Last week, I traveled with a bunch of playgroup gal pals to my favorite destination in the world—Las Vegas.  As usual, I had a fabulous time.  There was one minor glitch though and here’s what happened: 

After passing through security at O’Hare, my friend, Betsy excitedly showed us her new driver’s license because her birthday had just passed.  “Hmm…” I thought to myself.  “I wonder when my license is up for renewal.  My birthday is 2 weeks before Betsy’s.”  I took out my wallet and looked at my license.  “Oh, my Gosh, you guys—my license expired 2 weeks ago!”

I was initially shocked because I didn’t recall getting any sort of notice about the license but then I just brushed it off and went about my merry way.  I mean, I had already passed through security at O’Hare and I would be walking or taking cabs everywhere in Vegas. 

Anyway, once we got to our hotel, we were delighted to find out that they gave $25 in free slot play and a free buffet to each person in the room.  Yay!  So my friend Pam and I went to the Players Card desk to redeem our coupon.  Pam opened a new account and I was going to have the $25 and buffet put on my current card.

“Can I see a picture ID?” asked Bernice from Tulsa while she entered information from my players card into the computer.

“Sure,” I said, not thinking anything of this exchange.

“Ma’am, your license is expired,” said Bernice.

“Oh, I know.  Isn’t that so annoying, Bernice?  That’s so sweet of you to tell me.  I just realized it at the airport so I’ll just get a new one when I get back home.”

“I’m not telling you this as a good citizen, Ma’am,” said the suddenly unfriendly Bernice from Tulsa.  I can’t give you the $25 or the buffet with an expired license unless you have another form of ID with a photo on it like a passport or something else.”

Of course, I did not have another picture ID.  “Can I please speak with a manager?” I asked.

“I am the manger,” said Bernice.  “And not only can we not give you the $25 and buffet, Nevada gaming rules say that if you win more than $1200 in slots, we can’t give that to you either with an expired license.”

Gosh—Bernice from Tulsa was so mean.  Did she purposely want to ruin my trip?  Not that I expected to win a million dollars in slots but the hope of winning a jackpot should always be there.  There was no way I was going to play slots hoping to NOT win big.

At that point, I seriously felt like crying.  (Well, I actually did shed a few tears!)  I didn’t even bring a bathing suit with me because while my friends were wasting time at the pool during the day, I was going to make great use of my time gambling the day away.

Right away at the desk, I called up my husband, Bill.  “Did you know that my license is expired?” I cried.  “I didn’t even get a renewal notice!”

“You did get a notice and you also need an eye exam,” stated Bill.  “We got something months ago and if you would ever look in the pile on your desk, you would have seen it.”

What?!  Now I was furious!  “Are you kidding me?” I whisper-yelled into the phone, not wanting Bernice from Tulsa to think I was a crazed lunatic but wanting Bill to understand from my tone that I was giving him an extremely angry look.  There was no way Bill ever showed me a notice because when I found out my license was expired I wasn’t even like, “Oops, I completely forgot.” 

“Do you think if I knew I needed a new license I would have taken a trip?” I softly screamed.  “The notice doesn’t even sound vaguely familiar.  And anyone who knows me would agree I would never put off something like that.  It is obviously NOT in MY pile.”

“It for-sure is,” said Bill.  “But let me make a few calls and I’ll call you back.”

A few moments later Bill called back.  He had just gotten off the phone with the Nevada Gaming Commission.  They said if I did win more than $1200 they would just hold it for me until I sent them a copy of my new license and then they would send me my winnings.  Phew!  Now I was all set to win millions!

Additionally, Bill had called the airport to make sure I could get home.  Luckily, they said I could fly within one year of the expiration date of my license.

The ridiculous part of all of this is that the hotel still wouldn’t budge on the buffet.  Isn’t it a little silly that a person can fly back and forth, halfway across the country without a valid driver’s license but the Nevada law says I can’t cash in my free buffet?  That sounds a little backwards.

Anyway, as soon as I got home I ran to the DMV to get my new license.  Stanley, the vision and document attendant understood my plight and we talked about our mutual love for Vegas for about 15 minutes.  Next, I went over to Mary the photographer.  She’s definitely my new best friend because I absolutely love my new picture.  I totally lucked out in the end because had I taken my picture on time, who knows if I would’ve wound up with such a fabulous photo?

So, the moral of the story is to make sure you check your driver’s license every so often, especially before you travel.  And, are you wondering who had the license renewal notice in their pile?  Of course, NOT me!  I told Bill Dubin that he owes me big time for this one and he’s also grounded from getting the mail for the next little while!  To contact me about future columns email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.susandubin.com.