Some years ago, I needed to get an visa for urgent travel to China, a process that required me to fly down to SF and stand in a very long line at the Chinese consulate.
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Douglas Adams would be proud
@rk this scene would translate well to an Infocom game
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Some years ago, I needed to get an visa for urgent travel to China, a process that required me to fly down to SF and stand in a very long line at the Chinese consulate. When I finally handed the woman there my forms, she promptly stamped them and said "you need to take these to Window 2", pointing around the corner. So I walked around the corner...
...where *the same woman* swiveled her chair around and proceeded to check the stamp that she had just applied.
I would have been annoyed if I wasn't in so much awe at discovering the purest form of bureaucracy.
@dan not even a cowboy hat or a fake mustache?
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Some years ago, I needed to get an visa for urgent travel to China, a process that required me to fly down to SF and stand in a very long line at the Chinese consulate. When I finally handed the woman there my forms, she promptly stamped them and said "you need to take these to Window 2", pointing around the corner. So I walked around the corner...
...where *the same woman* swiveled her chair around and proceeded to check the stamp that she had just applied.
I would have been annoyed if I wasn't in so much awe at discovering the purest form of bureaucracy.
@dan I had my first Chinese consulate experience 10 years ago in NYC and everyone told me, "Just hire a proxy. They are professionals. You cannot do this." I decided this sounded like something I had to experience. Like you, I left in awe.
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Some years ago, I needed to get an visa for urgent travel to China, a process that required me to fly down to SF and stand in a very long line at the Chinese consulate. When I finally handed the woman there my forms, she promptly stamped them and said "you need to take these to Window 2", pointing around the corner. So I walked around the corner...
...where *the same woman* swiveled her chair around and proceeded to check the stamp that she had just applied.
I would have been annoyed if I wasn't in so much awe at discovering the purest form of bureaucracy.
@dan That's amazing
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Some years ago, I needed to get an visa for urgent travel to China, a process that required me to fly down to SF and stand in a very long line at the Chinese consulate. When I finally handed the woman there my forms, she promptly stamped them and said "you need to take these to Window 2", pointing around the corner. So I walked around the corner...
...where *the same woman* swiveled her chair around and proceeded to check the stamp that she had just applied.
I would have been annoyed if I wasn't in so much awe at discovering the purest form of bureaucracy.
@dan truly, we Americans are only babies when it comes to bureaucracy
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Some years ago, I needed to get an visa for urgent travel to China, a process that required me to fly down to SF and stand in a very long line at the Chinese consulate. When I finally handed the woman there my forms, she promptly stamped them and said "you need to take these to Window 2", pointing around the corner. So I walked around the corner...
...where *the same woman* swiveled her chair around and proceeded to check the stamp that she had just applied.
I would have been annoyed if I wasn't in so much awe at discovering the purest form of bureaucracy.
This sounds like a scene that was rejected from the movie Brazil for being outlandishly unbelievable.
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@dan truly, we Americans are only babies when it comes to bureaucracy
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Some years ago, I needed to get an visa for urgent travel to China, a process that required me to fly down to SF and stand in a very long line at the Chinese consulate. When I finally handed the woman there my forms, she promptly stamped them and said "you need to take these to Window 2", pointing around the corner. So I walked around the corner...
...where *the same woman* swiveled her chair around and proceeded to check the stamp that she had just applied.
I would have been annoyed if I wasn't in so much awe at discovering the purest form of bureaucracy.
@dan Years ago I went to India. On the plane, they gave us a card to fill out, which I did. When we went through the immigration line, the first guy looked at me, looked at my passport, looked at my card, signed my card, and directed me to the next window. At this window, the guy looked at me, looked at my passport, looked at my card, and stamped the card. He then directed me to the final window,where a guy looked at me, looked at the card, looked at the passport, and took the card.
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Some years ago, I needed to get an visa for urgent travel to China, a process that required me to fly down to SF and stand in a very long line at the Chinese consulate. When I finally handed the woman there my forms, she promptly stamped them and said "you need to take these to Window 2", pointing around the corner. So I walked around the corner...
...where *the same woman* swiveled her chair around and proceeded to check the stamp that she had just applied.
I would have been annoyed if I wasn't in so much awe at discovering the purest form of bureaucracy.
Back in the 1980s, some Italian cafes employed a similar system. As a customer, you'd place your order at one window, and the clerk would give you a receipt/voucher. You'd then step to a second window, and hand over the slip of paper before stepping to a third window where you'd collect your coffee. I recall, though these are hazy old memories, at least one morning where it was the same person at each of the three windows.
Also, I once did the same PRC consulate dance in SF!
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Some years ago, I needed to get an visa for urgent travel to China, a process that required me to fly down to SF and stand in a very long line at the Chinese consulate. When I finally handed the woman there my forms, she promptly stamped them and said "you need to take these to Window 2", pointing around the corner. So I walked around the corner...
...where *the same woman* swiveled her chair around and proceeded to check the stamp that she had just applied.
I would have been annoyed if I wasn't in so much awe at discovering the purest form of bureaucracy.
The Brits take the greatest pride in their bureaucracy -- though the French, Russians, and Byzantine Greeks were tough competitors -- but the Chinese invented it.
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@dan I had my first Chinese consulate experience 10 years ago in NYC and everyone told me, "Just hire a proxy. They are professionals. You cannot do this." I decided this sounded like something I had to experience. Like you, I left in awe.
When I got my visa in 2015, the company i was working for hired a proxy. After reading this thread I am so happy they did.
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Some years ago, I needed to get an visa for urgent travel to China, a process that required me to fly down to SF and stand in a very long line at the Chinese consulate. When I finally handed the woman there my forms, she promptly stamped them and said "you need to take these to Window 2", pointing around the corner. So I walked around the corner...
...where *the same woman* swiveled her chair around and proceeded to check the stamp that she had just applied.
I would have been annoyed if I wasn't in so much awe at discovering the purest form of bureaucracy.
@dan I once had a German secretary-type go to the safe, pull out a large stack of 50-Euro notes, count out my "stipend", and then take that stack of notes, count it out again, gather it up for my "fees", put it back in the safe, and have me sign a piece of paper saying (I can only presume, I don't read German) that I had witnessed this theatre
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Some years ago, I needed to get an visa for urgent travel to China, a process that required me to fly down to SF and stand in a very long line at the Chinese consulate. When I finally handed the woman there my forms, she promptly stamped them and said "you need to take these to Window 2", pointing around the corner. So I walked around the corner...
...where *the same woman* swiveled her chair around and proceeded to check the stamp that she had just applied.
I would have been annoyed if I wasn't in so much awe at discovering the purest form of bureaucracy.
@dan the Chinese consulate general in Chicago is, essentially, across the street from the former Rock and Roll McDonald's which would have added a nice level of absurdity on top that feels DeLillo esque
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Some years ago, I needed to get an visa for urgent travel to China, a process that required me to fly down to SF and stand in a very long line at the Chinese consulate. When I finally handed the woman there my forms, she promptly stamped them and said "you need to take these to Window 2", pointing around the corner. So I walked around the corner...
...where *the same woman* swiveled her chair around and proceeded to check the stamp that she had just applied.
I would have been annoyed if I wasn't in so much awe at discovering the purest form of bureaucracy.
@dan interesting contrast to when I stopped in Shanghai for the 144-hour transit visa. There was a long line and a group of 5 customs officials behind a counter, handling one applicant at a time. Every passport was closely scrutinized by every officer, discussed as a group, and much paperwork filled out. But almost no questions were asked aside from where we were staying. I hypothesized that it was a full employment mechanism for inspectors.
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@dan truly, we Americans are only babies when it comes to bureaucracy
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Some years ago, I needed to get an visa for urgent travel to China, a process that required me to fly down to SF and stand in a very long line at the Chinese consulate. When I finally handed the woman there my forms, she promptly stamped them and said "you need to take these to Window 2", pointing around the corner. So I walked around the corner...
...where *the same woman* swiveled her chair around and proceeded to check the stamp that she had just applied.
I would have been annoyed if I wasn't in so much awe at discovering the purest form of bureaucracy.
@dan Having worked in systems-forward (bureaucratized) offices myself I have a theory:
those are two separate jobs and her coworker was not available.
There are two separate windows to improve a specific functional flow. If she did both jobs at her own window things would have gotten messed up as the office space on the other side of the counter is set up to perform that kind of flow.
Like the Italian coffee shop.
