to the SAAQ we go ... again and again and again and again and again and again... ...

i don't know if in the heat of everything that has been going on if i mentioned that i passed my driving exam. i must have, i think that there's a post all about below... anyway, i was told that my license would arrive by mail by June 16th - today - and that if i didn't get it that i should call a number on my provisionary license. well, of course, this being quebec, it didn't arrive. why on earth would i have expected it to? nothing from the quebec government is ever right. so i called the number - i should have waited until monday, the stress just doesn't help my back - and the guy who answered is like, (in a terrible french accent) "well, maybee da canadA post, day didn't send it, like supposed too. we send hit from us. now you ave to call dem to see if day loose it. den you ave go back to saaq to get da pitcher done hagain." this is fucking crazy. what the fuck is wrong with the quebec government that they can't EVER do ANYTHING correctly. look at my room mate - she sent off for her new medicare card in JANUARY and STILL hasn't got it. when she called them, they told her that they sent it which means that SHE MUST HAVE LOST IT. WTF???? so she has to pay again and pray that it gets to her this time. anyway, here is the email that i sent to the "complaints department" of the saaq - i'll be sruprised if anyone down there can READ english. here it is:

There are many things that I can complain about the SAAQ. Getting my first driver's license has been more trouble than it is worth. first the strike last year - occurred the day before my original written exam -after already waiting over 2 months to do that, I had to wait another 2 months. when finally I was able to write my exam it took over five hours to get through it, even though the test only took 20 minutes. I was shuffled around from one line to another - never receiving even a smile from a single employee.


my driving exam was scheduled in late April - the earliest appointment available was on June 7th. over a month and a half later! my "appointment" was for 12:10 pm. the security guard at the front door of the henri bourassa center wouldn't let me take a number until the time of my "appointment". this should not be called an "appointment for a driving exam", as you call it, rather it should be an "appointment to take a number." finally as I walked into the waiting room, almost every single employee left their windows and went off to lunch - leaving me sitting and waiting for almost two hours while employees wandered around doing nothing. why would you schedule an "appointment" in the beginning of the lunch hour? it just get things even more backlogged. ridiculous that I could see all of the employees chatting in the back room and ignoring the 300 people waiting to be served - why aren't the breaks staggered like any other place of business - you can't send all of your employees to lunch at the same time without closing the shop!!!


Finally being allowed to take my exam, and passing it, just to come back and get ANOTHER NUMBER (this being the fourth or fifth) to wait to have my photo taken. while getting my photo taken, the woman noticed an error in my address (which I had just changed with the first agent I spoke with (I wrote it down for him and he STILL didn't enter it correctly) she changed it by removing one letter from the street name (good thing she knew Decarie and how it was spelled)


finally after almost three hours (better than last year but still too long) I was free. having been given a temporary piece of paper permit and being told that I would get my license by the 16th of June. well, today is the 16th, it isn't here and the rude man that I just spoke with on the phone told me that it's MY responsibility to got BACK to the saaq AGAIN and have my picture taken again and they would mail it again AFTER that.


it is utterly ridiculous the way that I have been treated by all the employees that I have encountered at the saaq both last year and this year. the man on the phone basically called me an idiot by telling me that maybe I didn't see it in my mailbox. excuse me? I’m not blind, or I wouldn't be allowed to drive. I have a herniated disk in my lower back (partly due to sitting and waiting so long at the saaq last week) and can't even get out of bed for another week and yet, I am expected to get to the saaq before June 26th to have you take a photo that you already have on file - twice.


the service that I have received from your "company" (if only it were privatized maybe we would get some real service) is abominable, shameful, and disgusting. your employees (thanks to the union probably) lack enthusiasm and any drive to be helpful; instead they are constantly scowling at customers and treating them like they are a hassle, as if the people who pay their salaries are disturbing them somehow. and lucky me, I get to do it all over again. and if Canada post manages to lose it the next time, then it will be my fault again, and I will have to go through the process until the end of time.