The 2nd visit –I find my folder apparently untouched since submission. Another employee – younger and more polite – explains it’s not ready and can’t be until the previous card expiry date. L I explain I’d been told it would be ready two days previously . Big Hair says she hadn’t had the time to check the dates and made a mistake. My objections, that I’d been told to apply prior to card expiry, and couldn’t the new card be back-dated anyway, all fall if not on stony ground, then a very dirty ‘mosaic’ floor (no Knossos dolphin patterns here – just marble chips set in concrete) ; the gate-keeping desk-sitters are adamant- it won’t go through.
The 3rd visit – I’ve now learned : optimism is an unwise emotion to hold when dealing with officialdom - as in ‘kingdom’ someone is unquestionably in power, theirs is a ‘reign’ dedicated to rain on your parade. On arrival I am recognised …. and reprimanded for being late - the file is ready. Only when I have the new card in hand do I voice my displeasure at how things have been handled. The young clerk responds with the raised shoulders gesture – the Greek equivalent of the Glasgow – ‘It wisnae me, Jimmie’ with an additional functional value of ‘and see if I care’ - while BH argues I really only had to come twice as the second visit was a ‘mistake’. When I point out the mistake was hers and not mine as she misinformed me, my blinding logic is met with stony silence. Anyway, I say, the good thing is that I shall, with luck, never have to come to their office again as, to my delight, the new card is a permanent one. United now, we exchange smiles all round – we three witches need never meet again! J J J
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