The Jumanji of Work Permits - Finale

The Jumanji of the DOB never fails me. Day 2 in a row was much better then Day 1. Bright and early, I had breakfast with Steve who kindly looked over my paperwork. All good this time and it's time to kick butt and get this permit.

First at the ticket window again, the woman will not give me a ticket. Clearly, she remembers me and what I'm there for. At this point, all the expeditors feel sorry for me and one of them just tells me to give them my folder and he'll file it for me. Great.

That plan quickly fell apart as the woman behind the window suddenly decided she had a the executive decision that I needed insurance for the amount of work I'm doing. "Yes mam, but I have an insurance waiver from the State of NY" Not good enough apparently. She must be bigger then the State.

At this point, I'm furious. The DOB is clearly designed around the business of an expeditor, not the homeonwer. I march into the Borough Commissioner's office, asking to speak to someone about this situation. No one is free (of course).

As I'm waiting, the expeditors I've made friends with are walking by asking "What's going on?" and when I tell them they respond with "Fuck those fucking fucks!" type of lines with best wishes of "good luck kid."

One person who I need to speak to in order to resolve this I recognize. It's the guy who I spoke to on New Year's Eve about what I needed to do to get my plans filed and permits obtained. While I was waiting in the lounge, I caught him walking in the hall and explained the situation. John is his name and he's here to rescue the integrity of the DOB. We head to a window and he grabs a free agent. We go through my paperwork and he agrees to file it for me (apparently the insurance waiver needs approval by someone else). I thank him profusely as I can't stick around since I'm off to work. As I cut a check for him for $35 for the work permits, I see a sign stating "DOB employees cannot accept gifts or gratuities. Thank yous are appreciated" and this makes me feel better because I'm not looking to giving the city any more money.

A few hours later, John called me to tell me everything was squared away. I could now print out my work permit. Success!!!