This morning I went in to the local DMV office to renew my driver’s license. Fortunately, all that was needed was an eye exam so I wasn’t anxious about the prospect. I did have the forethought to make an appointment several weeks ago as I didn’t want to worry about finding a good time to go and how long it might take.

My appointment was for 10:10 AM. I walked in at 10:08 and saw about a dozen people lined up just to be given a number by the "what are you here for" lady. The adjacent counter had a "Appointments" sign hanging over it and only a single person being helped. I walked up behind him and then was shortly assisted. She checked the list of appointments (I didn’t see an Abe Froman, btw), gave me a slip of paper with a number (F012) and suggested I take a seat. I saw about 50 people waiting all together in several different seating locations. I found an empty one and proceeded to check Google Reader with my iPhone.

No more than 8-10 minutes later, my number was called and a walked over to window 4 which was fortunately only about 15 feet from where I was sitting. I had a nice little exchange with the woman assisting me (two of her four boys are serving over in Iraq though she’d switch them with the other two if she could {huh?}), took the eye test, paid my fee and was directed to another window for my photograph which took all of 3 minutes.

From walking in the door to walking out was 18 minutes. By comparison I overheard a man complaining to his neighbor that he had been waiting 90 minutes already.

Just a tip, if you know you’re going to the DMV, make an appointment. If you can’t, bring a book.