I had to go to the DMV today. I know. I really don’t like to go there, especially since they got rid of the awesome machine that would spit out your tags after you paid your registration. No human interaction or lines? Sign me up!
And yes, I was forced to go in. When you’re replacing your plates and need to surrender the old one, you kinda have to physically go in. Fortunately, I made an appointment. Almost a month ago. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find my appointment. I forgot to print out my confirmation and the woman couldn’t find it. I had written down my appointment time, but didn’t note the confirmation number. Silly me, I thought they’d have that on file. I forgot I was dealing with the government.
She did eventually find me, under my phone number. Not before she glared at me for daring to glance in the general direction of her appointment list, though. I was trying to remember which phone number I had put in the reservation, and looked down while I was thinking. Her eyes narrowed as she covered up the list with her hand. Whatever, lady. I have better things to do with my time.
I did finally get a number though, and was relegated to wonder the waiting area until my number was called. Having an appointment does not keep you from waiting. But at least I didn’t have to wait in the line that was out the door and down the sidewalk, right?
Once I got to an open window, the woman there was pleasant. She quickly processed my paperwork and sent me on to the inventory window. Ah, lovely inventory. And actually, that woman was the most pleasant of all. She chatted briefly, but was mostly business. Extremely polite. Efficient, even. I was done in under a minute.
Given all of that, I’d have to rate my DMV experience as almost pleasant. Not enjoyable, but I was in there for about 6-7 minutes past my appointment time. Not bad at all. Thank goodness for appointments. I still prefer to do my stuff online, but will never do the in-person stuff without an appointment again if I can help it.
