Drivers License Exam Station

I know it’s normal to rag on the DPS but here’s the catch — these guys are REALLY nice! I mean, I almost feel bad for writing this review, but it must be said because something really needs to change here.
First the good:
The employees are nice. They’ll probably hold the door open for you and fetch you a drink if you asked. Maybe a footrub too if you’ve had a long day.
The offices are clean. There’s no funny smells, foul stains on the walls, or greasy hand prints all over the place. And the waiting room (Cattle pen) is a large, open area with a big, if too dark, HDTV playing my favorite news station. Thumbs up!
Now the bad:
VERY inefficient.
The Story:
Our trip began with a walk to the front of the DPS office where a big stand was erected (heheh, you said erected — heheh!) with one of those red government «Take a number» spools attached. It was 1:30pm though so all the numbers were gone. So we signed up on the waiting list under the spool, which we later found out was called the «Not Guaranteed» list. Great, eh?
Then we found a spot in the cattle pen, labeled «DPS Waiting Room» with a piece of paper taped to the wall. Inside was a big TV that was nice, but miscalibrated to be too dark to be enjoyable, but that’s a side issue. After 30 minutes of waiting we noticed that the numbers to be called had only changed twice. This was our first clue to a problem.
You see, there were at least 25 people in the waiting room. At a rate of one every 15 minutes they’d not finish handling people before 7:30PM! About another 10 minutes later I realized that no one ever stopped in to look at the room and see how many were waiting either, so the employees either didn’t know or care how backlogged they were getting. This is bad.
Another 10 minutes goes by and a jolly guy with a happy tone pops in and tells us that we need to stand up when the number changes and ask if anyone has that number. Just to make his job easier. Um… wait, isn’t that YOUR job? You’re paid to come here every day and move these people, some of which have been waiting on your slow butt for HOURS, through the queue. Anything you can do to help the customer is good, but don’t have the gall to stand in front of a room with a mix of gangsters and old ladies and expect that they’re going to stand up and call out numbers for you. Hire some kid to do that if you want to make your job easier.
Anyway, he finished his speech and nothing changed (not surprisingly). The number still ticked by slowly and people either went when their number came up or they didn’t. No one stood up and yelled «Hey, does anyone have 799?» I’m sure Jolly was disappointed.
We never made it in to handle our business this day because after 3 hours they never got around to us so we left. We did however get in the next day and after the same problems, same speeches, and same stupid 3 hour wait we finally got our DPS business handled and I’ll be kicked with a steel toed boot if I ever want to go through that again. next time I’ll just go to a small town office and get my stuff handled by people that remember what customer service is all about.
My suggested fixes:
1. Place a camera from the «Cattle Pen» to the DPS employees office so employees can look
up and see «OMG there’s 30 people in there! WTF let’s hurry guys!!! «(whip sound, whapish!)
2. Call numbers yourself or allow less time between numbers. Jolly the Employee said they wait
3 minutes or more between calling a number and seeing if someone shows up at the desk.
One minute is enough time for the most elderly person to get up and get to the desk.
Anything more than that is a waste of everyone’s time.
3. Hire a number caller if you won’t do it yourself to keep customers moving just like a doctor’s
office. High school kids would LOVE to get a look at the inner workings of the DPS and they’d
have something to put on their resume. You can probably get them to volunteer for this from
age 15 – 17, which is perfect for a first job.
4. Dont depend on people policing themselves. No one will stand up in a room full of «gangstas»
and, without any authority, ask if anyone has the number that just flashed up on the board.
5. Most importantly, hire people with a sense of URGENCY to move customers through the
queue. Customers aren’t happy waiting for hours when NOTHING seems to be moving.
You might be doing the most sophisticated heart surgery behind your DPS counter but if
people aren’t seeing the line moving then they DO NOT CARE. They just get fed up and
leave. And yes, that’s really no skin off your nose since you’re a gov’t employee, but do you
really feel proud of your DPS office when it’s so poorly operated that people feel a need to
leave? How would you feel if a waitress didn’t deliver your food for 3+ hours? EXACTLY.
Conclusion:
Make an appt online if you go there. Sorry I’ve reached my Unilocal word limit :(