Service with aloha
I wanted to send a huge mahalo to the Pahoa and Hilo driver licensing offices.
On Oct. 25, I took my son to renew his permit at the Pahoa office. We observed an irate customer belittle the official who was outside screening paperwork for applicants. The official was polite and professional, despite the irate individual’s attitude and ugly language.
After my son was called inside, the person helping us learned my son was actually set to take his road test soon after the renewal of his permit. She kindly took the time to ensure we understood what was required before the appointment, both for our vehicle and my son’s paperwork.
In our eyes, the staff at the Pahoa office were superstars with tons of aloha!
Arriving a couple weeks later to the Hilo driver licensing office, my son and I encountered their official doing screenings. A local bruddah, full of praise for my ability to not “over-mother” my adult child during the appointment, won us over with his kindness and upbeat personality.
My son passed his exam with a couple errors but was reassured over and over by the testing official that he did OK, still passed, and with time, he’d become a better driver.
The official at the counter and the testing official mirrored our initial encounter at the Pahoa office — all kind, caring and amazing individuals with their patient communication and strong interpersonal skills.
We can never truly know the amount of patience it takes to repeat the same set of instructions to countless individuals day after day, so big kudos to the Hawaii County for hiring/training/maintaining such excellent individuals, making such matters as permitting, licensing, etc., more pleasant.
I’m sure praise is few and far between for these offices, so I wanted to be sure to send my aloha.
Val Odachi
Volcano
Let the reader decide
The writer of the “All aboard” letter (Your Views, Nov. 18) shouldn’t worry about what a privately owned and operated newspaper prints.
It is up to the reader to decide what’s factual or not. I can and do decide what I believe, regardless of what is written (or shown).
I think that it is good to print all positions of any piece, regardless of how fictional something is.
After all, the government, be it federal, state or local, puts out a bunch of items that I don’t believe in — like “In God We Trust.”
Michael L. Last
Naalehu