Bureaucracy is essentially the opposite of what my mental model of the world is like. Follow instructions, participate in politics, exercise superficial power.
At first I thought I’d just ignore it, but something odd started happening. I was planning on printing something, but didn’t go into a large retailer, because I knew I had to fight for hours to override their policy and let me go to a website to print something.
My enthusiasm for travel diminished a bit, because I knew I had to possibly deal with border officials. I was scared of police officers. No, I’m not a drug dealer, but I sure as hell felt like one.
Ignoring bureaucracy was getting in the way of my life. Instead of asipiring to be resourceful, like in almost all other aspects of my life, I just shut down when it came to bureaucracy.
That fricking sucked, as you could imagine. The story gets better though.
It’s much easier to deal with it once you learn of their ways. Here’s some point form thoughts, that I might make into longer piece later, but here’s to it being helpful either way.
1) Never argue or get angry with Bureaucrats. Almost everyone thinks that they can somehow convince them using their charisma. This won’t happen. If a border official wants to give you bullshit, the more cavalier you speak, the more opportunity you’re giving them to screw you over.
2) Instead, you must act like a bureacrat. If they ask you for papers, provide all the papers. If they say they can’t do something, ask them to give you a copy of the document that says that. If they say they can’t give you the document, ask them for a copy of the document that says they can’t give you the document.
3) Be patient and cordial, and know that there is no way you’re going to deal with this normally. Simply persevere, give documents, ask for documents, and if it comes to it, exercise your ability to speak to a higher up person.
4) It’s important to never, ever, ever, get angry though, or say a white lie. Even if it’s a white lie, they’ll use it as the basis to build a mountain.