fun with the DMV

Some not-really-related stuff had me thinking about the DMV. I've had pretty substantial dealings with the DMV in three states now, and while it's not my favourite way to spend a morning, it's always been much better than the general reputation would lead you to believe. The employees have always been pretty helpful and reasonable - certainly far above the average in the wide world of customer service. The processes are about as efficient as could be hoped for. The only real trouble is the wait time, which is just a consequence of having too few employees, due to the mania for small government and all. Same thing with the post office, which incidentally is not publicly funded and is so good at what it does that even private companies already in the package delivery business don't bother trying to compete with it directly.

I'd far rather deal with either than make a complex support call to most tech companies any day.

I've always assumed that the intense conservative animus towards these things was just a cheap talking point, but I'm wondering now if it isn't about power relationships. We're all equal at the DMV or the post office, and (sadly) there isn't much recourse if it isn't going the way you want. Money and power don't make much difference, and with the folks behind the counter having things like unions and a middle-class salary, you can't feel nearly as much superiority to and dominance over them as you can at Target. I think that sort of freaks conservatives out.