That doesn't help the stress of their jobs. Plus people treat them like shit.

Oregon DMV isn't that bad, but I haven't actually been in an office in almost a decade. Which reminds me, my license expires soon.

The person working the window has no control over how many people working there and it doesn't make sense to dump on them.

I usually go to a Milwaukee station but the waits are usually an hour.

So I drove up to the station in Ozaukee county, which isn't much farther from my house, walked in and walked right up to the counter. Done in five minutes.

Amazing the difference in service between Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties. Wonder why?

I have lived in CT, NY and now NJ.

NEVER, ever, has the line been "only" 1 hour at any DMV in those 3 states. One hour would be considered "fast" here.

Hours is more like it.

I imagine working at the DMV is like torture.

The amount of lost U.S. productivity to all those waiting in line is WAY MORE DOLLARS than hiring MORE DMV employees.

How many U.S. Workers spend 2-3 hours at the DMV, when they could be actually working.

The average DMV has about 10 "aisles", divided into "New Licenses", "Car Registration", etc. with HUNDREDS of people waiting for service. Are you telling me that someone can't do a study and calculate the amount of lost US worker productivity vs. hiring 3-5 more employees per DMV.

Why are DMVs so under staffed?

instilled furloughs. It's been that way since Schwartzenegger was Governor. The cuts have been deep and painful. We underwent a year of furloughs here in UC Berkeley where I work and there have been many years of layoffs too.

but the signs there were all about how if you are rude to the people behind the counter, you will be fined. So everyone stood there in line, silently, like they were waiting to order from the Soup Nazi. As each of us reached the window, the clerk on the other side of the counter found a way to be, if not outright rude, at least short and dismissive. One poor man who didn't speak very good English was sent to the back of the line because there was some hoop he hadn't jumped through. And there was no place to sit while you were in line; lots of older folks having trouble being in line for 20 or 30 minutes.

It was like something from the movie Brazil.

The DMV workers are private contract folks, not actual state employees. . . . I don't envy them their jobs, but being pleasant to the people they are dealing with would go a long way toward making the job better. . . .

are absolutely nice. On Halloween I have seen them in costumes.

they were super nice.

I was thinking about how stressful their jobs must be to post warnings like that. It's not their fault that the State has cut government jobs and instilled furloughs. We're really hurting in California.

and wait for your number to be called.

And I'm talking about branch offices that are spread around the state. Here, in West Virginia, they are an absolute marvel. I use them frequently and have used several different offices, its always the same. They are fast, very curtious, and incredibly well organized and knowledgable. I don't think its ever taken me more than 15 minutes from start to finish, and that would have been on a busy day, to do anything from a full title transfer with new tags to something simple like renewing something expired. I've lived in other states and so I know that ours is a real standout, but just to be honest about it, here in West Virginia our State Employees do an outstanding job - I have no complaints at all, in fact nothing but phrase for them.

I actually feel for them. They weren't rude or slow or even slightly disagreeable. They were fine. I was trying to make a statement about how sad and stressful it must be to work where the customer is considered a potential threat all the time.

There was nothing wrong with the service once you're at the window, but it did take a long time to get there.

budget cuts.

They are organized, as fast as possible, and always polite. I feel sorry for people who are under such job stress.

along with school bus drivers.

It was right after the "you didn't build that" thing started, he chose those two occupations as his examples of government worker losers who Obama wants to give the credit for all "us" winners' success. The audience loved it, they jeered the DMV workers and school bus drivers heartily.

One manhattan office, long lines, angry people. It took me two years to learn how to cope and by that time I got a better job.
Things are much improved now. Several offices, seats, less bureaucracy.

It provided me with stand up comedy material though!

The work itself is physically hard and it's torture on your feet, but sometimes the customers are horrible and it seems they treat you like crap just because they can! But most people are either decent or really quite nice to waiters and waitresses. But that one or two can be so damn mean!

I went back to school to learn how to use the computer so I didn't have to spend the rest of my life working as a waitress or receptionist. It was the best decision I ever made.

allows you to renew on-line. Which I just did. For two years.

When I first moved here four years ago the wait to get my car registered was not very long at all, maybe thirty minutes from the time I walked in to the time I walked out with my new license plate.

I wonder what the turnover of employees is at the MVDs like the ones so many have described here, with the ungodly long lines and wait times.

No wait, no hassle, no stress. A knowledgeable Auto Club employee trained and licensed by the state handles any curves with a timely explanation, and in a courteous manner.

I work at the DMV in Nevada, and the one thing i will say is it does get very frustrating when you have a completely thankless job, your pay constantly get's cut, you get no acknowledgement from supervisors and then you also have customer's constantly berating you when you had to tell them no because you have to abide by ridiculous rules that you had no hand in creating! Don't get me wrong I try to be as pleasant to people as i possibly can and so do many of my coworkers, but when you have people come up to you pissed off before you've even said good morning it kind of stresses you out.

The fact that one has waited for quite a long time, and probably has lost a days pay, and you never seem to have the correct form available - makes for cranky customers.

fancy meeting you in this old thread from September!

they hired some of the same people, but it isn't the same. And they don't offer all the same services anymore. One doesn't do drivers liscenses at all.

...this is at the Treasurer's office, where we pay for registration.

Some people mistakenly call it the DMV...but that is a different function, and I had a very good experience when I renewed my license.

and even a fine and conviction with prison time. If they threaten you the same would apply.

It could shut up some teabaggers or make them leave their loaded guns at home if they knew they could end up in jail.

I have had people arrested for just threats of bodily harm. Why Ted Nugent is still free is a puzzle to me unless they just want to keep him walking around as a tool to prove how insane Tea Bagging assholes are.