Driver’s License Renewal
After work Donna and I renewed our Driver’s Licenses. The longer we live in South Carolina the longer the span between renewals becomes. At first it was two years, then 5, then 5 without having to actually go to the DMV (they reused your photo) and now it is up to 10 years.
At each visit over the past 23 years it seems to get a little better organized and dare I say a little more efficient each time. All in all today’s experience wasn’t too bad as we were in and out in less than a half hour.
Now, when you walk in you are triaged by a woman at a desk before even entering the main room. She checks to see if you have the required paperwork and its completeness before giving you a ticket with your code, depending on the services required, and a sequential number. There were ten 10 stations with clerks (7 of which were manned) and one camera station for pictures. Each time a clerk completed their task, a computer generated female voice would announce the next person’s code-number combination. There were 4 big LCD screens scattered about the waiting room, with a running list of which clerk was handling what, so you could get an idea of when you would get called.
For our renewals (letter C if you are interested) the process went, see a clerk, pay the fee, return to your seat, get called over for a photo, return to your seat, pick up your license, exit through the gift shop. As we sat waiting, we watched someone go through these steps, so we knew about how much time we had after paying our money, before we were out of there.
There was only one thing unusual about this man, he had to be led slowly by the elbow by another person through each step.
Fearing for our lives that we might be riding our bike one day on a road this man frequently drove, when I received my license from the photo person, I asked her about him. She told me he wasn’t getting a license, just an ID card…phew.
