Comments | pheret1: Mis-management 101

pheret1

Mis-management 101

Oct 14, 2005 18:26

I was talking to someone a little while ago about a broke evacuee who didn't have an address where he could accept a FEMA housing check and the post office wouldn't give him a P.O. box without a permanent address (I fought with some higher-ups on this, but in Chicago it is required). This is only one of frustrating things that people are still ( Read more... )

Comments 8

dust_wind_dude October 14 2005, 23:40:12 UTC

hooray for federal involvement < /sarcasm >

groby October 14 2005, 23:53:20 UTC

It's nothing extraordinary, though. American bureaucracy always preys on people who are perceived as weak.

Example akin to the RedCross disaster: Petra and I had just arrived in the states. So we go to the DMV to get a drivers license (endless story in itself).

DMV tells Petra "no license without SocialSecurityNumber". Back to SoSec. "No SSN for people on spouse visa. There are exceptions, but we can't tell you what it is". Back to DMV. "Just tell them it's for drivers license". Back to SoSec. "Ah, yes, this is a special case. Why didn't you say so? But we need papers from DMV". Back to DMV. "OK - wait 5 hours, then get one line on govt letterhead". Back to SoSec. "Ah, we really didn't need that".

I'm sorry, but it seems to me that govt here has become the refuge of the power-hungry and incompetent.

misslynn October 14 2005, 23:59:20 UTC

oy. a clusterfuck indeed. governmental incompetence is mindboggling.

donia October 15 2005, 00:04:22 UTC

With all the partying the FEMA folks have been doing in Chicago, it's no surprise you're gettin' the run around here. They are too stoned to do such mundane things as process paperwork for people in need of their services.

pheret1 October 15 2005, 05:41:58 UTC

You know, I'm wondering why no press has picked up on that - there must be enough people who know about that for it to leak out...

donia October 15 2005, 15:29:34 UTC

I'm not sure why the press is afraid to do their job or can't make obvious connections. The Trib had the most laughable article about the whole thing. They wrote it like these poor people lost their jobs all of a sudden for no reason whatsoever, making FEMA look like the bad guys who promise jobs and heartlessly drop them. There was no mention of how their new employees had turned the office into Studio 54 and were wreaking havoc in the building where I work.

rhobike October 16 2005, 05:19:21 UTC

On Thursday I told lcohen about how I've been reading your posts about helping Katrina survivors and went from feeling like I didn't know you very well to feeling like if some disaster ever happens around here, I'd sure want you on my side! Now that I've told her how impressed I am with the way you tenaciously see things through, I might as well stop being shy and tell you too!

I might make the last hour of singing tomorrow, don't know since I'll be on my way from a family lunch in the 'burbs.