"I don't have time to do this!" (follow the procedures so to get a pass)
And I wanted to reply but I think Fate cut me off, "Well, Sir, then you don't have time to come on to the Navy Station."
That probably was the most consistent situation we had. The gate house was adjacent to the station house. The gate sentry would tell drivers that they needed to turn around, park in the lot down the hill from the station house, and take their license, registration, and proof of insurance to the dispatcher to get a temporary pass.
At the of the parking lot at the stairs to the station house, there was a sign listing what was needed. At the door, there was another sign stating the same. Inside, over the dispatcher's head, was another sign stating the same.
And yet, time and time again, people would get up to the dispatcher and claim they didn't know they needed the registration. And then it would go something like this:
"Can't I just tell you the numbers?"
"Can't you go down and read my plate?"
"Can't the officer go and read my plate and radio it back to you?"
And all the time, it was "No, Sir/ No, Ma'am" and they would leave the station house mad to go back to their cars to get something which for the life of me, I couldn't understand why they didn't do it right in the first place.
Now, some might have been indoctrinated to the old way. When I was assigned to the post, the station house was internal to the base and passes were handled by the gate house where the sentry had the license and wrote down the plate by looking at it. People got to stay in the comfort of their car......and thank God no one tried to back over the gate sentry.
But when we got a Quonset Hut on the station perimeter, things changed....which didn't make a lot of people too happy.
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("You want to upset people? Change things."--(wtte), President Truman)