I got my Georgia Driver’s License yesterday.
I’ve been in three DMVs in my life. The first was back home, at the NYS DMV in Olean. I’ve gotten my license there twice — the first one, and when I moved back from Virginia. The second was the one in Arlington, VA. And the third was yesterday in Norcross, GA.
The Olean DMV is what you might describe as a small office. There are one or two clerks available, there might be a line of five people (or no line at all), and no one takes a number. The other two DMVs I’ve been to are what you might describe as large offices — roughly twenty stations, customers must take a number, those numbers are announced over loudspeakers and displayed on digital signs above each station, and there are a lot of seats. A lot of seats.
The Virginia DMV I visited sucked. I went once, waited, talked to a clerk, and determined that I did not have everything I needed. I went a second time, waited, talked to a clerk, and determined that I still did not have everything I needed. The third time, I got everything taken care of.
The Georgia Department of Driver Services (Georgia recently split the offices into the license side and the registration side) was not unpleasant. When I first went in, I had to wait in a short line so that I could talk to a clerk at the front desk. There, a woman asked me for the purpose of my visit, asked to see every document I needed, then gave me my number. I think waited about ten minutes, filled out about half a page of paperwork, and paid for my license. I then waited for about ten more minutes before getting my picture taken. Less than five minutes later I received my license and left.
Tomorrow I plan to register my car.