Dude, who even knows.
I spend a lot of time noticing how everything in Los Angeles is exactly like it’s stereotyped to be, so let’s take a special break to note something that isn’t like I was told: the DMV.
I was afraid of this one. Because everything you know about the world and haven’t directly experienced comes from people living in Los Angeles, and the DMV as portrayed on TV and movies is terrible. And even in real life: people were like “oh, go to AAA instead of the DMV anytime you can, they’re awful!” and “oh, make a reservation if you have to go to the DMV, it’s awful!”
The only thing I heard that’s held true is that it’s largely staffed by women in their 30s and 40s.
I heard that they were apathetic and brusque and slow in processing your affairs, not at all, they’re friendly and hella efficient, though I do take the effort to know what I’m doing before I show up, so that probably helps.
I heard that they would give you the wrong form and then cycle you through the line several times, that they would be sticklers about ridiculous things on filling out the forms and then cycle you through the line several times, quite the opposite. They’ve always given me the right forms, and when I’m confused about something or make an error or can’t fill in a blank they’ve freely volunteered that oh, this isn’t necessary in your case, and ah, don’t worry about that I got it, and oh hm, I can fill in this information that you didn’t have at hand.
I heard that on top of working slow (which they don’t), they would close down and take breaks on strict schedule and leave everyone waiting in the lurch - actually they just stop taking new people through the inprocessing line but stay around until everyone there’s been taken care of.
Also you can make appointments if you want and even if you don’t their auto-estimate waits (available online or as tickers on site) are rarely more than an hour and I’ve always experienced that as an overestimate by half.