satisfaction. Thanks for asking (brings back some memories!). Good luck!
Answered By: Kiffin # 1 - 9/27/2007 |