Today I waited for 10 minutes in a parking spot after paying no money, with the car running, while my fiancee took care of some business at the bank. And that's okay, because as far as I know a "meter maid" needs to complete writing his or her ticket before they can ticket you.
When I was a college student a meter maid ticketed me for $20. I stayed there while he wrote it because I was worried I'd get in trouble if I drove off. Later I found out if I drive off, they have to tear up the ticket - though I'm not 100% sure on this, even still.
Because it's legal for meter maids to lie, and it's nearly impossible for a layman to find the law regarding this, most people won't learn the truth about meter maids.
Just another piece of shit rule the government bestows on us.
Showing posts with label bureaucracy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bureaucracy. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Why the fuck do I need a social security card?
I am applying for a driver's license in Texas. I lost my social security card in the move, but I have to admit it was pretty worn out and in fact it always looked like a piece of shit, made from crummy paper and it certainly looked very easy to counterfeit. Here's an example card. I imagine anyone with a halfway decent printer could create a fake. (confirmation)
But apparently, in order to get a driver's license in Texas, I need to have this flimsy piece of paper. Now realize this. In order to get my social security card, all I had to do was show my passport and birth certificate. These are apparently enough to get a social security card, but in order to get an original driver's license I need both a social security card and a passport.
If a passport and birth certificate are sufficient to get a social security card, and therefore imply the ability to get a social security card, why the fuck do I need the social security card, and not just the passport and birth certificate, to get a driver's license?
Now, it's possible this has something to do with federal government versus state government. Perhaps the social security card verifies that the federal government has done some sort of check. Pardon me if I have little faith in the federal government, or any government for that matter.
More likely, it's unnecessary bureaucracy and a hassle, all for a flimsy piece of easily counterfeited paper.
But apparently, in order to get a driver's license in Texas, I need to have this flimsy piece of paper. Now realize this. In order to get my social security card, all I had to do was show my passport and birth certificate. These are apparently enough to get a social security card, but in order to get an original driver's license I need both a social security card and a passport.
If a passport and birth certificate are sufficient to get a social security card, and therefore imply the ability to get a social security card, why the fuck do I need the social security card, and not just the passport and birth certificate, to get a driver's license?
Now, it's possible this has something to do with federal government versus state government. Perhaps the social security card verifies that the federal government has done some sort of check. Pardon me if I have little faith in the federal government, or any government for that matter.
More likely, it's unnecessary bureaucracy and a hassle, all for a flimsy piece of easily counterfeited paper.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Incompetence and unscrupulousness waste time in the "land of the free"
Over the last week my time has been wasted in the following ways due either to incompetence or unscrupulous practices:
- Time Warner Cable didn't show up at the scheduled time for our installation appointment. The fiancee wastes an hour to get a mere $20 credit for our wasted time waiting at home for them.
- Ikea delivery folks call me to let me know they're delivering to our apartment in half an hour, and since I'm half way across town running errands and a bit distracted I simply say "okay" even though they weren't supposed to show up until three hours later - that's why I was running errands and not already at home. So I drive back across town to my apartment and make it there in 25 minutes only to find that they already showed up at my apartment and then left after calling my fiancee and having her tell them to wait. Meanwhile my fiancee has been waiting for 20 minutes for me to pick her up while I'm on the phone with Ikea trying to figure out where the delivery guys are - who Ikea can't get a hold of. Ikea tells me if I have a complaint they can give me a fucking e-mail address to contact, so I let them know I'll be sure to let everyone know about their crappy delivery service and I need to go pick up my fiancee, thank you, goodbye. Later my fiancee called back and got the delivery fee refunded, or so they claim - I don't see the refund in my account yet. Maybe we'll have the pleasure of spending another hour to actually get our refund.
- Now my fiancee is in the process of trying to get our Time Warner Cable fixed because they decided to charge us $50 a month for high speed internet when we had requested the $25 a month regular speed internet (which they are now claiming is $30 a month alone). Not only that, but they somehow managed to cash only $72 on a check I wrote for $73. She's been on the phone for 40 minutes already and she hasn't even gotten to the check issue yet. Jesus.
Drives me to drinkin'! Well not really, but I just now received a flask in the mail that's a cheap knockoff of the brand I ordered from a seller on Amazon. I've put through a complaint to the seller through Amazon so we'll see how that goes. I can't wait!
I'm not a nitpicky person, but I'm tired of people wasting our time either through sheer stupidity or through calculated scams. And after they waste our time once we then have to spend even more time convincing them to correct their mistakes and compensate us for the hassle and wasted time. God damn.
Some of it's due to corporate or individual greed and the rest due to non-value-adding bureaucracy. Or maybe it's just human stupidity.
- Time Warner Cable didn't show up at the scheduled time for our installation appointment. The fiancee wastes an hour to get a mere $20 credit for our wasted time waiting at home for them.
- Ikea delivery folks call me to let me know they're delivering to our apartment in half an hour, and since I'm half way across town running errands and a bit distracted I simply say "okay" even though they weren't supposed to show up until three hours later - that's why I was running errands and not already at home. So I drive back across town to my apartment and make it there in 25 minutes only to find that they already showed up at my apartment and then left after calling my fiancee and having her tell them to wait. Meanwhile my fiancee has been waiting for 20 minutes for me to pick her up while I'm on the phone with Ikea trying to figure out where the delivery guys are - who Ikea can't get a hold of. Ikea tells me if I have a complaint they can give me a fucking e-mail address to contact, so I let them know I'll be sure to let everyone know about their crappy delivery service and I need to go pick up my fiancee, thank you, goodbye. Later my fiancee called back and got the delivery fee refunded, or so they claim - I don't see the refund in my account yet. Maybe we'll have the pleasure of spending another hour to actually get our refund.
- Now my fiancee is in the process of trying to get our Time Warner Cable fixed because they decided to charge us $50 a month for high speed internet when we had requested the $25 a month regular speed internet (which they are now claiming is $30 a month alone). Not only that, but they somehow managed to cash only $72 on a check I wrote for $73. She's been on the phone for 40 minutes already and she hasn't even gotten to the check issue yet. Jesus.
Drives me to drinkin'! Well not really, but I just now received a flask in the mail that's a cheap knockoff of the brand I ordered from a seller on Amazon. I've put through a complaint to the seller through Amazon so we'll see how that goes. I can't wait!
I'm not a nitpicky person, but I'm tired of people wasting our time either through sheer stupidity or through calculated scams. And after they waste our time once we then have to spend even more time convincing them to correct their mistakes and compensate us for the hassle and wasted time. God damn.
Some of it's due to corporate or individual greed and the rest due to non-value-adding bureaucracy. Or maybe it's just human stupidity.
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