CA DMV does not know what a CA drivers license looks like

I got a notice to renew my drivers license. Don’t know why. It expires in 2028. Maybe my age. Had to do it in person because of eye test and written test.

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I checked the hours. It is now at a local indoor mall. To my surprise, they open at 8AM there.

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Relatively efficient for the DMV which is sort of the quintessential example of government worker sloth.

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I wanted my veteran status in the license, but they said I needed a paper I never heard of to prove it. Never mind.

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A year or so ago, I needed to send a SWIFT wire from one of my New Zealand bank accounts. They demanded to see my drivers license. The US said a year or so ago that CA drivers licenses were not good enough for plane travel. CA started letting us change to a new, compliant card called Real ID. I got it a year or more ago.

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The Real ID drivers license said “Senior Citizen Identification Card” in the place where the words “Drivers License” used to be. New Zealand said, “That is not a drivers license. It’s a senior citizen ID card.” “It IS a drivers license,” I said. “They should have made sure it still said that somewhere. It’s a new Real ID card ordered by the federal government for anti-terrorism purposes.” I gave them the federal and state web sites explaining the Real ID card.

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They still refused to believe me.

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Uh. I am an American and a Californian. I do not need New Zealand bank clerks to tell me what a CA drivers license looks like. Furthermore, New Zealand bank clerks do not trump the web sites of CA and the US.

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When I visited NZ in 2013, I handed them my CA drivers license. That was before Real ID. It said drivers license. It also had a number which the NZ banks wrote down. My new CA Real ID has the exact same number!

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I did not say that to them. I kept silent. I was following the advice I give to readers. You have no rights crossing the border or in a foreign country. They are doing you a favor. Don’t complain. Don’t be an Ugly American. I did not write to the NZ bank CEO to point out the insanity of NZ bank clerks claiming my CA drivers license was not a drivers license.

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Also, the issue was my identity, not my driving in NZ. What the hell is wrong with a CA-issued senior citizen ID card for that reason? What if I could no longer drive because of some disability?

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I did not say ANY of these things. I am a guest in NZ. Smile. Say please and thank you. Nothing to see here.

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Later, I called the NZ bank again, but using a different phone number for them—one that was for international stuff. They did not ask for a drivers license. Butta bing the SWIFT wire was done.

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So today the DMV clerk here in CA asks for my drivers license. I hand it to hm. “That’s not a drivers license. It’s a senior citizen ID card.”

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WTF!? This guy is a full-time employee of the CA DMV that issued the card. Same office of the CA DMV actually. We are both in CA. The third time, I said, you cannot see the words “drivers license” because they put the word senior ID card stuff there. They need to find a place to put both senior and drivers license. He went and talked to someone else then came back and processed my application.

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For Chrissake! Maybe it was his first day.

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I could not read his wall eye chart with my left eye. My right eye has a post cataract plastic lens. My left eye needs that same procedure, but not quite yet. They tried me again with both eyes in a machine. I passed.

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I had to take the written exam on CA laws. Last time, I flunked it and had to retake it. This time, I asked for, got, and studied a booklet on those laws. Got three wrong, but still passed. Main new stuff I saw in the booklet was a lot of new bicycle laws. None of my questions were on that though.

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How the hell do all the morons I see on the road pass that test? I wonder if some can even read.

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They tell me I will get the new card in the mail.