Early Morning Run In With the Law

On my way home from the gym early this morning I got pulled over by the police!  Can you guess what my very evil and naughty offense was?  That's exactly what I was wondering as I pulled over and waited for the officer to come to my window.  What did I do?  Did I not stop long enough at a red light before I turned right?  Was I unknowingly speeding?  Did I forget to signal before I changed lanes?  Nope!  It was none of those things.  I got pulled over because one of my front headlights was burned out.  Now I can see that the police might see the need to inform citizens about the fact that their headlights are burned out because it's sometimes hard to tell when you don't often see the front of your car.  The information would be helpful and keep everyone safe on the road.  But not Officer I Haven't Met My Coda For My Shift, or Officer I'm Miserable Working So Early In The Morning And Everyone Else Should Be Miserable Too, or Officer I'm Really Bored And Have Nothing Else To Do.  That's right.  He took my license, registration and proof of insurance and issued me a citation!  Can you believe that?  I've been pulled over speeding and gotten off with a warning.  I've been pulled over for rolling through a stop sign and been given a warning.  But getting written up over a headlight?  What gives?  And what do the police do in their cars once you give them all your documents?  Run a full background check on you?  Do I look dangerous (granted, I probably looked pretty scary without make up and after a workout)?  I sat there waiting for TEN MINUTES watching my plans for my carefully planned out morning go down the drain.  That's right.  I planned my morning to the minute so that I didn't have to wake up one minute earlier than I absolutely needed to and still get everything done.  It took me until almost 2:00 p.m. to recover that precious 10 minutes.

So I guess I'm off to get my headlight changed and then to hunt down a police officer to verify that it has indeed been changed and sign my citation so that I don't have a fine.  It's not a huge deal, but right now it's just one more thing to do and more importantly one more thing to REMEMBER to do.  I wonder when I find an officer to sign my citation if he'll just laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation, which was what I wanted to do this morning to the officer that pulled me over.  But I'll be honest, I'm scared of policemen.  I didn't want additional citations for being rude or disrespectful.  What would you have done?