Into The Lion's Den

It was DMV day, something I had NOT been looking forward to.  Our local office has been in the same location for over 69 years.  It's made of concrete and WAY too small for the amount of people in our County.

They have been notorious ever since I can remember, for being rude, belligerent and gestapo-ish.  It was soon time to head into the Lion's Den!!!

You CAN make appointments, and I most certainly did.  Usually you get an appointment for the next day.  I had to wait a week.  That should have been the first indication.  When I got to the door, the ante room was packed to the brim with bodies spilling outside.  Yikes!!

Since the configuration had changed, I asked for directions to the appointment line.  No one spoke a word, I'm guessing because no one spoke English.  After looking at the signs on the ceiling, I discovered a path to the appointment line.  Lo and behold, no one was IN that line.  YAY for me!!!

Wasn't I surprised when a smiling young lady immediately told me to go to her counter.  She handed me the paperwork to fill out and said to go to the back wall to complete it.  I threaded my way through wall to wall, shoulder to shoulder packed humanity.

When done, I went straight back through the same group to her station where I got a number ... 4924.  Watch the monitor she said ... when you see that number, go to the window number shown.  I told her how nice it was to see a smiling face in this building.  She blushed.

Luckily, I got a seat, but only because I pointed to it and the nice man shook his head.  I tried to strike up a conversation, but he didn't speak English either.

You know ANYONE can now come in and get a drivers license (U.S. citizen or not) ... and believe me, EVERYONE is doing that!!  Not helping matters, the DMV office has ten window stations, TEN ... not counting four more for driver's licenses.  Of those ten, only FIVE were staffed.  I counted 77 people ... I wish I could make that bold and huge ...... 77 people waiting to be called, not counting all the people in the ante room and out the door.  If they have TEN WINDOWS, why are only FIVE of them open????

My number was finally called, and I quietly went to the window.  That cranky, rude person still works there.  It was difficult for me to concentrate on what she was saying.  I kept looking at her red (and I mean dyed RED) hair.  I explained about the address change, the business closing and losing my mail.

Once she completed the lien transfer paperwork, she stated my truck license was due.  Yes, ma'am ... in June.  I've been waiting for DMV to send the paperwork.  IT'S DUE she stated again.  Okay then, and I wrote out a check for $420, a $75 increase over last year because they need more money for the high speed rail train to nowhere.  What can I say, it's California.  If they need more money, they just tack on another charge to your license tags.

She handed me the tags and I beat a hasty retreat ... or at least I tried to.  I couldn't find a way through the sea of people to get to the door.  I finally plowed through the line into the appointment line and went the wrong direction against incoming traffic until I hit the door.  

I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief, mostly because I could actually breathe a little fresh air.  There's nothing like an overabundance of bodies requiring soap!!  

I did it!!  I survived the Lion's Den.  I can't believe I even did it in ONE trip.  The entire experience took about 45 minutes.  

While there, I was able to read up a bit on the new California Driver's License.  Wait until you hear THAT story.  If you are actually a resident (and a US citizen), you now have to PROVE it before you can get a REAL drivers license, as opposed to the fake license they are giving anyone and everyone.  But that's tomorrow's story!!