Challenging Idiocy
I could give up I suppose but can’t bring myself to. 
When I see that idiots have been let loose in customer service or in business I have to say something. Such as when business guru Larry Winget is given a plastic knife on a flight to use to eat his dinner. He puts it in his pocket for use on his next flight and is threated with arrest by airport security for carrying it! Despite the fact he was given it on an actual flight. Arrrhhh.
Todays stupid story is:
I’m asked to attach two passport sized photographs to an application form for a test I’m doing. One with a paperclip and one to be glued securely to the form. Both pictures are to be signed on the rear.
Why sign one on the rear when I then have to stick it with glue to the form?
Bah.
Paul Browning
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10 Comments
Me at Barclays Bank trying to withdraw ?600.
Teller: Do you have ID?
Me: No, sorry
T: I can’t issue the payment without ID, sorry.
Me: But I made a withdrawal yesterday without ID.
T: (Checks system) Yes, but that was less than ?300 so ID isn’t required.
Me: (After some too-ing & fro-ing) Don’t you think you’d better call the police to report this attempted theft? I’ll wait here…
T: Well we don’t have to go that far, it’s just security policy…
Me: So it’s ok for me to steal ?300 of Mr Lestat’s money, but not any more?
T: But you’re not stealing it, it’s your money.
Me: Well said! Now can I have my ?600 please?
Good one Declan. I hope the teller smiled as she told you one more time ?I?m very sorry sir, but you really must show ID.?
I?m not quite as speechless as I was with the post on ?why the government would fail at business?. It should probably be no surprise that airport security are fairly inflexible and that employees tend to follow procedure even when the procedure seems arbitrary or silly in actual practice. Which makes it no less annoying.
But I would say that requiring a signature on the back of a photo to be ?glued securely to the form? does smack once again of a great lack of common sense and lack of a good ?review and approval? process.
When it comes to staff ? in the examples of airport security and the teller, I?d suggest that the telling factor should be ? how do they behave toward the customer while following whatever procedure they must follow in order to keep their jobs.
As well as how they handle themselves in the face of sometimes not-so-nice customers.
I?m stumped. Can?t come up with a plausible reason to sign the back of a photo that?s going to be glued to a piece of paper 🙂
It is funny to hear about these kinds of inane sounding requirements. A good lesson to check our own procedures and requirements tough, don?t you agree? Do we do things that make other people question our sanity? What are we going to do about it?
10 It?s really difficult to recognize our own foibles.
It?s been a hoot reading about these quirks of government service. However, in the spirit of the season, I resolve to think kindly of all government staff for at least the next few weeks ? And seriously, I know that government employees are as hard-working and dedicated as everyone else, dealing with the occasional craziness of their own situations.