Benjamin Franklin was wrong. There are in fact three things certain in life: death, taxes, and a long line at the DMV.

However, this past week, when I found myself waiting for more than an hour in the DMV waiting area, I realized that the waiting was not even close to the most frustrating part of my visit.

Most notably, there was a drunken man who woke up a few minutes after I arrived. Pleased to see a large crowd waiting, he took it upon himself to entertain everyone with a one man show about what happens in county jail.

The DMV employees didn’t blink an eye or ask him to leave. It was as if I was trapped in a bad “Saturday Night Live” sketch.

When my number was finally called, I came face-to-face with a woman who stumbled over my questions and handed me two vague pamphlets as answers.

There was no “How are you today?” or even a “Sorry for the delay.”

I am aware that this is a courtesy, and most employees don’t actually care, but it’s the little things that make an experience.

Like in education, benefits and salaries have been cut for all government employees, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to be lazy or rude.

It’s no wonder Americans are weary of giving more control to the government- who in their right mind would want a hospital or bank with lines and customer satisfaction like the DMV?

If I had a magic wand, I would now wave it over all the DMV offices of California and end this problem forever. But in reality you cannot motivate the unmotivated, and you can’t change the way some systems work.
 
But what you can do is narrate your incredibly frustrating experiences. Perhaps enough DMV horror stories will spur the change an overflowing suggestion box could not.
 

Contact Lina Pervez at [email protected]