DMV--Your New Names Dictionary

DMV is probably one of the most hated places on earth. On July 26, I had the privilege to find out why.

I had to get my driver's license renewed. At the Santa Clara DMV, I pointed out that my name on the renewal notice was wrong--it was missing a hyphen.

The lady behind the counter told me the name didn't matter. All DMV cared about was my driver's license number.

I wasn't sure if that addressed my concerns. So I asked her whether she can just add the hyphen. Then an interesting conversation followed:

Clerk: "I can't. When I typed in your driver's license number, that's the name that showed up in our system."
Me: "Uh, I don't understand--my name on the current driver's license has the hyphen. Are you saying my name has changed in your system? How can that happen?"
Clerk, impatiently: "We use a new system now. We now use your name on your passport."
Me: "Uh...but that is not my name on the passport. My name on the passport has a hyphen."
Clerk: "I told you, that's the name our system shows, then that is your name!"

Then the clerk printed a paper with my name and address on it and asked me to verify the information.

Me: "Uh...you asked me to verify this...? But I just told you, the name is wrong..."
Clerk, very impatiently now: "yeah yeah, don't worry about the name. Do you still live in the same address?"
Me: "Yes, but..."
Clerk: "OK then, take this and wait in line to have your picture taken."

Just like that. DMV gave me a new name. Perhaps you should consult with DMV next time you are trying to name your newborns.

What's with this no-hyphen crap? I bet Tiffani-Amber Thiessen wouldn't be happy about this.

I have got to go back and get my name corrected. Damn DMV.

Google Does No Evil?

I have been reading a lot about Google's hiring frenzy these days. Most recently being Google's hire of Kai-Fu Lee away from Microsoft. BusinessWeek also ran an article, Revenge of the Nerds, that talks about the hiring of top-notch talents at companies like Yahoo! and Google. The article, like many other articles that talk about the successful hiring stories, attributes the success to the geek-friendly environment and culture at Google.

I feel compelled to share my own experience with Google.

The time was June, 2004, right before Google's highly anticipated IPO. I never thought about working for Google. I figured it was too big for my taste. But a Google recruiter for their Site Reliability group found my resume and was eager to bring me in for an interview.

I didn't think there was a good fit. The Site Reliability group was more of an IT/Operation type of group. Members of the team were required to be on call 24x7. My background has mostly been in product development using Java. But the recruiter convinced me that Google was second-to-none as the company to work for and I should at least talk to the group before I made any decisions.

I thought to myself, "she is right; it wouldn't hurt just to check it out." It wouldn't hurt? Little did I know...

To make the long story short: I passed the phone interview, went for an on site interview, only to be told that since my experience has mostly been in product development, they didn't see a good fit. Fair enough, since I thought so, too.

Then three months later, I got another cold call from yet another recruiter from Google. Again, she was eager to bring me in for an interview. I indicated this time that I only wanted a development position. Then the recruiter and I played phone tags, exchanged emails over the course of a week and finally right before we agreed on a time for the interview, I got an email from her:

"After searching our database, I see that you have previously interviewed at Google and it was determined that this was not a good match. I appreciate your time and wish you luck on your job search."

That was it. No apologies or anything. Now that was pretty messed up. If Google has a one-strike policy, then I would expect their recruiters to check against this blacklist database they have before contacting me and wasting my time. I would also expect the first recruiter to inform me of such policy. Worse yet, Google didn't seem to care that I was not interviewing for a position that best fitted for my abilities the first time around. One strike and I was out.

I wrote an email back to the recruiter, telling her that I wished she would have done her homework before contacting prospective employees so she wouldn't waste their time. I never got a response or an apology. Go figure. After all, why would the company care about what a blacklisted person think?

According to this CNET article, "[Google] also has made a point of putting ethics before profits in its business operations, suggesting it holds itself to a higher standard of care than the average for customers and employees." Here is an idea, what about putting some common courtesy before profits too?

Google vows to do no evil. But in the eyes of the mother of quadruplets and former employee Mark Jen (rumored to be fired by Google for his open criticism about his former employer), Google does plenty of evil. I understand it is inevitable that as a company gets bigger, it will get some bad publicity. But perhaps if Google pays the same amount attention to common courtesy as they do to the technical brilliance of their people, they would see less bad publicity--there at least wouldn't be this post.