:: The Blurst of Times ::

:: 11.01.2004 ::

Wrong Side of the Coin

Well, after that seemingly unforgiving and unrelenting (and unending) tirade about the faults of a system driven purely by market flooding and demand, I will, in interest of being a “fair and balanced” source, present an example of the other extreme.

I spent last friday morning in the Michigan Department of Motor Vehicles. I had to do two things there: change my license and change my truck tags. One of these things got done and it took two trips, three employees, and almost three hours. The DMV is the epitome of what can happen when there is no competition whatsoever.

Let me walk you through it: I get there at 9 (promptly when they open), I wait at the front desk for a couple minutes. A pleasant looking lady comes out of the back office. I tell her what I need, show her my old license and she tells me I need further ID. Oh, okay, so I drive back across town, get my birth certificate (something I coincidentally got back just last weekend) and head back to the DMV. Again, I wait at the front desk, lady comes out of the back office, tells me again that I need more ID. No, you told me last time this would work. No, I was mistaken, you need more. Finally, we reach the conclusion that what I have is adequate, she hands me a form to fill out and I sit and wait. There are maybe a dozen people waiting and three people working behind the desks. Twenty minutes later, they call my number. I go to the counter. To spare you the details, reviewing my documents (Oh my, you have a Kansas drivers license, an Iowa birth certificate, and a Nebraska title... how crazy!), reviewing my form (Could you spell your last name? Ma’am it’s on the form. Yes, but it’s faster if you just say it.), getting the form signed by the manager, discussing with the manager the necessary steps to take to include a motorcycle operator on my license ($13.50), discussing my choice of checks, double checking my information (Is this how you spell your last name?), checking my eyes (twice [well, I couldn’t remember if you had done it or not, if I don’t write it down I forget, so just run through those top lines again, would you]), and punching my old license all takes about forty-five minutes. Then the signature - five minutes. Then the picture - five minutes. Then: Okay, I think we have everything; that should be in your mailbox within thirty days.

Alright, thanks, now I need to register my truck. Sorry, can’t do that until you have michigan insurance. Well, I’m going to get that when my other insurance runs out. Then you can come back later and get new plates, not today. Bye.

And the whole time, the woman who is helping me is asking another lady about taking her break. A break! I was under the impression that once you got health insurance with your job you didn’t really get breaks anymore.

I can’t be too hard on them. They were pleasant, never rude, never short. The biggest problem is the slow deliberateness with which these people operate. In every service-based industry, whether it is TV, radio, print, medicine, being a landscape architect, (I’m trying to appeal to my mass-readership here), whatever, a certain amount of hustle is involved. Why? Because the bottom line is that you are trying to present your product (quality notwithstanding) to your client in a timely fashion. Why? Because otherwise they’ll go some place else. With the DMV, there is no some place else. There is only and will ever only be the DMV.

“I’ve been to hell, I spell it - spell it D-M-V. Anyone who’s been there knows exactly what I mean...”

:: Freddy F. at 10:23 PM [+] ::

Comments:

I feel for you!

# posted by  Bree : 12:32 AM

 

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