OK.
My appointment was for 8:15AM at the Spring Mega Center. I got in line outside at ~7:45AM. Everybody got a Covid screening while standing outside. Nobody was allowed to get in line unless you could show proof of an appointment or a receipt showing you were returning from a previous visit. People without appointments were put in a different area and told that their chances of getting an appointment today were virtually non-existent; most chose to leave.
They let us in the door just before 8. There was a pre-check-in station where they confirmed that you had your application and proof of citizenship, either a birth certificate or passport; I had both. At that station, they checked vision by having people read an eye chart on the wall. This was nothing like my past experiences where I had to look into a machine. At least it was fast.
From there, I was directed to a check-in kiosk. There were five (iirc) of them and two were broken. I scanned the bar code on my appointment confirmation and the system didn't find my appointment. I typed in the confirmation number and it was found. A ticket printed out and I was directed to the waiting area. Before I could sit down, a woman asked me "What are you here for?" I told her "Renewal" and she said "Come on over to #19".
She went over the application and my birth certificate. Then she had me sign the application and took it back from me. As she was typing in data, she was engaged in some small talk with the worker next to her. Apparently, they'd had some trouble with printing their morning paperwork because the list of appointments for the day was 250 pages long and the network printers were tied up. After the typing was done, she scanned in my application and birth certificate then had me stand for my photo which took three tries. She charged my credit card $33 and handed me back my birth certificate. A few moments later she handed me my temporary license which she required me to sign in her presence.
"We're all done."
I was cranking my truck to leave at 8:11AM
