Or: go to the courthouse to get on a payment plan or ask the judge to waive the ticket or let you perform community service. It's not like you're the only person ever who hasn't been able to pay a ticket, that scenario gets handled all the time with zero drama.
The notion that "this is probably negotiable" is one of the things that persistently separates rich people from poor people in my experience. (That is partially a knowledge thing, partially a culture thing, and at least partially a "people tolerate rich people having a cavalier disregard for The Rules a lot more than they tolerate poor people in the same situation" thing.)
The notion that "this is probably negotiable" is one of the things that persistently separates rich people from poor people in my experience.
When I landed myself in this situation, that was exactly the problem: I felt like the Big Bad Court System would never cut a stupid kid like me any slack, and it just never occurred to me that I should talk to them and see what could be done about it. After trying unsuccessfully to deal reasonably with the DMV on the issue, I sort of assumed every aspect of the government was always out to screw me over in any way possible.
In my experience, the notion that "I should go to the casino to try to get out of this" is one of those things, as well. They're both reflections of the same underlying issue, the division between "I'm helpless" vs. "I can do something". It's a little mind-bending to read a post that tries to frame gambling as something someone in the latter category would do.
