A woman in Sacramento, California, who recently got her Real ID in the mail opened it up to find her driver’s license featured a picture of her wearing a mask.
Lesley Pilgrim got her ID with a greeting that read, “Congratulations, enclosed is your newly designed California driver license,” CBS Sacramento reported Wednesday.
“I knew the picture was not going to be good because license pictures are never good, but I did not expect the picture to be with my mask on,” she explained.
Pilgrim said when she went to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for the picture, she did not want to risk removing her mask without explicit instructions because she did not want to be sent to the back of the three-hour long line.
When it was her turn for a photo, the DMV worker snapped two pictures, the first of Pilgrim still wearing her mask and the second without it.
“I sign it and I then I go home, and unfortunately he had used my picture with my mask on, and that’s what showed up on my Real ID,” Pilgrim recalled.
“My first reaction was, I was concerned,” she told KCRA. “This can’t be legal identification. There’s no way if I give this to a police officer or TSA agent, they won’t arrest me.”
On what appeared to be her dad’s Facebook page, Larry Pilgrim shared a photo of his daughter’s ID, writing, “I wonder if there will be any issues with, say, flying, buying liquor, banking…? Oh well, good enough for Government Work!”:
My daughter, Lesley Pilgrim, got her new “Real ID” today from the DMV. Hmmmmm…. I wonder if there will be any issues with,say, flying, buying liquor, banking…? Oh well, good enough for Government Work!
Posted by Larry Pilgrim on Monday, February 15, 2021
DMV spokesperson Anita Gore said there was some miscommunication regarding the incident.
“We’ve gone over the protocols with our employees so they now know, you know, double-check,” she commented.
The agency has since contacted Pilgrim to reschedule her appointment and she will receive another ID at no cost, the KCRA article read.
“The DMV office I went to, everyone was so polite, so patient, they are all working so hard, they are providing an essential service, so I’m really grateful for them,” Pilgrim said. “This was clearly just a mistake.”
