StaringBeauracracyInTheFace2010
Introduction/Definition/etc
Two stops of many for a government
that CSPAN is arguing over paying
for HUD and other entitlements,
maybe a Poll Tax performed by
Rent A Cops is the way to reduce
spending? Or fire the guy for humiliating
customers, probably for the enjoyment
of government clerks...
20100730 7.45 am Jerry
aka Ticket # R745, iirc
SPELLING
Most people spell it
Bureaucracy
but http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/directory/b/beauracracy.asp
and http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=beauracracy
has it correct 8-/
20100805 12.27 pm
Body
A tale of two run arounds, both federal,
one rent a cop with attitude that makes
poll taxes look humane, and another
lack of action...
One
Going to a federal building to do paperwork,
and rent a cop with attitude, just past
the no weapons sign (though he is the exception,
clearly the local bully, guarding the paper,
and waste land of lines, hurry up and wait,
and well, just plain un American.)
I've been in and out of Federal buildings
a lot in my life, but not much after 9/11.
I don't even like going to museums anymore,
and that is a shame, not upon me, but
on the system that makes the public
facilities a fortress of inefficiency.
We all know Walmart hires disabled
as greeters, and the 20th Anniversary
of ADA on CSPAN reminds us
of how far we have been.
Take the Social Security, for example,
quick pre lunchtime visit to Edsall Road
Office yesterday, not quick for me,
in the heat, likely sickening, and
first signs are no food or drink,
and no water fountain in the place,
at least for the customers,
maybe they expect us to drink out
of the toilet?
Well, the Postal Truck blocked the
accessibility, and the cars double parked,
the doors did not include a handicapped
button to press for getting a wheel chair in,
and I think the guard has an
over inflated ego, perhaps
he has it on a pump?
"What are you here for?"
or very similar, he's not watching
stuff for other safety, he's controlling traffic,
in a standing in the isle posture
that blocks my access to the site,
"You can't leave that there"
my breakfast left on the floor outside the sign,
"You can't have that in here"
a Catch 22 if I've ever heard one,
so I explain I'm getting a number,
and eating outside while waiting,
it's a take a number system instead
of a One Stop Shop, (which amused
the clerk, I have a feeling the male fake cop
with the badge and gun, and attitude
that needs adjusting, is performing tricks
for the enjoyment of the female clerks,
customer services at it's finest,
humiliate and berate the customers
because you can, instead of just
because it might be necessary,
what exactly is the role of government?
Is this what we are teaching the kids
and customers, how to be better
citizens, and participate in the process,
or is it like Arizona, we card everyone,
shoot first and ask questions later,
and get hauled into the White House
to respond to people's civil liberties?
in a profiling sort of way, and
wonder what civil liberties we lost
in the process...
Is this the image of community organizing
our president, clearly displayed on the
wall above Biden, the old white guy,
and the flat panel display, mostly in Spanish,
iirc, telling us, myself one of four or so
pale faced people, a family mom with two teens
one with a 5 Guys t shirt,
looking to get ID to drive,
more fun than for work, I said...
But they might be related,
got to get job to use the car,
or at least to pay for gas...
And people of various other shades,
the most common is dark, the guard
and the clerks, office workers,
most others are in between in the
light spectrum,
one leaving I notice with traditional
American Indian bead necklace?,
and others mostly courteous and
while someone(s) said "Let him in"
I could not tell who that was, staff
or the audience who had already
probably been harrassed by security...
And as I get my papers from my
large bag (read biker's purse, Kremlin size,
and style/model, literally) and carry another,
duffle, not military, as I'm former DOD,
walked around unescorted in the Pentagon,
and part of why I don't want to be photographed
and have to publish anonymously,
extra stuff off the mobility aid,
parked & locked on a tree, not a rack outside
in site, but plenty of cigarette smoking neighbors,
this is next to impossible for me
to walk from MetoRail, miles and cost
prohibitive, and time prohibitive
to do any other way...
And I especially enjoyed the dead rat
on the sidewalk in between...
You see, the other sign was
no photography, and a security
camera was probably on site,
maybe they can show the people
dying while in line like done with
hospital waiting rooms???
Wonder if FOIA covers getting
myself on security tape? And the actions
of Rent A Cop #1, as it changed
by the time I was done. A very
large guy sitting by the lunch shift
change?
And the drop box inside, don't have time
to wait, drop it off. But can't do that
for ID. Might need it with the real
police...
Many, if not most, customers must
be disabled, or elderly, the few kids
there, one baby (wonder if Bernie Fyfe
took the kid's bottle, or in Virginia,
they steal the tap/ ala Attorney General's
attempt to change the state logo
and remove one more breast
from transparency...
AND SEE WHAT I MISSED IN TWO)
No cell phones, you just
have to be idle, get used to it,
waiting instead of being productive,
and useful, early retirement,
can't have you doing anything to
distract yourselves from the
waste of time, calling in on the
800 number, you get a telephone
tree, non sense, and no escape,
try talking to a voice system that
doesn't understand, and no way
to ask for a human, but some transactions
must be done in person, how do
you tell someone your private information,
much less give ID for other ID,
when you do it over the phone or online...
Take a number, or wait in a phone
queue, learning when to go might help,
early am, mid day, or end of month?
Who knows, we don't...
And the signs behind the clerks
mention Watch PII (Personally
Identifiable Info?) and the clerk
asks me to speak my address
to verify, and check her typing
on a form, which is missing much
of what I had to look up,
and call outside for, as the instructions
don't match the requested data...
"That's for applying the first time,
not replacement" or similar...
Maybe they don't know my father passed
away, so listing him, looking at his death
certificate, is painful, and unavoidabley
unnecessary, remember dyslexic
and non lawyer here, plain language
is something that contains lots of inconsistencies,
like the "your documents will be returned to you"
one could parse it as, we reject your applications,
or better written your "evidence" / "IDs"
instead of the form you just submitted
and probably scanned, not what what
was typed in, by the clerk, and got
various forms of things I didn't need,
and not all of what I asked for,
a change of address packet,
as the process takes 7-14 days
on something I need today.
It's not a Federal workers ID, with photo
and smart car, it's a little piece of paper,
maybe photoshopping from the internet
would be better but that violates
the Fraud clauses so clearly welcoming
in the necessary other PITA, to happen
shortly...
And checking on the way out,
the feedback form says
it's mailed back to the organization
that caused the problem in the first
place.
Oversight indeed. Tell them what
you think of them, after being mistreated,
demeaned and ordered around by
someone who can not help you
but blocks a simple process,
and they self report, and self
monitor, so I'll likely be addressing
the top, instead of the bottom of the pile,
and they can get in line...
Two
Dear OSE:
Having attended the Science In Cinema
series last year and this year, I was dismayed
to be interrogated by an AFI staff member
about my disability and
"Inline Personal Mobility Aid"
following last week's performance
of Extraordinary Measures
as described on
http://novapeers.pbworks.com/ExtraordinaryMeasuresScienceInCinemaAndAFIAccommodating
I'm sure you can understand
as a publicly funded agency,
making accommodations for other peoples'
visual and auditory disabilities that
reasonable accommodations in publicly
funded activities, especially those effecting
disabled people and research effecting
their conditions might need to be accessible,
and grilling someone and basically making
them feel unwelcome and excluded
would not be in the best interest of an
inclusive community, even if AFI were
usually dealing with a certain clientele...
So with great anxiety today, over
being welcome at AFI to see another
film, I wonder what you can do
to make it right.
I've CC'd Mariam from the Silver Spring Drop In Center
who publicized the Science In Cinema series
at least last year and this year.
Also, I plan on publishing any
response to the accessibility
issues at AFI.
Jerry
--
Jerry W.
Long Signature:
Jerry rants and reports tangentially about Regional Mental Health issues
on NoVAPeers.PBWorks.com when not learning from the Street Sense vendors,
'Will Write for Food' writers group and office. He has hopes of incubating
a similar process for mental health as Street Sense does for mostly
DC Homelessness. He can intermittently be contacted on
NoVAPeers@gmail.com
Short Signature:
Jerry's a PITA (and it probably says so in his medical records)....
Conclusion
Summary of experience or similar
Discussion
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20100805 Jerry
20100722 Jerry
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