
First a Thief Stole My Car, Then SF City Government Did - vincefutr23
https://jeepguy.substack.com/p/first-a-thief-stole-my-jeep-then
======
natrik
When I arrived as a foreign-exchange student in Dijon, France, I was bombarded
with war stories about run-ins with the infamous French bureaucracy. I got my
first taste of it standing in line to enroll in my classes. You stand in line
for three hours to see somebody at a desk tucked away in a narrow corridor
just off the large entrance hall. You finally get to the front only to be told
that this is the line for non-EU students, and that the much-shorter line for
European "Erasmus" students is adjacent. Of course, both desks are hidden
since the corridor is filled with people, so you cannot see the purpose of
each line until you are at the front. Once you are there, you must present a
number of documents, proofs of identity, and a photocopy of an EU Health
Insurance Card (which was not on the list of required documents you were sent
and which you must show even if you have on your possession the physical
card). The point of all of this is to fill in a form at the desk and make an
appointment for one week later, when you will bring in all of the documents
that have just been checked so that they can be checked again. Officially. [1]

[1] - [https://worldcrunch.com/rue-amelot/david-foster-wallace-
find...](https://worldcrunch.com/rue-amelot/david-foster-wallace-finding-
empathy-hidden-in-red-tape)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC7xzavzEKY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC7xzavzEKY)

~~~
vincefutr23
unbelievable, but sadly based on this experience I can see how that would
happen and empathize

