LIHUE — It was 30 years ago when Hawaii comedian Frank De Lima picked her out of a crowd of fourth-grade students at St. Catherine’s School as the one with the best smile.
Today, Lisa Yamaguchi, a titles and registration technician at the Department of Motor Vehicles office, still has a smile worth noticing.
It’s one she often uses, too.
She realizes how her contact with the public can make or break the image people have of the DMV, a place that doesn’t have the best reputation across the country.
“It’s a small island,” said Yamaguchi. “Everybody needs to come to the DMV, eventually.”
Even on days when the line grows long and Yamaguchi’s feet get tired, people can find her smiling behind her walk-up window.
“Honestly, my biggest influence, when it comes to giving good customer service, was a woman named Harriette Yoshino, who had a window next to mine. She would sometimes hear my frustrations at the end of the day when I was trying to balance my drawer and she’d giggle,” Yamaguchi said.
Yoshino passed away two years ago after working for the county for 30 years.
“She was a rascal,” said Yamaguchi, who has worked for the department a decade. “I can still hear her giggles sometimes. She was a humble, caring person. Talk about aloha spirit, she had it.”
Yamaguchi is one of 10 in her department at the DMV. And she hits the department’s negative stereotype head-on with a smile.
“I like to think that if you give out a positive vibe that is what you will get back, and if you give out a negative vibe, that is also what you’ll get back and that just isn’t going to help your day,” she said.
County Treasurer Dave Spanski recognizes Yamaguchi’s upbeat performance.
“Lisa is part of a team that consistently provides great customer service,” he said.
Yamaguchi has received numerous compliments over the years from customers who have lived elsewhere and compare other DMV departments to the Lihue one. But her smile isn’t always the only feature customers remember.
Her bling gets noticed, too.
“People who don’t know my name call me the ring lady at the DMV,” says Yamaguchi with a smile, having earned the name because of the eclectic selection of rings she wears on her fingers. Nothing extravagant, just fun, costume jewelry.
“They are a good conversation piece when I’m waiting on my customers,” said the Hawaii-born-and-raised worker. “They’re just little trinkets, but I like them. They put a smile on my face.”
One customer, who Yamaguchi called a regular, brought a token of appreciation to the DMV customer window.
“She comes in every so often,” Yamaguchi said. “One day, she just brought me a ring and said she thought of me when she saw it.”
The gift, naturally, made Yamaguchi smile.
This is an ongoing weekly feature in The Garden Island. It focuses on everyday people who reflect the spirit that makes Kauai the place it is today.
If you know a person you would like to see featured in The Garden Island, who is lokomaikai, email Lisa Ann Capozzi at lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com
