9/28/07
MADISON COUNTY (ALABAMA) EMPLOYEES DISRESPECTFUL TO ATHEIST SEEKING PERSONALIZED TAG
Today I went to the Madison County Satellite Office located in Meridianville, Alabama in the Flint River Crossing Shopping Center along US-231.
After standing in line for two hours I approached the desk to a very friendly staff, who up to that point had been joking with the customers standing in line. I told the worker that I wanted a regular renewal on my wife’s car and a personalized tag on my car. She asked me to write the tag that I wanted on my renewal form along with the type of tag I wanted it on. I wrote “ATHEIST” and “regular tag.”
I handed the renewal form to the worker who then asked pleasantly, “Is that an “I” or a one?” I responded that it was an “I.”
She then went to the computer and checked the availability with the Alabama Department of Revenue and advised me that “ATHEIST” was already taken. I then asked her to change the “I” to a one.
The worker’s demeanor changed drastically. After putting the new tag into the computer she repositioned the screen so her co-worker could see it. The co-worker exclaimed, “Oh no!” The worker then mumbled under her breath and the co-worker said, “He shouldn’t get it.” The worker then replied, “No choice, it’s that freedom of religion.” The co-worker said something else that I did not hear and the worker replied, “Yeah, I’m going to pray to God before I write it.”
She then came back over to the counter with her new angered demeanor. She never looked at us and did not say anything to us at all until it was time to collect the money. She scowled and made an angry face when writing “ATHE1ST” on the Alabama Sixty Day Temporary Tag. When she printed my new registration form she showed it to another co-worker who rolled her eyes.
After getting my receipt I said, “Thank you very much. Have a great day.” The worker did not reply and only scowled. I can only imagine what was said in that office after my wife and I left.
The staff was completely disrespectful, unprofessional, and made inappropriate statements about a customer. Their religious beliefs should in no way reflect upon their treatment of customers. It does not matter if I requested “ATHEIST,” “VISHNU,” “ZEUS,” “BUDDHA,” or “WICCAN.”
Their treatment of my wife and I made us feel like second class citizens. We were frowned upon, scoffed at, made fun of, mistreated, disrespected, and otherwise treated unprofessionally.
I think it is appropriate that my wife and I receive an apology from the Madison County License Director as well as the employees in that office. It is equally appropriate that the employees in that office, at a minimum, receive a letter of reprimand.
This kind of behavior by Madison County employees, directly tied to the Alabama Department of Revenue, is a discredit to Madison County and its employees and the state of Alabama. The mission statement of the Alabama Department of Revenue states in part, “…in an equitable, courteous, and professional manner…”
License Director Mark Craig’s biography on the Madison County Web Page states in part, “priorities are and will be to continue an open door policy, accountability, equality, and providing the very best services to the people of Madison County.”
I will be writing a letter to Cynthia Young, the acting Commissioner of Revenue, and Mark Craig, the Madison County License Director.
