Jerry's recent post about his visit to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Indiana reminded me of a personal experience.
The small counties in this area are serviced one day a week by the DMV from the State of Nebraska. As long as I can remember they have taken up residence in our courthouse every Tuesday. They still do that. At the time of this story there were two men who had been license examiners for quite some time. At the same time I was driving a school bus for our local school and getting my Class A CDL to drive a split vehicle. (tractor/trailer) If you know anything about that then you already know that I had developed a close personal relationship with the examiners. I didn't know their names but we knew each other by sight well enough to be able to fake knowing each others names.
During one of my visits I had been disappointed by a remark that one of them had made. An elderly person had been trying get his license renewed ahead of time but had come in 60 days early. The examiner was very terse with the man and in a very sarcastic tone told him to "read right here on your letter" that you need to come in 30 days or less before your birthday. The old man shuffled out and the examiner looked at me and said "*@!*@* old people". My view of that man changed forever right there. I was thinking that someday, if he was lucky, he too might get old.
Now fast forward to the story. I was seated in the DMV room a few weeks later taking one of the myriad of tests involved with trying to learn how to be one of those *@!@* truck drivers. As I recall it was the test to get my Haz-Mat endorcement on my license.
As I was beginning the test the phone rang and whomever was on the other end of the line was obviously mad and having his way verbally with the examiner. There were a lot of lines like, "Yes sir" "No sir" "No I didn't realize I came across like that sir" "No it won't happen again sir".
After about 5 minutes the conversation had ended. While hanging up the phone he turned to the other examiner and asked, "Did you think we were rude to the lady who was in here about a half hour ago?" The other examiner said "I don't think so...Why, who was that on the phone?" The answer fully restored my faith in government on the state level. He said "That was the Governor."
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17 comments:
Cliff,
That's the way our BMV used to be. There were just the most hateful old women working there. No matter what you did, it was wrong. I think closing 27 of our license branches really thinned the herd, and shook up the rest.
I sent our Governor a copy of my blog post, and told him he was doing a great job.
good for the lady that complained and good for the gov. customer service needs to improve all over the united states!!!
Woo-hoo and ^5!!! I just love ultimate justice. THAT, Cliff, was even better than Paris Hilton sobbing her way back to the slammer hysterical and crying to her mommy.
Great post Cliff. Next time we talk I'll tell you about me being called into the Governor's Office. It was quite different and a lot of fun.
Ralph
Good for whoever complained and good for the Governor calling them about it! I hope they learn from that call and try to be nicer to folks. How dare them complain about old people!!!
wow...
We dont even have a DMV here...we have to go to the National Gaurd office.
But glad the Gov got this all straightend out.
Let it be a lesson to all of us....to change our names to..."Govenor"! ;)
That works in the land of the "Good Life." Our governorss don't have time to get very personal like that. They would talk nice to the LOL (Little Old Lady) but wouldn't mess with the help.
You see they are trying to be the next ... to offend either he public or the emmployees.
..
Agree with the fellow ahead, you would be hard pressed to get to speak to the gov here. Oh, and we have the liscence renewal offices... every day...eight to five...you have to stand in line for hours just to renew the darn thing. The line starts at 7:30am.
Cliff,
The thing about blogs is that they introduce us to people much different from us and we see life through a different set of glasses. I like your humor.
It ain't what you know...it's who you know.
Good on you Gov, seems these two needed to be pulled into line and it was done.
Don't you just LOVE seeing someone get their due?
It's the evil side of us, I guess, but it's nice to see a deserving person GET THEIRS!!
Rude people really annoy me.
We don't have a DMV or a DOT here. You just go downtown to the Revenue Office to take care of just about everything. I think you can even pay your electric bill there. :-)
Hi! I am just catching up on my blog reading! I can always count on you for a chuckle or a gafaw!
I haven't been around for awhile so took time to read a few posts. Love your stories and yes, I feel that guy got exactly what he deserved. Now coming from the great state of California, can you just hear our govenor. He would end with "Hasta Lavista, baby".
I am certain I just murdered Spanish and the famous quote, but what the heck, I am busy packing for the NYC trip and running out of memory. . . my own not the computer.
Cliff,
Glad that your Govenor is "people" oriented. it is nice to see that State Government isn't too far from where it should be! I think I might just move your way someday! Our Govenor isn't that accessable. I actually think that he would never ever return the call of a citizen, not even a famous one! Unless the checkbook were open and a contribution were being made, say in six figures!
Wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that conversation. Too funny.
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