State Department of Motor Vehicles employees are not taking their forced two-day-a-month furlough lightly.

Today was the first day of the governor’s implemented furlough plan, which is shutting down DMV offices in California every first and third Friday of the month for the next 18 months.

Employees took the streets with rallies, protesting the measure at the DMV’s Los Angeles and Whittier field offices today.

Meanwhile, customers at several local DMV locations showed up today expecting to serviced. Instead, they were welcomed with dimmed lights, locked doors and signs announcing the closures.

As reported in the DMV story we ran in our paper today, the California Employment Development Department office in West Covina was also scheduled to be closed every first and third Friday, but they got word earlier this week they would remain open.

That isn’t saving employees from furloughs though — they still have to take two unpaid days off each month. Over the course of 18 months, that equates to a 10 percent pay cut.