Id

It’s interesting that your identity can be represented by a small piece of laminated card. My student ID was a gem when it came to cheaper movies and bus tickets, but my drivers’ license only ever stood for the fact that I could legally drive, whether the material evidence itself ever saw the light of day or not. It was like a fine pair of expensive shoes – it didn’t matter if they were ever worn, just owning them was enough. If I didn’t expose my drivers’ license on a daily basis, it didn’t matter. The fact that I had it was enough. It meant I could drive.

That was until the day I turned 18, and all of a sudden it meant so much more. I checked a dozen times that it was tucked neatly into the plastic pocket of my wallet before I entered the liquor store in pursuit of selecting a celebratory bottle of bubbles.

“Can I see some I.D?” The woman at the checkout asked in a bored voice, like the formality that came with this common situation was a chore to her.

“Sure,” I flicked open my wallet and slapped my ID onto the counter proudly. The way that she asked,’ Can I see some I.D?’ amused me. Like I really had the option to refuse.

“I guess you coloured your hair,” she glanced from the card to me and then back to the card a few times, then nodded and scanned the bottle. Now I was thinking, is she just one of those people who never pay any attention to what the date is? If that was the case, then it would be understandable that she hadn’t clicked it was my birthday. Either that, or she hadn’t checked the date at all. Maybe she checked only the year?

As I left the store, only half satisfied, I realized I knew what the answer was. The woman, in her late thirties at a guess, had analysed my ID with her authority hat on. I call it the authority hat, because it’s the same hat that the majority of school teachers and police officers wear. They look for problems. They’re so tuned in to their negative channel that they’ve already decided before they find the issue that it’s there. School teachers scrutinize a student until they find something incorrect with their school uniform. Police pull over a “teenage-looking” car and spend forever searching until they find something to fine them for.