Red Tape II - Infinite Incompetence

After a long and restful sleep, my blood pressure has resumed its normal levels. Today, Carl was making his attempt to write his written Driver’s test. He woke up bright and early to be one of the first ones in line at the DMV office. This is the more humorous, less frustrating account of his experience.

Carl waited in line at the DMV office with his paperwork in hand. Once at the counter, he spoke to agent, another incompetent one. She had no idea what to do and needed to request a supervisor to her window to speak to Carl. He slowly explained the situation in simple words for the nice lady to understand and she was able to process his application. The supervisor made it quite clear that Carl would need to do a road test as well. “But my wife didn’t have to”. “Well, they must have made a mistake, because the policy is that new CA drivers need to do both a written and road test”. Carl then made his way to the counter where they take the picture. He didn’t smile.

Carl went into the little room where they take the written test. He was given a test and sat down to write it. He had looked over my test the day before, plus studied the handbook in preparation. Carl was slightly concerned because the test that was before him now was much harder than he anticipated. He was a bit worried that he would get more than 6 wrong and fail. Well, after doing the best he could, he returned up to the desk where the lady with the gaudy nails sat and gave her his test. She asked for his MB license and proceeded to enter the number into the computer. She then punched a hole into it and printed off a paper for Carl. He asked when he could schedule his road test and she told him, “No, you don’t need to do a road test”. “But the supervisor at the front said that I had to do a road test”, Carl explained. “No, it’s not necessary since your other license is valid”, she replied. Carl looked down at the paper she had printed off for him and realized that it was a Driver’s license. “Don’t you want to see my written test?” Then woman was very quiet for a moment, swallowed hard and then said, “No, uh, that’s okay”, and dumped it into the garbage. Carl looked down at his license and asked again, “So I don’t have to do anything else? I have my Driver’s License?” “Yes,” she said again. And Carl quickly ducked out of the DMV office with his valid license!