Tuesday, September 29, 2009

For everyone who hates bureaucracy

When I first read about Weber and his conception of a working bureaucracy for effective governance I was entranced.

In practice, I hate bureaucracy. For those of you who have been reading since I started this blog, I'm pretty sure there was a post about how hard it is to get an Apostille on a document so that it can be internationally recognized. I screwed up the steps today (attempt 1...last time it took me 4 times to get it right, this time I think I will only need 2 tries) so for everyone else trying in the world here is what you have to do:
1. Go to your local police headquarters. You need a criminal background report but since you can't get an Apostille on that you also need a letter of good conduct (this will set you back $20 but really $40 since if you are like me there is a guarantee that somewhere along the way you will mess it up somehow). It must be notarized with the person who signs the document in witness.
2. Then drive to your County Headquarters and have the signature of the person verified. This costs about 3 bucks.
3. Then go to your state Certification office thingy and get the Apostille ($10).

Sound like a pain in the butt to you? It is. You can mail stuff but expect each step to take 2 weeks so instead I'm stuck driving all over Long Island and then taking a train into the city, again.

Why is this all bull? The document only certifies that I have no criminal record in Suffolk County, New York. I am forced to get an internationally accredited document to show that I have done nothing wrong locally. I have never had to work so hard to prove that I've never had so much as a speeding ticket.

On the positive side I saw the Kandinsky retrospective at the Guggenheim which was interesting.Below is for your viewing pleasure, in case you know, you don't know who Kandinsky was.

<span class=Wassily Kandinsky 1913, birth of Abstract Art" style="border: medium none ; display: block;" width="300" height="200">Image via Wikipedia

3 comments:

Nancy K said...

Frustration today, but hopefully you'll have success tomorrow.

Alex said...

Awww thanks Mom.

Rachel S said...

Oh me oh my. And, in summary your post explained why I left the City of Burlington, VT, and a job I loved. I could not stand the bureaucracy of working for a city government!