Power
At the Department of Motor Vehicles, there's the kind of top-down hierarchy of power that only governmental bureaucracy can provide. On the bottom are Average Joes and Janes, the people who just wanted to pop in to renew their license but end up waiting on a bench to the side for three hours. The only power they have is being able to hear their own voices, because it doesn't seem like anyone else is listening.
Next comes the front desk employee, who gets to assist the next lucky person in line who has been waiting in limbo. They're going to spend seven to eight hours a day, five days a week saying, for example: "Yes, sir, there is a line," "No, ma'am, we don't accept Sears cards," "That's the wrong form," and "Sit back down and wait your turn."
It's not much power, but it makes dealing with those extra-jumpy customers a little easier.
On the other side of the room are the call center employees, who don't even need to breathe the same air as the person on the other end while they schedule inconvenient appointment times.
Supervisors and managers come next. They don't have the same minute-to-minute interaction with the masses, but they'll step in when their decision-making prowess is needed. They're also usually responsible for the hiring and firing that occurs, although there are still employment rules set by the government they need to follow. One thing they can't do is discriminate, as that power was taken away with a little thing known as the Civil Rights Act.
Other positions at the DMV have different levels of power involved. The field investigator verifies police reports, so they make decisions that affect the official government version of the truth (oh yeah—and they can arrest people, so customers really shouldn't mess with them). IT keeps the phones on, the computer systems up and running, and generally controls all the behind-the-scenes technology in the office.
However, the most powerful part of the DMV doesn't even have an in-house position. The state government is the ultimate decider of what goes on within the DMV doors, from traffic laws to fee schedules to whether or not criminals can get driver's licenses. So even if you're the Alpha Dog of the Department of Motor Vehicles, you still have to bow down to the politicians holding the purse strings.