Random work-related bitching

[oneiriad]

You know what's annoying - when a parent, usually a mother, comes into the library with their kid, having heard we do passports, and when you give them the forms and point out that both parents have to sign, and that yes, if they take it home to get the signatures, then the kid will have to come with them for the actual applying bit, no, we can't just say she's been seen and not have her brought. The rules are simple and straightforward - the person applying for a passport must appear in person, be it newborn infant or person on his/her deadbed. I didn't make the rules, I can't bend them, I just obey and fill in papers and wield a mean datestamp.

So why, oh why, do they always try to negotiate? Saying "but if?" and trying their level best to make me feel guilty, as if this wasn't something they could have known long before they set foot in the library, information freely available online or if they had bothered to pick up the phone and call ahead to ask, as if this is somehow my fault, like I'm trying to somehow wage a miniature bureaucratic war on them specifically, these randoms strangers that I've never seen before and probably never will again.

Ah well, at least I've finally come up with a decent comeback for the woman who ranted about how I ought to be more flexible. Something along the lines of "madam, flexibility is the privilege of the people who make the rules - us mere mortals can but obey them". Pity the bitch came and went months ago, but better late than never, right???

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[juliet-whisky.livejournal.com]

Some people never learn that old lesson - that you catch more bees with honey, than you do with vinegar - do they?