DMV is A-OK

In years past I used to go to great lengths to avoid visiting a California DMV office for any reason. The lines for "service" at hot, sweaty CalDMV field offices rivalled bread lines in the old USSR. A visit to DMV meant a long, uncomfortable standing wait in line to speak to a surly old battleaxe of a clerk with a smart mouth, a bad attitude and virtual immunity from discipline thanks to Civil Service who seemed to want to be there even less than you did. When I absolutly HAD to visit the DMV, I either made an appointment online (much shorter wait, but the same surly staff), went to the local Cal AAA office (which handles some DMV business with a staff that is far more friendly) or went to a remote DMV field office in a smaller town like Lodi or Jackson where the lines were far shorter and the staff was a lot friendlier.

I expected much the same kind of wait-in-line hell from my visit to DMV today. Boy was I in for a surprise. My expectations were exceeded by such a margain as to be blogworthy. The facility I visited was fairly new, not a building that was built in the middle of the Cold War. Gone was the single long, slow, endless queue that wrapped back and forth in rope-boundary lanes like a ride at Disneyland. Standing in long lines is not good for my legs. Replacing it was a short-n-snappy "Start Here" triage line that was over almost before it began. The attractive young woman listened to my issue and handed me a number. By the time I'd whipped out an ebook to read while I waited, my number was called.
Waiting to serve me at the counter (not the usual straight line of windows but a jagged series of triangles that reminded me of a "star fort" from the 30 Years War) was another attractive and capable young woman with a positive attitude. She handled the transaction and I was out of there in less than 10 minutes.
Color me amazed appreciative and very pleased. Amazed because the conventional wisdom among American politicos - abetted by a certain loathsome species of conservative politico - is that it is impossible for government to do anything efficlently. Indeed in their view Government IS the problem in America today, that private enterprise would do a better job than a government agency. Frankly, today I got much better service from DMV than I've gotten from some for-profit corporations. As a customer service professional, I recognize and appreciate good service when I get it. I never hesitate to fill out surveys and speak my mind about how how well I was served. I'm certainly going to let DMV know that this field office is doing a great job. Whatever share of the DMV fee I paid today goes to operating the field office, I begrudge not a cent of it. Finally I am pleased that DMV was respectful of my time. Many large organizations, no matter what their PR says, could really care less about the amount of time a client or customer spends dealing with them. In the case of DMV, it isn't as if a dissatisfied customer could threaten to take their business to the competition.