Bureaucracy as a study in flow charting
Today was a holiday, technically. No routine ride across the city, with a routine desk session. However, the time was not idly wasted. Son #3 is finally old enough to merit photo ID from the state. The route from “need” to “have” is a study in bureaucratic flow charting, proof that systems do grow to consume available space.
We received the form several weeks ago, but rushing to complete a government form is so not acceptable for the members of G eneration Z (do we get a refill on the alphabet soon?). There was a consensus that this would involve at least one child AND one parent, and I was available, therefore nominated. The checklist included photos, forms and proof of status. Normally, when your government ID is too old and worn for acceptance, you report to their office, stand in front of a digicam and in minutes you have a newer, shinier card. Not so simple the first time around.
You have to provide your own photos, so we started with a two-building search to find a guy with a Polaroid and a rubber stamp. Check #1 on the list. We didn’t have a viable birth certificate, but I made the assumption that a school ID card was “as good as”, since you cannot legally attend school without having presented the original paperwork, and this was a proxy. Off to the government offices (across town) where we took a number in the waiting room and then realized that this wasn’t the “right” office for health cards if you didn’t already have a driver’s license. Flow chart policy.
Third leg of the trip, to a local health clinic where the girl at the desk didn’t really care about the instructions on the forms. She took the picture, signed the section that said she had seen original proof documents, and informed us that the new card would arrive by mail in about 30 days.
In return for a morning tour of the city and $9 for some black and white prints we’re back to waiting for another government office to produce a small plastic card with a digital image. I guess it could be worse.
