Thursday, November 19, 2009

Bureaucracy At Its Finest

For over twelve years I was a municipal employee and I heard all the idiotic sayings people could tell me when they did something stupid (like not paying their water bill) in the hopes of having me wave a magic wand and have it fixed (like turned on in the middle of the night).
1- I pay taxes...yeah, so did I and with my wages I probably paid more than the idiot on the other end of the phone.
2- Like most (fill in the blank) workers, you are to lazy to do your job. Yeah, thats why I was working night shifts while everyone else slept all night.
3-Let me talk to your supervisor, I do not like what you are saying...(may I remind you caller the line you are on is recorded and I am sure my supervisor will have more issues with you than with me)

I could go on and on but I won't bore you all to tears and yes, we have all become frustrated when we walk into a place run by a city, state, county or federal agency and everyone is just sitting around doing nothing while you are waiting, but it wasn't that way at the agency I worked at, people really cared about everyone.

With that said, I have lived in Washington state now for over two years and I keep a very watchful eye out for permanent jobs (hence I am applying for work as far away as a 2 hour drive at this time). But yesterday, I went into our local agency that handles employment and finding work for people.

I have been there twice and each time I walk away wondering why it is I cannot get a job as a consultant there and the people working there have them. You talk to the front desk and they see you in their computer and give you paperwork to fill out that no one ever looks at. You sit and someone calls you (they are very quick to call you in all fairness to them), they look at your paperwork and tell you, sorry, the job we posted is gone already, you should have came in sooner.

You are then handed all your paperwork back and told come back again while the guy is hacking a lung up and tells you it isn't the flu it's a smokers cough.

'Nuf said?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I know what you mean.