Irritants

It was a fairly mild day today; when there was no wind, it was pleasant to be outside. Jerry had a lot of fun running around and barking at other dogs who were also out getting their walks. The electrician arrived today and fixed the problem in about 30 seconds-we're torn between relief that it was a quick fix, and sheepishness that we'd needed to call a professional for something so minor. My insomnia has resurrected; I was awake until about 2 again, while my mind went into some shadowy places. It's partly due, I know, to having received the news that one of my aunts, and her husband, are both deteriorating. They are both close, and I'd begun to be concerned as I'd not heard from them for a bit. This is not good, and I'll obviously need time to process. Oddly enough, one of the latter conversations with her was about the ages of her family when they died.

I went to the post office this afternoon with a bag of items to post. Yes, I still send out physical post, using the post office. I handed over the parcels to the attendant and pulled out my wallet, then came surprises. She started by criticizing my penmanship- saying (among others) that my "T" looked like a "J" and my "P" was "unreadable. " Then she asked about the contents of the package. I told her; then she asked if there was anything else? I said, "Yes, a letter.." "What's that?" "you know, a note on a sheet of paper." "What's the value?" "of a sheet of paper? About 2 cents." "That isn't allowed. It has to be at least $1." I'm still flabbergasted by this exchange. And by the process of deciding whether something is a letter or a parcel. The attendant measured one envelope being sent within Canada, and concluded that it was about 2mm too thick for a slot. But the post isn't pushed through a slot in pretty much any urban area-there are mailboxes instead. (There's that whole debate on ending door delivery of mail) So in my - admittedly uninformed - opinion, the slot shouldn't be the measure.  It was also less expensive for me to buy a prepaid shipping box than to send this "too thick" envelope-can you believe?

I'm processing how we, as beaurocrats, can sometimes needlessly complicate things. Yes, society needs rules in order to function. Not a breath of disagreement on that. Enforcement of, and adherence to, them is essential. It's ridiculous when rules continue to be enforced after their relevance is exhausted. For instance, consider the following scenarios.

Competence in English is required when applying to immigrate to Canada, so the government decided that all applicants need to demonstrate competency. One would think that receiving 3 advanced degrees from British universities would count, but apparently not, because the assessing official "wasn't aware" that British university courses are mainly offered in English.

Case 2: in order to buy foreign currency, a bank can't transfer funds from the client's account. They require that the client go to the ATM to withdraw cash. bring it to the cashier to get the foreign cash. The bank also doesn't allow the cashier to use the client's bank card to access their account. Instead, they ask for 2 pieces of id and that the client knows the account number-which is linked to the bank card.

Case 3-A company has brick-and-mortar stores, phone sales and an online store. A product purchased online can't be returned in store, nor can it be serviced in store. Add to that, there is a company contracted to provide warranty repairs-let's call them "B." Co. B doesn't accept products in store; they must be shipped in. Any warranty work, though, requires the client to come in store to start the claim process, then mail the product-which will get sent to the same store for repairs.

These are just a few examples of rules run amok. I'm sure you've encountered many in your lives. Being asked the monetary value of a mate seemed excessive to me, but I'm hopeful that there's a rationale. On that note, I'm off in search of snacks. Good night!