Are you required to be a pain in the butt or is that just something that comes naturally?
Ok...well myself being a government employee (professional educator), this doesnt apply to all that work for the government.
I dont know what it is that drives people to sit down and look at a computer all day and call that a career. But, these people sometimes do that. Maybe its lack of a decent education, no desire to succeed, who knows. Let me clarify...this article is specifically directed with the DMV in mind. There are many many people who work for Uncle Sam and for that, I applaud you...but I have an issue with the DMV and its people.
A few weeks ago...I managed to misplace my wallet. Its one of those things where I KNOW its in my apartment somewhere, but I havent found it. We have torn the place all apart and back and it is nowhere to be found. Since then...I havent had any form of identification other than my work IDs. So, today I decide to go down to the local DMV office. Now, I dont know about you, but I have never had a good experience with the DMV. I dont know what it is. But there doesnt seem to be one person there that really knows what is going on. This isnt just my local DMV, but Ive been to quite a few DMV offices since I got my license, and everywhere I go...it seems that these people dont know how to do their job.
Case in point. A few years back...I got my motorcycle license and went to the local DMV to get it put on my Liscense. No big deal, so I thought. I gave them the test results of the course I took and they put it in the computer and whamo, a few weeks later, I get...the same stupid license in the mail, with no motorcycle endorsement, instead....I get a handgun endorsement!
Handgun endorsement? WTF?! That really had me confused. I had to think for a while on that one. I dont own a gun and never will. Personal choice. I dont mind shooting them...but I just chose not to own one. Marcie I think will eventually get her fathers few shotguns that he has. the biggest gun Ive shot is the .22. Anyways, waayyy back in 6th grade...I took a firearms safety course where I recieved a certificate of completion. But, I dont know how the heck that got on the license computer system. I called and asked, and they said thats what it was and it works for them. So, I had to go back in and ask them again to send me the correct card wtih my bike endorsement on there.
Today...I went into get my duplicate License. When I got up to the first booth I need to go to, the guy said I needed an ID. So I gave him my work ID. He said that wouldnt work, but I would have to bring in a social security card. So, I get back on the bike, and head back home, get the card and come back. Now Im told that not only do I have to have a social security card, but I also need a birth certificate, passport, or military card. Well my passport is expired so that probably wouldnt work, and Im not in the military. As far as my birth certificate; my mom has that in MN. I feel it is safer up there than it is down here as I would rather just not have that on my hands to worry about losing.
Now...I can see their point in wanting this stuff...BUT, like I said before...then she went on to mention how I can bring in lots and lots of bills and how that would work. So I go out to my bike and I take all sorts of crap out of there. Reciepts from the clinics, the bike reciept, registration crap...I ended up taking about 10 things out of the bike that had my name and address on it. So I bring it inside and show that to the same exact lady who then tells me that those wont work! At this point...Im getting rather ticked, because first they told me I needed a social security card, which I brought back. Then I was told that wasnt enough and I would need to have lots of bills to verify my address. Im then told thats not enough. So I tell her why the heck cant she just go on the computer and look up my license on there because it will have my picture right on the stupid thing. While that is a good idea, she isnt allowed to do that. So she sends me off to a manager and I know thats not going to do me any good because Ive gone that route before at this DMV and gotten nowhere (which makes me wonder what the job of a supervisor is). She tells me the same thing. I show her my bike registration stuff and I tell her that she can look up on her computer that I currently have a registration issue pending with them...thinking that would be surefire identification information.
My thing is that I have about 234234230498 ways of identifying myself and none of them work. And of the very few select ways they demand...I only have one which is a week away via postal service. Now, Id really be up a creek if I didnt have that birth certificate. This is just plain silly. I think if anything, they should be very cautious when issuing a license the first time and when a duplicate is needed, they shouldnt be so strict. When I first got my license...I just went in and smile and whammo, I had my ID. Now getting a duplicate, they make me jump through all these hoops. Its like buying a new car and there are no issues...but you buy a used car and holy crap the poo hits the fan....red tape everywhere.
I guess I dont know who I am angry with. It seems to be spread throughout the whole system. The buildings themselves are fairly large and waste incredible amounts of space for very few employees. There are about maybe 30 cubes and they never run fully staffed. And lots of times, after an employee works with a customer...they get up and leave for a while....taking a break or whatever. I know this happens because the system is so slow that one can wait for up to two hours or more. On top of that...I had an issue a while back where I had a gap insurance coverage...my bike wasnt covered for 2 weeks. This was on purpose and I put the bike in storage thinking that would have been acceptable. This was back in January. In the middle of May, I get a card in the mail from the dmv stating that the bikes registration will be suspended unless I fork over 250 bucks.
First off...Ive had my vehicles uninsured and sitting on my lawn for months at a time with no deal. Down here in Nevada, with a small two week gap of coverage, they freak out and expect me to have 250 bucks lying around somwhere to pay them to shut up. Along with that, 2 weeks of no coverage is unacceptable, BUT if I had the bike uninsured for 3 months or more, that would have been fine with them and I could get away with it. I was able to prove the bike was locked up in storage and still they wanted my money. Then when I come in to give them the money, they some how manage to mess the story up. They talk about how a issue that I had for coverage from Nov to Jan was taken care of. I knew that! That wasnt the orgininal issue that was threatening to take way my coverage! He told me he couldnt do anything until I got a new card from the DMV and Id have to bring it in. The issue I was dealing with them in the first place was the two week coverage gap; yet when I go in to pay...they say 'oh the issue for November - Jan was taken care of...now we have this two week gap of coverage we need to deal with, but you need to get another card in the mail...until that happens I cant do anything." That just doesnt make sense on so many levels. Its been almost two months now...and I have no card that has come in the mail.
I dont know what needs to be changed. The people that I dealt with today were just doing their jobs...but they were also giving me 3 different answers to my question. When they told me to do something and I did it, I come back and get a different answer saying that what i did wasnt good enough. They dont have enough employees and the employees they do have dont really give a crap and appear to work fairly slowly. They waste large amounts of space where more people could be sitting down with a rep and getting their business taken care of. The computer system they have also appears to need a big fix. They need to be flexible to the people as well. If a person made an honest mistake, that should be taken into consideration when dealing out penalties and fines of laws that most people arent aware of.
Ah...but who am I...just number H598 waiting for window 29.
"