By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
Ever felt dissed by a Motor Vehicle Commission employee? Maybe waited too long in line?
Gov. Chris Christie says he feels your pain and today announced the entire agency will get extra customer service training.
“We never accept anything less than the best from our customer service providers on the front lines every day interacting with the public,” he said.
Christie got fired up by a phone call from Bound Brook mom Stacey Pilato who described a fruitless, frustrating four months visiting several MVC agencies trying to replace her teenaged son’s damaged learner’s permit.
“It has now been more than four months that we’ve been trying to get him a duplicate permit,” she had said. “I’m not kidding.”
Christie had replied, “Stop right there. I don’t want you to get emotional. I’m going to fix this for you tomorrow.”
And he did. Christie went with Pilato and 17-year-old Isaac to the South Plainfield MVC where Pilato claimed workers had lied and treated her rudely when she tried to get her son a duplicate permit. To no one’s surprise, the governor managed to get Issac’s permit replaced, pronto. Everyone smiled and shook hands. But Christie warned motor vehicle staffers might need a serious attitude adjustment.
“I think oftentimes, a minority of folks who work for the state begin to feel kind of entitled and feel like these people are part of the problem, not part of the people who are paying their salaries. And I think that it is important of the governor to remind them of that,” he said previously.
The additional training will focus on treating people as valued customers and phone etiquette and will occur more frequently for the frontline staffers who conduct 24 million transactions a year. Christie also addressed his wife, Mary Pat’s alleged “eye roll” while they stood together behind Donald Trump following Tuesday’s primaries.
“Being the recipient of more eye rolls from my wife than any other human being on earth, that was not an eye roll,” Christie said. “You’re obsessed with stupid stuff! When you’re standing there and you’re listening somehow I looked like I was a hostage, no my wife who did not roll her eyes is being accused of rolling her eyes. You all should just move on to something else.”
Christie also accused Assembly Speaker Vinny Prieto of playing chicken for not posting his Atlantic City takeover bill for an Assembly vote.
“If they got the votes they’d post it. He’s not posting it because he doesn’t have the votes. Big, tough Vinny Prieto doesn’t have the votes,” Christie said.
As for the MVC, Christie says he’s heard enough stories about less than perfect service. So every single staffer on MVC will get a refresher course on customer courtesy within a year.