No Matter What I Say, You Just Hear What You Want, Dontcha?

[Mondestrucken]

Hi, all. It's been almost 2 years since I posted here, although I read regularly. I work at the DMV, the home of driver's licenses and car registrations.

Starting about six months ago, my state instituted new laws and policies. You must prove that you are in the US legally. If you have non-Immigrant status (say a student visa, or a limited term work assignment), your license will expire the day your Immigration status does. End bg/

Last night, all hell broke loose. You would have thought we were handing out free tickets to paradise, we were so busy. Anyway, I am waiting on some guy who keeps telling me that he is not a car dealer, but he wants to title 12 out of state salvage titles in his name. Please. No one's hobby extends to 12 recent models. So while I am working through the 3 I will agree to do (I am allowed to set limits for large amounts of transactions if it impacts general customer service), a clerk comes up to me and says that her customer's license expired, and that I told them I would just GIVE them an extension. The clerk even pulled the copy of the original paperwork to make certain that there is no special circumstance. So the clerk is barraged by the customer who is insisting that I promised what they want.

I finally finished with Mr. I-Am-Not-A-Dealer, and the other customer is demanding to speak with me. Really? Because while you were waiting for me, I now remember you. This is the customer who applied for a license on 7/15/13, and when I started to type it up, I saw that their visa expires 7/30/13. I warned him: you are paying $25 for a license that will only be good for 2 weeks.

Oh, yes, yes, yes, he has applied for an extension on his visa. Sir, I am sorry, but applying is not enough. You have to have been granted the extension AND have proof AND be verified through the INS system.

The clerk later asked me how I shut him down so fast, because he would not listen to what she was saying. Simple: the law is the law, and I told him the law upfront. Whine all you want about how you need to drive: you won't do it legally.
Not only that: he gets to pay $25 all over again, and I warned him about that also!

Gotta go: a clerk just warned me that a customer who was taking a test just tried to shove the test down the front of his pants and claim that he had to use the bathroom. Nice try, bucko! We have you on surveillance cameras.

[raudf]

Please, please tell me that very last customer won't ever get his license. Somehow I don't want to think this pee-brained idiot is driving.

[sms001]

been almost 2 years since I posted here, although I read regularly. I work at the DMV,

I can well imagine that you could fill the front page if you had the time.

Visa dude? I can totally understand that if you gotta drive, you gotta drive. You fork out your $25 for the two weeks. But at that point, you should be waiting on your already completed paperwork so you CAN come back and shell out again.

Say it with me class: "A lack of planning on your part......"

[Geek King]

Gotta go: a clerk just warned me that a customer who was taking a test just tried to shove the test down the front of his pants and claim that he had to use the bathroom. Nice try, bucko! We have you on surveillance cameras.

Really? If you can't pass a U.S. driving exam with a week to read the rulebook without cheating, you should not be on the road. Herman Munster passed that part off-screen, for crying out load!

[TopEndDave]

I work at the DMV, the home of driver's licenses and car registrations.

DMV (or as my location calls it Motor Vehicle Registration) is not like a retail shop. There is no competition, the customer needs them if they wish to drive and the staff have to follow the law. Yet, SC's seem to think that there normal tactics will work there. A customer is not always right at the DMV and staff will say no.

I have been stuck in line at my local MVR while an SC argued with the staff member about trying to do an illegal transfer of ownership. He left after 15 minutes claiming that it was stupid that he couldn't do it.

A friend of mine used to work the front counter, call center and back office at the MVR. One day a SC told him that he was wrong and another staff member had approved it. He checked the letter and he was the person to write. Then he made sure that he had his name tag on and waited until the SC realized it. SC gave up trying argue that person A had approved it when he finally realized he was talking to person A.

[taxguykarl]

Really? If you can't pass a U.S. driving exam with a week to read the rulebook without cheating, you should not be on the road.

Especially since the written test (at least in Illinois) is mostly common sense.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Especially since the written test (at least in Illinois) is mostly common sense.

Isn't common sense almost considered a super power these days? It is also non-existent among SCs.

[dawnfire]

Isn't common sense almost considered a super power these days? It is also non-existent among SCs.

well it ain't that common anymore.

[wolfie]

Especially since the written test (at least in Illinois) is mostly common sense.

If that's the case, I expect there's at least a 90% failure rate.

[Setsunaela]

My written test was all rote memorization of facts.. Like what percentages of wrecks are caused by drunk drivers, and how many points do you get for this or that infraction, and "approximately _____ highway deaths are estimated to occur due to drowsy driving every year" with the multiple choices being different numbers..

[fireheart]

Mine was also multiple choice with a combination of facts and rules. For instance, one of the questions was "crashes are primarily caused by" with the answers being seatbelts, in attention or alcohol. Another question might've been "what does [the roundabout sign] mean?" With a bunch of choices being made available.

The other half of the learning test consisted of ten give way questions where you were presented with a scenario and had to mark who was meant to give way in each scenario. If you got one of those wrong, you Failed the test as a whole. You could get ten wrong in the multiple choice section. I passed with only three wrong.

For the actual driving test to get your provisional licence, you had to demonstrate the manoeuvres needed (start, stop, hill start, u turn, 3-point turn, standard turn, reverse turn, parking at a 90-degree angle and parallel parking) plus demonstrate general traffic awareness. You had the option of either doing it all at once and that was it, or completing a series of lessons and doing a similar test at the end. You needed 60% to pass (from memory) and I got 80% with the lesson and test option. My partner did the test alone (he was having lessons but was running out of time) and you had to get 90% for that one. He just scraped in at 92%.

Just for fun, you can practice the South Aussie test here. http://www.raa.com.au/page.aspx?TerID=192

[Grendus]

Ugh, I hated those parts of the test. Drivers ed for me was pretty much nothing but a "don't drink/text and drive" fest. Totally useless, anybody who agreed with them already knew it, and the partiers couldn't care less, the only thing that will stop them driving while drinking is something very solid in the path of their car. Then we get to the test, which was rote memorization of facts like how many people YOUR AGE died THIS YEAR from drinking/texting and driving. Ugh.

[Android Kaeli]

While on the subject of the DMV and testing for a license, I find it pretty funny that the only time I have EVER parallel parked was when I took the test. And I've had my license for just over thirteen years now. Fully understand that there Re areas where one HAS to parallel park, but I haven't done it since.

[fireheart]

Speaking of testing, my sister and boyfriend were both annoyed that they had to demonstrate the parallel park maneuvre but I got to skip it.
It was too wet for me to be able to do it safely with the crappy visibility. So he instead asked me which parts you look at when you're backing in for a parallel park. He signed me off on that one as a result

On a side note, it took me several tries to get the u-turn standalone lesson signed off, but I had no problem signing off the street u-turns