Two Dollars

Today I officially finished my training as an HIV-tester and counselor - yay! The most amusing thing about it was the surprise on my windshield after I did a test. I had plugged the meter for 40 minutes in the very large, metropolitan downtown area of Missoula. Well, since it actually took me 47 minutes to return to my car, and I am sure that the parking monitor was just sitting there and waiting for the meter to tick down to zero and for the "Time EXPIRED" red flag to pop up, I received my very first Missoula parking ticket. I actually laughed out loud, however, when I reached into the envelope and read that my fine was $2. TWO DOLLARS???? Wow. I am pretty sure the last parking ticket I paid in Milwaukee, well over three years ago, was $15-20. A fine of $15-20 would actually make sense for the city so they can make some revenue. Two dollars? That probably pays for only 10 minutes of the parking monitor's pay for the day. Where is the sense in that? Although I guess I can't really complain...I mean, two dollars is way better than paying way more. But, then I add on the money for the stamp, and that increases the fine by about 20% to $2.41. What is this world coming to?