Letters to the editor, Oct. 21, 2009

No sympathy for DMV employees

Can anyone believe the audacity of the DMV employees not going to work in protest of not getting time and one half pay for Columbus day? Most of them probably do not even know who Columbus was.

Here we are in a recession with nationwide unemployment at 10 percent and statewide pushing 15 percent and Barstow at almost twice that and these “workers” are whining because they don’t get overtime pay. I’ll bet a lot of the 3,000 people that were recently lined up to get 400 jobs at the Marine Base would jump at the opportunity to get straight time at the DMV for doing a job that entails nothing more than being rude to the customers. Even in the trucking industry where we are fortunate to still have our jobs, we took a 15 percent pay cut and we provide a service that people want. I don’t know anyone that wants the mandatory “services” of the DMV.

These whiners are squacking for sympathy. Sure we’ll give you sympathy, the same sympathy that you give us after we have been in line for two hours and you close you window just as we get there. Or when you hand us a form that we were magically supposed to know about and have ready for you and you tell us to fill it out and get back in line. Or when you slowly waddle up to the window to take our money like we have all the time in the world. Or when you chastise us for not knowing which of the hundreds of forms you want when we reach your window. I could go on for hours but suffice to say, I think you know where in the dictionary you can find sympathy.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to drive to AAA in Victorville where the ladies there handle all my DMV business in less than 10 minutes including wait time, and they do it with a smile. They also get paid less than half what you get but they definitely earn their pay. How about you really teaching us a lesson and quit so that somebody deserving and appreciative can have your job.

Nick Benson Sr., Barstow