Nowhere Girl

90% of my interactions with government and business entities go like this.

THEM: "You did not follow the rules. Please start the process over from the very beginning and -- "

ME: "No, fuck you. Your rules are stupid but I already followed them. Here is the proof."

THEM: "Oh. Okay. Here you go."

6:58pmWeb
Show threadNowhere Girl15h ago
You can solve so many problems once you break through to a real human being, which is why they don't want you to do that, and once they stop trying to get rid of you to lighten their own workload.
Show threadNowhere Girl15h ago
And I hate having to pull this "let me speak with your manager" bullshit but it's just necessary a lot of the time because front line workers never have the authority to do anything except repeat the phone script at you.
Show threadNowhere Girl15h ago
Life would be a lot easier for everyone if it wasn't standard policy to stonewall people from accessing benefits and services.
Show threadNowhere Girl14h ago
Like, it's bad enough when corporations turn everything into rent-seeking but government gatekeeping of public goods is just fucking infuriating.
Show threadJ4ck15h ago
@gwynnion I can't click like hard enough.
Show threadAnarchoNinaWrites12h ago
@gwynnion "Don't take any guff from these swine!"
Show threadMichael T Babcock12h ago
@gwynnion reminded of that day I complained to the bank about the fees on my no-fee account. "We sent you a notice" they claimed. "I didn't get it" I replied, and obviously I didn't approve it either. "You didn't need to approve, we were just notifying you but you did get it."
Me: "Did you send it by registered mail requiring me to sign for receipt?"
Them: "No, why would that matter?"
Me: "Then you really don't know I got it."
Sigh. Good luck out there everyone. Stay sane.
Show threadcraignicol12h ago

@gwynnion I remember going to a talk about service design in the UK government at a UX conference that spoke about all the unintentional barriers that had been set up that made it harder for pensioners to get the story they need, and all the hard work she did to get the managers to understand and connect the dots across all places the pensioners interacted with the services.

My main conclusion since then is that the only way for it to get this bad is that it's a deliberate strategy.

Show threadcraignicol2h ago

@gwynnion you might appreciate this bit of malicious compliance

https://caneandable.social/@WeirdWriter/116287307838318731

Robert Kingett (@[email protected])

New post: The 'Paperwork Flood': How I Drowned a Bureaucrat before dinner. https://sightlessscribbles.com/posts/the-paperwork-flood/

Cane and Able