I went down to the DMV to take the test for my California driver’s license last Monday, after booking it 3 weeks prior to this. I stood in line with everyone else, only to be told,
“You can’t take the test. You only have 30 days left on your visa and you need 60 days left for us to allow you to take the test…”
I then asked, “So what you’re telling me is that, had I taken my test 30 days ago, I would have been fine?”
She stared at me blank faced, but didn’t deny it. It was as if, deep in an orifice of her tiny “jobsworth” brain, she realized how stupid this rule was and didn’t want to admit it. Sadly this is the kind of mentality I have witnessed with both the DMV and the INS. It is as if the four main rules of these organizations is,
- Never question the policies – no matter how ridiculous they are.
- If you don’t know the answer to someone’s question, don’t research it for them… Make something up. If their case then takes longer to process, all the better.
- Be as rude and ignorant as you can be. If you can manage to be condescending whilst spouting crap you are management material. Utilise this skill as much as possible
- If English happens to be your second language – pretend you don’t understand the person speaking to you.
- Follow these rules and you will go far in this organization, my friend.
I was livid. However, I kept control and explained to them that the conditions of the visa I entered on, said I needed to marry my fiancé within 90 days of entering the country. We got married on June 10, so we have fulfilled the criteria. I was told that this wasn’t good enough and that the INS updates the status of immigrants manually on the DMV’s system. However, they will not do this until they have processed my case. Given the speed that the INS processes cases, this may not be for another 2-3 months! When I called the INS to see if they could send a letter to tell the DMV that my case was pending, I was told (again very rudely) that there was nothing they could do for me. The b**ch then hung up on me!
I was informed when I arrived that if you are a permanent resident in the US, you must have a valid license for the state you are living in. Luckily, I have a valid UK driver’s license and have since been told that, until my case is approved, I am not a permanent resident. Therefore, I can continue to use my UK driver’s license.
On a more positive note… I am becoming a lot more confident with driving on the other side of the street. At first I was really nervous, because people in LA have the same driving style as the people in London and the southeast of England. In other words kind of crazy and leaving no room for error. It is really not that much different though. You just have to remember that, in addition to driving on the right instead of the left;
- You can make a right turn on a red light unless there is a sign that tell you that you can’t. In England you can never turn on a red unless there is a green light or a green arrow. There are no exceptions to this.
- When turning right you need to follow the curb around. Do not forget and swing wide, or you’ll hit oncoming traffic. :-O
- When you are turning left into a two way street, you need to turn into the lane furthest away from you, instead of the one closest to you. Otherwise you’ll hit oncoming traffic.
- If you are turning left into a street with two lanes going in each direction, you must turn into the lane furthest from the curb on the right hand side.
- There are very few turn circles (roundabouts) here. In my opinion, they could do with a few. It would prevent people speeding up to get through the traffic lights on yellow, as they would have to slow down to go around the turn circles. However, this would introduce another hazard, as I would have to train myself to go around them in the opposite direction as I always did in the UK. Also there might be a few more death, as the people in enormous HUM-V’s and teenagers in 4X4 trucks got used to turn circles (as if most of them aren’t bad enough, or inconsiderate enough).
- People over here are constantly yakking on cell phones in their cars, so there is no guarantee that the lady in front of you in the mini van is paying attention and she may pull in front of you without warning… Talking on cell phone while driving is against the law in the UK and you get a ticket if you get caught doing it.
I haven’t ventured onto the freeway yet but have managed to get anywhere I wanted to go, so far, by using PCH etc… This means, to date ;-), I have found
the best grocery store in the world, the most expensive grocery store in the world, this mall and this mall
Note to Steve - Be afraid, be very afraid.
I also went to another hairdresser who was recommended to me by one of the girls at my gym. She works out of her house in Manhattan Beach She did a fantastic job. I got my hair dyed chocolate brown which is a shade or two darker than my natural colour. I also had red highlights put in the top to break it up a little and had my split ends cut off. She only charged me $75 for all this. I used to pay $200 in the UK, which is what the hairdresser in this post would have charged me had I not refused to pay for her shoddy work.
What a great deal!