Bureaucrats of the world, unite

Waiting. How latin american.

The embassy of the world's 15th largest economy has kept us waiting another week because "internet is down" and they could not email us with an appointment date for the business visa.

Francisco de Goya
"El sueño de la razón produce monstruos"

Bureaucracy: from the French bureau: desk, and the Greek kratia: power, "The rule of public servants".

Usually interpreted as any unreasonable red tape and difficulty in dealing with the public service.

Jennifer's name and place of birth were transcribed incorrectly (by them) - my date of birth was also entered incorrectly (by them) - But it is our fault, you see? We're the ones moving to Mexico, so we have to be the ones that got to have this mess sorted out.

In other countries of the world -Oz included- someone with the qualifications and professional experience that Jennifer has would be treated like royalty. Or at least like a very lucrative investment in terms of taxes and technology transfer.

But in our dear culture, where the sleep of reason produces monsters, and the powers that be are as blind as any of those bats, petty issues like egos, inertia, incompetence or utter ignorance take precedence to practicalities and potential benefits.

They are even more important than the satisfaction of a job well done.

Now we have to wait again until our contact in Mexico corrects our details. Never mind that we sent certified copies of our passports, so that our details would be correct from the word "Go".

Very latin american indeed, and a portent of things to come.