Facing paperwork

I’ve found experientially what I have known for some time.  Paperwork in our current world is dependant on the “digital”.  Note the anachronistic use of the word “paperwork”.

Yesterday I wished to withdraw some investments.  I went directly to the storefront shop and was told that I should have set up an appointment on-line and that no one was available to undertake the investment withdrawal for a few days.  My hope had been to deal directly with the customer service representative that day.  Live and learn!

Then my phone was acting weird (no reference to current memes in the political world – this is only a phone after all).  Perhaps a scammer or a spoofer was using my phone number.  I immediately went in person to the local phone provider’s shop – which I now understand is more of a sales centre than a support centre.  I was told to dial a contact number and expect to be online for an hour or two before I could finally talk to a support person (or get a direct contact for that support person).  I went back home and tried this approach with a limited amount of patience – hanging up after a few minutes of number punching and message referrals.  I then independently went online and checked my ongoing account stats.  Nothing appeared out of sorts (OK, the three calls from earlier and that was all).  No further indications of trouble today so I’ll just let this one play out. Live and learn!

Finally, I needed some documents to sign a form.  I checked directly with a person who could help obtain them free of charge.  They did some checking which led to a referral to an online source for downloads.  I checked that out – what should have been immediate in downloading was going to take at least a few days – I could pay more for a rush delivery but even that would take three days.  And the online site didn’t have all the documents I needed.  Live and learn!

By now, I want back into the local small town bureaucracy where you see someone at the grocery store, enquire about an issue that they might have knowledge about and are given an immediate answer that leads to a quick path to circumvent slow-to-answer bureaucracy. 

Of course that is ideal – and nothing is that simple.  So . . . Live and learn!

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