Yes, I know all the jokes, I know the view held of it in common society, I know what to expect when I go in; but I still just can't get over the opposite of helpfulness (I'm not sure what word fits best, but that's the idea) that exists in that place.
I went in the other day to get a title changed to our name from Kacey's grandmother. I thought I had most of the stuff I should have had, and I had looked on the DMV's website to figure out what I needed. The one-word responses from the older African-American lady who 'helped' me were less than adequate. I ended up having to get a more current safety inspection, and an affidavit signed by Kacey's grandmother to get this stuff completed. Those got taken care of finally, and I made 3 trips between the car at the shop (which I left there since I was driving Kacey's car around) and the DMV to finish getting all the forgotten details together which I kept realizing once I got back to the DMV's parking lot.
Finally, I went in and was told I needed my personal property tax receipt from last year. Nowhere on their website did it tell me this. I asked the younger Caucasian woman if there was any way around that. She looked it up in her computer and told me that it wasn't in the system. I proceeded to head over to the County Collector's office to see about getting a receipt. The middle-aged Caucasian man there told me we should have gotten a receipt in the mail, and that it was logged in their system that we had paid. I asked him if I could get the receipt for it. He told me there was a one dollar charge. I checked my wallet (though I knew I'd find no cash there), and dug in my pockets for loose change (of which I had about 8 cents). I informed the man that I had no cash. He basically told me, "Tough luck." I briefly contemplated breaking the separating window and throttling him. One dollar?! One dollar?!?!?!?! One dollar is not a deterrence for people losing their receipts. One dollar is not enough money to pay for the supplies and effort they put into making those receipts. One dollar is an insult to anyone who comes in that place. Most retail outlets try not to run credit cards under around $5 or so. I thought about getting my debit card out and demanding he take it, but they'd probably put some sort of charge on there to offset the cost of them having to do that, on top of the insult. From that point, I decided there's no way they're getting my dollar.
I went back home, and dug around for the receipt, which I thought I found, and proceeded to wait a bit so that hopefully my timing would work out to get the title stuff done, and then pick Kacey up at work. After waiting in line another 15 minutes, I got up to the very 'helpful' African-American woman again, who proceeded to mimic my "last piece of changing the title over" statement, and then told me I needed my personal property tax receipt from last year. I just about burst a blood vessel as I pushed it toward her. She replied, "That's your real estate tax receipt." I was visibly angered at that point. She almost helped by looking the receipt up in the computer again, which I explained the moron at the collector's office had told me it was in their system, but that the DMV didn't update their system that often. She gave me a noncommittal shrug and blew me off. I was furious.
I'm about to head back in there today, and I'm trying to find a way to make sure I don't make too much of a scene once I get back and find out there's something else I've forgotten/they didn't tell me about/doesn't exist.
I worked in customer service. I understand that often if you treat people better, they'll treat you better, and there have been some minor victories in my court on changing some customers' later actions by treating them well. By the same token, I got affected by the way I was treated by some customers whose lack of recognition for other humans was less than exemplary. I try to be nice, and to say hi, and work with people who work helping others; but it gets to a point that I can't tolerate a certain level of apathy for helping others, even if you apparently can't possibly get fired no matter how crappy you treat people. How much more effort does it take to offer solutions for problems you know people are going to have, and people have all the time with your agency, and will continue to have with your agency because your agency does nothing to assist people? The answer: Little enough for you not to notice, but enough to make your life better if you attempt to help a few people, especially the ones that are trying to make it easier on you.
Though, I have turned over a new leaf since becoming self-employed. No more Mr. Nice Guy all the time. Some days, I'm going to be edgy, and severe. Let's just hope they don't make me angry today. They wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
There's always a choice, brother,
j
