Bureaucratism

What world do we live with? This is probably one of the most frequently discussed questions in society. Through the years the answers vary - capitalism, communism, nationalism, fascism, neo-anything-ism, anyone's-name-with-an-ism-in-the-end-ism, etc.(and this is a very long etcetera). Here I will define a new ISM, the ISM that has been ever present in our society - Bureaucratism. Can you think of any advantages of bureaucracy? (if you can please do share, especially today, I cannot think of any)

The first time I met bureaucracy is when I was ten years old and my parents had to get me a new international passport (that is how they were called in Bulgaria back in the day). They filled pages and pages of forms just to get a little piece of paper with my name and picture on it. Had I known this is just the beginning of my relationship with bureaucracy, I would have emigrated to a deserted island.

This relationship of mine has been like an unhappy marriage, every time bureaucracy shows her face I get a headache, the headache that men get when they are getting a divorce and have no prenup. When I was applying for high school, university, health insurance, work permit, bank account, travel pass, tesco clubcard, boots clubcard, H&M clubcard (I could continue with the shops for a while), credit card, (god forbid) a loan, accommodation, or any other card or piece of paper in my wallet, I would have an intimate meeting with bureaucracy that would test all my skills and senses.

To get to the point in this most important of post, I would like to give the non-UK students in Aston an advice that could probably spare them my bureaucracy-caused wrinkles. When it is time for you to get a work-permit (or whatever the certificate is called) do NOT open any of the government websites. They have no useful information, whatsoever; call HM Revenue & Customs and ask all your questions on the phone (just prepare for a waiting time of approximately 3-5 minutes).

If you do not have the phone numbers, and you probably don't, just go to the Careers Office in uni. They are supposed to be our point of contact for problems and questions connected with work and placement. Unfortunately, I decided to tackle the problem myself and only three hours later (after spending most of the time in various government websites) did I have the form I needed to fill in. The Careers Office must have answered a thousand questions like mine and most certainly would have effortlessly given me the phone numbers that I ultimately found.

So, to sum up, bureaucracy sucks, government websites are useLESS, careers office is useFUL, calling institutions on the phone is most effective (though pricey).