It's a DMV.
What did I expect? DMVs tend to not be very different from each other, though I hear Simi Valley is a lot less busy, so if you want to make the drive, be my guest.
I took my driving test here twice, meaning I obviously failed at least once. My driving teacher [a 74 year-old Vietnamese Vietnam War veteran/cancer survivor] uses this DMV as his central location for testing, which makes sense. He also uses this place to practice for the test itself, as well as practicing plain old left and right turns. Needless to say, I am all too familiar with this particular DMV.
Driving test #1: My appointment was for 1:15PM but I got to check in early at 1 and test fairly soon after. The first tester I had was named Darren (I think)? His initials were DQ, tester ID #10. He was very gracious and let me retry parking next to a curb and backing up because I screwed it up. We went through the whole of the test without issue (it seemed) and I was confident I passed. At the end after I parked the car, the tester started drawing something on my test paper and started to explain to me what had gone wrong. I nodded and kept hoping that this was just a note for after I get my license and that I would be okay. He, however, failed me but he also graded really easily so it was most likely my fault. I actually was really close to passing, but drove too close to the middle of a residential street [on Arminta, critical driving error: lane violation] which I confused for a different one [Blythe, right next to Arminta and is a lot narrower and would have warranted my reckless driving]. Just a silly mistake that's easy to fix. The lady working at window 26 was very helpful and sympathetic in letting me reschedule. I got an appointment for exactly a week later.
Driving test #2: My appointment was for 3:15PM but it was so busy that day I didn't start my test until after 4PM. My second tester didn't even bother giving me his name. He was angry from the start: I'm supposed to roll down my window to hand him my things, but he didn't communicate this to me and simply stared until I did. Not very helpful, but he had the authority to pass or fail me so I couldn't really do anything. Keep this power imbalance in mind. He didn't go through the whole pre-drive checklist which made me nervous but he was probably rushing. He put his jacket on the front passenger's seat (calling my car dirty?) and then told me to go. Immediately, he docked points off because I forgot to do my traffic check on the left (I still kick myself for this). His attitude kept me on my toes, so I was nervous throughout the test (probably not great since I should be calm so that I could focus only on driving safely, but he probably didn't plan to live any longer, the way he was yelling at me). I did my parking next to a curb and then backed up, which was quick thankfully, and we continued onto a residential street where I failed the first time. I got nervous and tried to drive in my lane but I noticed my speed was compromised.
He also noticed, yelling, "Why are you driving so slow?!"
I responded, "I'm sorry..."
Yikes. I then pulled onto a main street after a few turns. Later, he had me pull into the yellow line marked lane to turn left.
I was about to turn left after the last car passed, but then my tester yelled, "TURN!!!" And of course, I turned because I was going to anyway, but he then continued, "Why didn't you turn?!!!"
I mean I did, so I responded, "I was waiting for the last car to pass!!!"
He then had me take the last street to pull into the DMV. While we were on that final road, I could hear him using his pen to count up all my errors and it sounded like a lot so I figured that I failed. Once we got back into the DMV property I had to park in the final parking spot. He didn't choose one so I kept waiting and asking, "Which spot?"
He yelled, "PARK! PARK!"
I retorted, "I didn't know which spot you wanted!"
Once I finally put the car into park, he said so coldly, "Do you have any questions?"
I said, "No."
He handed me my paper and simply said, "Practice your driving." My heart sank. That could only mean one thing. My permit was also about to expire in exactly a week and any available appointment was after that, so I was hopeless. I looked at my paper and my jaw dropped. A pass!
"Thank you mister! Thank you so much!" immediately spewed out of my lips.
"You're welcome?" the tester said, almost sounding confused. I struggled to be extra polite because he just granted me my road freedom and I tried giving him back his jacket and I was so happy. I got out of my car and literally jumped for joy, telling my teacher I finally passed.
The whole California DMV system was down that afternoon so I had to come back the next day to get my license processed. There was mixed communications between the DMV workers. Some lady told me to make an appointment. No appointment needed, turns out. Whatever, I got my license. read more