Issues

I was at work today, and suddenly a friend called. Within minutes she was in tears.

I guess like my horoscope says, I'm a caring person, and so people come to me with their personal problems. She's been having a lot of health issues, and because of the pressures of her work, she's been putting off going to the doctor. But now she decided it must be done, before things get any worse.

Sometime ago I helped her choose a good health insurance. The way it works here is you pay close to 100Euros per month, and most of the basic health care and emergency dental care is covered. It's a lot of money, and a big burden for example for people on low wages. And to be frank... the health standard is pretty mediocre, often having to wait a long time to get an appointment, and often doctors are so overworked they have no patience or the time to really deal with your problems carefully.

So my friend went to the doctor, and her doctor told she was being paranoid and actually said he had no time to make an appointment for her. She went to the hospital to see if she could see a specialist. When she arrived, she pulled a ticket to wait in line. When it was her turn, she walked up to the counter, and the assistant said it was the wrong ticket, and told my friend to get another ticket. So my friend did as she was told, and got the correct ticket. There was no one else waiting. And she was told to the very same counter where the lady said to her less than a minute ago that it was the wrong ticket.

This is bureaucracy, pure and simple. Apparently the assistent didn't see there was anything wrong asking my friend to get another ticket, even though there was no one around, and even though the assistant was responsible for the same tasks! This reminds me of this famous commercial by this insurance company.



The mother and daughter lost the purple crocodile yesterday, and returned to pick it up at the swimming pool. The crocodile is just behind the counter, but the man asks the mum to fill in a form... and the back side of the form. When she hands the form in, the man says to hand in the form between 9 and 10 tomorrow. Mum points out the crocodile is just there... the man agrees, but does nothing.

Hilarious, but so very true. Bascially it's very typical of what kind of useless and meaningless bureaucracy Dutch people come across when they deal with 'official' business. Papers to sign, forms to fill in, declarations to file... even though some things can be done so easily and more efficiently.