Okay, we have all been there. The wonderful DMV.
Take a number, this form, fill it out, and wait. And wait. And then wait some more. You spend at least four hours or more in a huge room with probably 200 other people which are equally as bored and annoyed as you are. We are all agitated and impatient people who are not happy to be forced into squeaky hard plastic chairs.
Admittedly I am a people watcher, so even though nobody looks forward to a visit to the DMV, I have never left without something mildly entertaining to share. Here is my last experience ... feel free to share yours.
Got my number, paperwork, bottle of water, tiny bottle of hand sanitizer, and a book ... so I thought I was ready for anything that could happen at the DMV. Of course as I migrated from one area in the DMV to the next, I took in the scenery and openly gawked at people.
That is the charm of the DMV. As I always do, I have some little private games I play to make the time pass and assist me in the enjoyment of people watching. These games come in handy at an airport, the mall, waiting for the PTA meeting to start and so on.
My first game is “What were they thinking when they left the house this morning?” It is California, so not much surprises me anymore but it is interesting what I see. Since I am in the DMV, the next game was "What do they drive?" and then "What do they do for a living?"
In the midst of my games and being shuffled from one area to the next I noticed a clerk that was going to help the number that was just announced. She asked the gentleman a question and he said very loudly, “No hablo ingles!”
The clerk had this really annoyed look on her face and then walked over to the next line. They closed the next line down and then both clerks came over to help the gentleman.
This nearly caused a panic because everyone in the DMV tensed ... seeing an entire line was closed down instead of exchanging a duty or a customer. So now everyone is on edge and this became the event everyone was now watching. More importantly we were all wondering how long this would keep us from finishing our business here and leaving.
All eyes were on these two clerks and the gentleman being helped. Conversations were being translated back and forth. Soon both clerks as well as the man were gradually getting louder.
Finally it became easy to hear what the issue was.
“You have to tell him that without a pink slip it does not matter who he bought the car from or where, we cannot do anything without at least a bill of sale.” That was translated, then the man became even angrier and words began to pass quickly between the translator and the man ... obvious angry words.
Finally he blew up and loudly yelled, “Dammit, you people are supposed to help me get the damn pink slip! Why do you think I have spent my entire day here!”
Shock. Silence. One clerk said something we were all thinking to ourselves, “What happened to ‘No hablo ingles’?”
At that same time everyone was looking around at each other.
Some of the Hispanics waiting had one of either two very specific reactions on their faces. They were either “Holy crap he has messed up the whole ‘no hablo ingles’ racket for all of us!” or “Good grief ... he makes us all look bad!”
The rest of us sat and wondered if they would beat the crap outta him as the man realized his great blunder. Faces had looks of concern, anger, and dismay written all over them. Tension in the air was thick enough to cause a great discomfort to everyone who had heard the transaction.
The clerks both walked away and security asked him nicely to leave. For awhile everyone had some reflective looks on their faces. It was interesting to watch how people were thinking about what had just happened ... but I am sure many on us were thinking the same thing.
Where is a video camera crew when you need one?
First published March 2009
cheekyredhead
Single Dress
sweetie are you re-posting some stuff or a i suffering a huge case of deja vu?
1***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
I didn't see this before but maybe that is just my bad memory, but this is a good article. For the record when an Hispanic person says that he cannot speak English, he says "No hablo ingles," or rather I hope he does.
I may be naive, but apparently you are suggesting that people refuse to speak English for some reason, but I cannot fathom the reason. Is it to receive special attention? You intimate that this is somewhat widespread, but I don't understand quite why. Forgive my obtuseness.
Although I have long been a proponent of English as our only official language, I have no difficulty with people speaking Spanish on their own, perhaps in a family setting. This extends to any other language also. However, if you come to this country, I ask that you learn the language. I should add that you ought to use it if you can.
Knowing fully well that everyone isn't a scholar of note, I offered to teach ESL in California. It wasn't a good experience. At about the same time down in La La Land, there were Hispanic actors saying that "they" should be allowed to speak Spanish instead of English because of their "heritage." I did not understand that and have to admit that it, as a family member says, makes my jaws tight. The word "heritage" seemed to indicate that some no longer owed their adopted country any obeisance whatsoever.
2Very few showed up, despite free transportation, and those who did were under the impression that they had to be there. When that was made clear that they didn't have to be there, they ceased showing up. Very few thought that they ought to learn the language in order to become Americans. For the most part, this belonged to an older generation.
When I taught ESL here in Florida, I had lots of Russian students, several Bangladeshis and a bunch of Eastern European students. In all our classes, there were very few Hispanic students, certainly not indicative of the foreign speaking population at large. All of this puzzles me and at last, I have to admit, I finally don't feel guilty about not wanting to press one for English. I don't think anyone ever should.
Yes Sam this is a re-post of a re-worked article from long ago. I am trying to polish it a little. Thanks for humoring me!
Ele...thanks for helping with my error in Spanish diction...I fixed it. I appreciate your help!
In California there is a large amount of people which are perturbed at a perception that we must be required to "cater" to the Hispanics insisting to speak only Spanish.
Many are enraged at the amount of money spent to print many state publications for twice..once in English and another in Spanish.
There is a large population here of many other ESL yet we don't cater to them in the same way. So in many ways I can see the anger there. Special interest groups in California have essentially paralyzed our state government with costly stuff and this in one of them many are pointing out as ridiculous.
The week before this actually happened there had been a tremendous amount media coverage about the "dial one for English and frustration over what many residents feel is a sense of entitlement which is misplaced. The tension in the DMV that day was palpable.
3PHEW! Glad to hear that my mind reading skills still suck. Yes you want that piece of chocolate - go for it and no it won't make you fat.
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"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
Yeah!
5i just love it - that proves all along that if someone wants sth - they always speak the language...
6Was this in NJ? Gee, it sounds like what I've gone through here.
7WELL, THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU LIVE IN A "MELTING POT."
8I think many of us are beginning to have the mindset that if you live in America...melt already and learn our language!
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