Licensing Office hell Time to banish this time warp Published: Sunday, September 21, 2014 A strange time warp exists at Wrightson Road, which scientists should examine. Apparently, a slice of space-time from the early 1980s (and perhaps from the 1950s, or even, possibly, as far back as the 1700s) has been floating at the precise site of the Licensing Office on Wrightson Road in Port-of-Spain. It’s as if the ghost of an immense, ugly, ancient toad is squatting in that location, affecting everything there. The effects are mysterious, baffling, and enraging for the average citizen. Workers in that location appear to be blissfully innocent of the entire 20th century digital revolution. They use antiquated, grubby files and loads of paper records instead of computers to transact all business. This means that everything moves at a glacial pace. Photos, apparently, aren’t scanned into any widely-used system for routine use and updating of documents, including driving permits. Staff cannot access quick electronic records in order to do their jobs efficiently. It’s as if they are operating in colonial civil service times—minus the “civil” part, and even, sometimes, the “service” part. Long lines snake this way and that, as frustrated people wait and sweat interminably for service. On crowded days, it’s easy to totally miss the small signs amidst the throngs of people, and join the wrong line by accident—too bad about time wasted! Your best bet is to ask information immediately from your fellow-sufferers, as no staff member there will voluntarily help you. Also: carry something to read, or music to listen to, and a small foldup chair if you are elderly or have leg problems—you’ll be standing for a while. To make matters worse, Licensing Division staff don’t even rotate shifts through lunch—so no work happens from 12 to 1 pm. Staff at the Information desk are often not informed. They can actually waste your time. I was directed by an information clerk to go to the back building on a routine permit transaction, and the man in the back (after a long time—you have to practically make a sacrifice to the obeah man to get any of them to even make eye contact, let alone help you) grumpily told me that I had to go back to the front…and then at the front, a self-absorbed, curt woman rudely barked at me to go in another line…and then the nicer lady servicing that other line existed in her own world, doing her duties like a methodically slow underwater ballerina, so languid was her every physical motion. She sometimes took almost half an hour to process just one person. But perhaps it wasn’t her fault—maybe the administrative processes are just too labyrinthine. Maybe the effects of all the lead, car batteries, and other toxic soups decaying for generations in the Beetham dump, just south of the city, have finally seeped across to the Licensing Division, influencing the state of mind and intelligent life there. Seriously. How long must taxpayers put up with this? This should be the first priority for any ministry of transport. We need better systems. And more courteous, efficient people to staff them. Licensing Division Refugee Via e-mail Letters Source:: Trinidad Guardian The post Licensing Office hell appeared first on Trinidad & Tobago Online. #trinidad
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 03:57:10 +0000