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'She was holding the folder and looking confused and scared': Customer insists the DMV's 'grumpiest, most difficult employee' be fired on the spot

This story is a peek into the a life of a DMV manager and her least friendly employee.

If you've ever been to the DMV before, I'm so sorry. They're usually one giant room full of chairs and workers behind numbered desks. As a customer, you show up ready to renew a license or passport, and then it's time to wait. It's best to bring a book or a crossword puzzle and just expect that you may spend several hours there.

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Posted by Remy Millisky
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  • You'll probably be told to go to a desk, talk to a person, then wait. Repeat that process like four times. Then, if you've brought all the correct documentation along, you may just leave with what you came for. However, it's common to see people having meltdowns at the DMV because they've once again forgotten to bring a credit card bill or passport. Poor souls… going to the DMV is a cruel fate for anyone. 

    That's why this story from the other side of the desk is so interesting. A DMV manager explained what happened with her "grumpiest, most difficult employee [who] was always rubbing people the wrong way." This employee wasn't fired for her first offenses, though. Instead, the OP, u/Icussr, told her she just had to be extremely kind and caring towards all her future customers. You can check out what happened next in the story below. Then, read about these workers who are so fed up of “that guy” at their workplace. 

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  • 1
    DMV customer wants employee fired! L In my early career as a public servant, I managed a section at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). I had one public facing counter and 10 other employees in the back. I always told the people at the lone window to call me if they had a difficult customer because I didn't want them to feel intimidated being all by their lonesome in a tiny space, in a lightly trafficked area.
    Via u/Icussr
  • 2
    Well, my grumpiest, most difficult employee was always rubbing people the wrong way, and we had a huge meeting where I had to tell her that her job was on the line. In the future, I needed her to be rainbows and kittens and to call me before anything went sideways.
    Via u/Icussr
  • 3
    So, two hours later, she calls me with this saccharine tone in her voice and said she needed me to help a customer. So, I make my long way to her tucked away corner, and this customer is towering over her and screaming with spittle flying out the corners of his mouth. My employee is literally pressed up against the filing cabinets to get as far away from him as she can.
    Via u/Icussr
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  • 4
    Irate customer wants us to find out what the VIN was on a vehicle he owned in 1955. Then, he wants to know who owns that car. So, for part 1, finding the VIN, we can do a records search on Microfilm for $10/hour plus $10 for the record. He has to provide a credit card in advance and authorization to charge up to X
    Via u/Icussr
  • 5
    hours for searching. He doesn't care how long it takes. He just wants it now and he's going to wait for it. We had about 40,000 rolls of poorly indexed microfilm so he could be looking at an entirely unreasonable charge. Oh, and he wants to wait for it.
    Via u/Icussr
  • 6
    As for who currently owns the car, we would have to find every instance of that car's registration to find the last known registration, but we never microfilmed. registration until 1996, so it's unlikely that we could locate it. On top of that, we won't give out that person's information without certain criteria being met-- none of which this guy satisfied.
    Via u/Icussr
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  • 7
    So I walk up to this angry dude and he turns on me and starts to yell at me. I hold my hand up like I'm a traffic cop and say, "Sir, I am absolutely going to help you, but I could help you faster if we used calm, quiet voices." To my utter surprise, he stopped yelling, but he began insisting that my employee be
    Via u/Icussr
  • 8
    fired right now. I explained that we have a disciplinary ladder that we follow and I will absolutely have my employee brought up for review. Then, I sent her to my desk with instructions to bring me the blue folder in my top left drawer.
    Via u/Icussr
  • 9
    Then, I explained to the customer that I would need approximately 40 hours to locate his original VIN, assuming the film hadn't been destroyed by the ravages of time and assuming it was in the drawers I expected it to be in. I also guaranteed that he'd never have to work with that
    Via u/Icussr
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  • 10
    employee again. He signed off on an $800 authorization for time, and I told him I'd personally call him as soon as I reached the end of the 80 hours of search time or found his records.
    Via u/Icussr
  • 11
    So, he reluctantly left when I indicated that I needed to go find what was taking my employee so long to bring me my blue folder and discuss the discipline I'd promised.
    Via u/Icussr
  • 12
    So, I went to find my employee sitting in my chair with my blue folder. It was full of dove chocolates and a note I wrote to myself on my first day there: Everything will be okay.
    Via u/Icussr
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  • 13
    She was holding the folder and looking confused and scared. She knew she was about to get fired after that asshole customer, but I reached over, grabbed a piece of chocolate, told her to help herself and plopped down in my guest chair. She started to apologize and I held my hand up again. I reiterated that we had just discussed my expectations that
    Via u/Icussr
  • 14
    morning-- she was to call me immediately if she had any inkling that someone was going to be upset with her, which she did. She didn't engage, just called me and waited, which was exactly what she was supposed to do. I told her I had to write her up for
    Via u/Icussr
  • 15
    following directions completely and document that her performance had improved immediately after our discussion and that I recommended an early end to her performance improvement plan.
    Via u/Icussr
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  • 16
    So I sent a different employee to find the guy's records, which took about 25 hours. Then, I called the guy to explain that we found his VIN but that we were unable to find any other record of it after he bought it. We told him he could come down to pick up a copy of the record.
    Via u/Icussr
  • 17
    The same employee he demanded to be fired was there when he came to pick up the record. She held one finger up to him to indicate that he should wait, closed her window, and called me. I personally walked down to deliver his record. He started yelling at me that I promised to fire the employee. I
    Via u/Icussr
  • 18
    corrected him that I agreed to consider the disciplinary ladder and that he would never have to work with her again. Never did I promise to fire her. He left in a huff with his useless VIN from a vehicle that probably didn't even last 20 years before it got junked.
    Via u/Icussr
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  • 19
    And car junkies, it was some kind of MGA car which I had never heard of before that.
    Via u/Icussr
  • 20
    Edit: my grammar sucks Edit 2: TL;DR: DMV customer demands employee be fired. DMV manager promises to take the appropriate disciplinary action and promises the customer will never work with particular employee again. Customer wrongfully assumes that means the employee is definitely getting fired. Instead, employee is rewarded for having to put up with DMV customer's asshattery. DMV customer never has to work employee again because manager insists on dealing with DMV customer herself, protecting
    Via u/Icussr
  • 21
    Bird326 In most of these stories the supervisor is the d congrats on being the exception 288 Icussr OP Reply Share Does it help that my supervisor was a total ?
    Via u/Bird326
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  • 22
    (0-7 GodsRighteousHammer Great idea for extricating someone from a problem customer. You're a fantastic boss, be proud! 75 Icussr OP Reply Share Actually am not a boss anymore. Got a better job with no supervisory duties after a couple years. ●
    Via u/GodsRighteousHammer

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customer service employee fired malicious compliance car karen-customer customers malicious-compliance-reddit cars malicious compliance reddit DMV

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