Ran into a guy doing the same thing on a pour outside Dallas last summer. He kept a 5 gallon bucket of water and a couple big grout sponges on a stick, and every time the bleed water popped up he'd just drag it off before it ever set. Cut his finish time damn near in half and the cream stayed way more even. I tried it on a slab last week, 95 degrees out, and it beat sitting around waiting for the water to go away. Only thing I'd say is wring the sponge out good, too wet and you're just adding water back in.

Honestly the clerk was probably right and the guy only has himself to blame. Insurance companies put the exact legal name on the policy because that's who they're covering, and "Mike" is not a legal name unless he went to court and changed it. If his card has said Mike since 2019, that means for five years he never bothered to call his agent and fix a one letter difference, which takes like two minutes on the phone. The DMV matches documents to prove you are who you say you are, so if the names don't line up, that's a gap anyone could drive a truck through. I get that it's annoying to wait 40 minutes and get turned away, but the rule exists so people can't use somebody else's insurance card to register a car. Next time he should just get the card corrected before he goes, problem solved.