Driver's license application fiasco
Warning. I am typing this in a very frustrated mood. So, in order to fully understand the emotion in my words, I suggest you grit your teeth and click/scroll the mouse with aggression.
Today, I took a day off to visit the Transport Centre in the hope of finally getting my driver's license. Taking a day off is a story in itself. For the teachers reading this, you know that even when you are sick you have to prepare lessons. Well, in my current situation, I do not set supervision lessons for the ones I would have missed on the day off, instead I have to make up those missed lessons another time. So, I have a few nightmare days approaching with doubled-up lessons and the like.
Preparations for the license took more than a month. This isn't the first time I have had a driver's license here, but the requirements for receiving one have changed in the past 7 years. This time around, I had to prepare a "Driver's License History Check" from the local authorities in Australia. If you are thinking of moving to Japan, I strongly advise you to take care of this before you leave your country. I also had to have the Australian (Queensland) license translated to Japanese by the local J.A.F. (Japan Automobile Federation) branch. The Transport Centre will not accept anything else. They obviously have set templates and change the name without much thought and collect their easy money. However, this time they made a mistake and handed back a translation of a New South Wales license - great job guys. My wife spotted it immediately and asked them to fix it up without a charge. I also had to bring along my passport, Australian license, and my "Foreign Resident's Card" - standard materials. All of these requirements were written on a guideline given to us by the aforementioned J.A.F.. We had everything ready and even made our appointment with the Transport Centre for today. Interestingly, the appointments for foreign driver's licence holders are allowed only between 1:00-1:30pm on weekdays. That is why I annoyingly had to take my first day off.
We made it in time and I received my number in the queue. A couple of Nepalese were struggling with some translations or something before us. There was only one person working with the foreigners, so we were expecting it would take a while before it was my turn. Eventually an old man came out to help and my number came closer.
After waiting for over one hour, I was finally called up to hand over my application. The old man was serving us and he was not very welcoming from the outset. He looked at each document and was impatiently asking why we hadn't photocopied the passport, the Australian driver's license and the Foreign Resident's Card. We calmly pulled out the guideline given to us by J.A.F. and pointed out that this wasn't listed as a requirement. Common sense would suggest that he could photocopy it on the machine 1m away from where he was standing if need be. To make things worse, he said that we were missing a document, the official record of my address (住民票 じゅうみんひょう juuminhyou). This was not stated anywhere in the guideline, which we made very clear (my wife was with me) to him. She also made it clear that she rang the Transport Centre well in advance to check whether it was needed or not, to which they responded it wasn't necessary if you have your Foreign Residents Card with you. The old man rudely responded that this guideline was old and with an apathetic smirk said I could not get a license without it. Snap!!
Bad move dude. Out comes angry wifey and wipes the smirk off this old man's face. "Where does it say we need it?". "If it is old, then why hasn't J.A.F. updated it?". "Why can't you ring up J.A.F. and get to the bottom of this?". He then tried to assuage our fiery mood by "doing us a favour" and squeezing us in next Thursday. Snap! Bad move again dude. "Do you really think it is that easy to take a day off work in order to meet this ridiculously short window of time on a weekday only?". "You should be contacting J.A.F. to sort this problem out so others don't have to face the same predicament!". "Why do we need to provide such a document anyway? It clearly says in the guideline that we can bring the Foreign Resident's Card or the juuminhyou!! The address is already written on the Foreign Resident's Card and authorised by City Hall, for Christ's sake! Why do we need it?!". He kept on shaking his head and saying "that won't do". Then, the crescendo. My wife grabs the guideline, scrunches it up and throws it across the counter. Now, for those of you who know my wife, you would appreciate that it would take something seriously frustrating for her to do such a bold thing. The old man started getting agitated and tried to be an authoritive figure, but it was too late. He got called away and didn't even excuse himself from serving us. We left and didn't look back.
An hour or so later, we discussed this with my brother in law, who happens to be a HR professional with a very large company in Tokyo. He trains people on how to deal with complaints. Snap!! Bad move dude. Phone comes out. My brother in law was smooth. Impressively smooth. In a calm manner and with concise language, he comprehensively remedied the situation for the benefit of others in the future. He not only spoke to J.A.F. (with the website open) and pointed out their severe inadequacy, he shredded the old man to bits and demanded to speak to his manager. He got hold of him and gave advice on how his subordinate should have dealt with this situation in a more productive way. He pointed out that at the very least they could have checked we had all documents ready before having to wait for an hour plus. The manager was very apologetic and will address the professionalism of his staff.
So, I still don't have a license and I have to go through the annoying process of creating another day off and making up for the lessons I would miss. It is nearly two months since I drove a car. It is a pretty strange feeling actually.
And yet again, I wonder if this predicament would have arisen if the Transport Centre were to use computers / databases? Why, oh why?
