One of these things is not like the other one

It all started when I got a bill in the mail from the Texas Tollways people. It seems that one of our vehicles was spotted exiting one of the toll plazas, and since we didn't have a TxTag, they sent me a bill (and added a service charge to do so). I never use the toll roads and Barb assured me that she had not been slipping around running up toll fees, so I set out to deny, refute, challenge, and negate this bill. According to the invoice, a car with license 368DPF was the offender. Aha! Barb's license is 369DPF; close, but no cigar. Obviously, this is a clerical error.

So I call Texas Tollways and they listen to my righteous protest and say, "Well, Mr. Anderson, let me look this up." After a minute or two of a jingle about why we should all rush right out and drive up and down the toll roads, the lady came back and said,
"Mr. Anderson, do you own a white Honda?"
"Why no," I respond. "A red Honda. License 369DPF."
"Well the picture is of a white Honda," she says.
"All red," I say.
"Let me do some more checking," she says. And after more music, she returns.
"Uh, Mr. Anderson, license 369DPF is not registered in your name. 368DPF is, but not 369."
"I just looked at the license and it's 369DPF. I can send you a picture."
"Let me look at the front of the car in the picture. Uh Oh."
"Uh oh? What is Uh Oh?"
"Mr Anderson, go look at the front of your car."

Okay, here's the back.

And here's the front.

 

Do you see a problem?

Five years we have been driving this car and no one has noticed this! Not only that, there's a white Honda running around with the same problem, only with the numbers reversed. Since they are both Hondas, it's pretty obvious that the guy at the dealership who attached these plates on the new cars mixed them up. Let's go lay this problem on 1st Texas Honda's doorstep!

"Well, yes. we see that you purchased your car here, and I guess we did attach two different plates, but the other car was not purchased here, so we could not have mixed them up. You need to go see the County Tax Collector."

So we hurried over to the Tax Collector's office and explained in great detail everything we had learned, and the clerk said, and I quote, "It happens. That will be $6.35 for a new set of plates."

"But what about the other guy? He's running around on the toll roads and I'm getting the bill?

She didn't come right out and say it, but the expression on her face clearly said. "This is the Tax office. This is not the Toll office. Take it up with them."

Clearly, the only thing to do is go drive up and down the toll roads. The bill is going to go to the owner of a white Honda.