On Saturday, I made the mistake of going to the office of the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles in Norwalk. The lease on my car had ended, and I needed to turn in the license plates to the state. The entire transaction took about 45 seconds. I handed the plates to the clerk, told him my lease had ended, and he printed out a receipt and gave it to me. That was the good part.
Here's the rest. Since the DMV closes at 12:30, I made sure to get to the office by 11:00. At that point, there was a line in front of the building of people waiting just to get inside. There were about 50 people in that line. After about 20 minutes, I made it inside where I found that there was another, much longer, line of people waiting for service. Although there seemed to be about 40 state employees working at the various windows, one cannot get in any of the many lines unless one first waits to see the clerk at the "Information Desk" who directs you to the proper location. The endless line inside was to get to that clerk at the Information Desk. I waited and waited and the line moved slowly forward. As the wait dragged on 12 o'clock came and went. There were more than 100 people but only one person at the Information Desk. Finally, at 12:18, when I was about 25 people away from the Information Desk, a state employee came through and asked whether anyone was just returning plates. When I said that I was in that group, he sent me and seven others to window 18. Within five minutes all seven transactions had been completed.
There is really no reason why the state has to operate in this fashion. A sign telling those returning plates which window to use could have saved endless time in line. Why is it that the state of Connecticut can't get its act together?
Here's the rest. Since the DMV closes at 12:30, I made sure to get to the office by 11:00. At that point, there was a line in front of the building of people waiting just to get inside. There were about 50 people in that line. After about 20 minutes, I made it inside where I found that there was another, much longer, line of people waiting for service. Although there seemed to be about 40 state employees working at the various windows, one cannot get in any of the many lines unless one first waits to see the clerk at the "Information Desk" who directs you to the proper location. The endless line inside was to get to that clerk at the Information Desk. I waited and waited and the line moved slowly forward. As the wait dragged on 12 o'clock came and went. There were more than 100 people but only one person at the Information Desk. Finally, at 12:18, when I was about 25 people away from the Information Desk, a state employee came through and asked whether anyone was just returning plates. When I said that I was in that group, he sent me and seven others to window 18. Within five minutes all seven transactions had been completed.
There is really no reason why the state has to operate in this fashion. A sign telling those returning plates which window to use could have saved endless time in line. Why is it that the state of Connecticut can't get its act together?
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