PANDEMIC SERIES, FIFTH ESSAY (The DMV Story)

 

PANDEMIC SERIES,  FIFTH ESSAY

(The DMV Story)

After all the heavy stuff I’ve written about recently, this essay is intended to be light-hearted. Though it might seem trivial, for me one of the best outcomes of the pandemic grew out of its challenges to California’s DMV. In non-pandemic times my wife and I would have had to schedule appointments to visit the DMV during 2020, to take the written and vision exams as required to renew our driver’s licenses. Both had expired during 2020. However, due to complications related to the pandemic the DMV had extended expiration dates for us and many others by 12 months.  Nonetheless, with little but time on our hands, in early January we decided to face the inevitable. I requested a copy of California’s drivers manual, we studied it carefully, and tried to psych ourselves up to visit the DMV.

To our great fortune, however, sustained pandemic-related restrictions ultimately forced the DMV to cut processing capacities and allow my wife and me, among many others, to renew our driver’s licenses for 5 years online, at home, in five minutes, for the $37 fee. No written test. No vision exam. No waiting. No DMV “experience” like we’d had five years earlier at renewal time.  It boggles the mind.

 Five years earlier we arrived at the DMV and checked in at the front desk 15 minutes before our 10 a.m. appointment, then waited and waited to be called for our turn.  Finally, at 10:45 a.m., we threw caution to the wind and went back to the front desk to inquire why we had not yet been called, given it was well past our scheduled appointment.  The answer, and I quote, was: “Well, you checked in at 9:45 a.m.  If you had gotten here at 9 a.m. you would have been on time for your 10 o’clock appointment!” Assuming we had mis-heard the answer, I repeated the question. Same answer. We stared quizzically at one another, shrugged our shoulders, and went back to sit down.  Shortly thereafter we were called for our turn.   

(Our good fortune avoiding a trial by fire with the DMV last month was just that, a bit of good luck, a gift. We had had no influence or control over the DMV’s decision to cut processing capacity, which led to the on-line, expedited license renewals. We simply lucked out. Over the longer term of the pandemic what has really helped us work our way through its constraints and uncertainties are initiatives we took where we could exercise control and avoid uncertainty. On the off-chance staying close to home lasts for another three or more months,  ESSAYS six through eight illustrate some of these initiatives and might give you some ideas for coping you hadn’t thought about.)