It seems that the Ancient Romans were largely responsible for the development of political bureaucracy. Commendable invention to be sure, and quite understandable given the size of the Empire.
The trouble is when you go to public offices nowadays to expedite some bureaucratic practice and you realize that while the ancient Romans might have invented it two thousand years ago, they haven’t really been all that busy around here improving it since then.
Cavernous, labyrinthine spaces for the offices, strange undecipherable signs indicating the official unofficial office hours, personnel who will direct you to someone they heard of on the fourth floor who might have a friend at the right office you can contact for information on which office to go to,
the still ubiquitous use of enormous faldoni (folders, basically, but the Titanic equivalent of same. Each hold about 25 lbs. of paper files if stuffed by expert hands) and the attendant archive and filing (ahem) challenges…all these are hallmarks of the Roman bureaucratic experience.
That said, there have been some improvements, technological even! Notice the new button box numbering system.
(The guards standing around have become defacto button box experts. Ask them, not the guys at the information booth who we’re pretty sure were impostors, even if very friendly). Anyhow, you push the correct button and out flies a numbered ticket that denotes your position in “line”. You then go to the booth/window that the big board indicates when your number comes up.
Certainly Italians’ love of lotto and playing the numbers have something to do with its success. And with a wry smile Sig.ra Franca at booth n.11 says that since the introduction of the amazing new technology, murder rates in the waiting area seem to have gone down (we are glad to report that hollering is still at time-honored levels).
And sure, the inefficiency and, well, bureacracy of it all seems quite distressing if you take the “This is a public office at which I need to get X, Y, and Z done, and it’s all just a useless gov’t hassle that I’m forced to endure.” Fact of the matter is, you need to remember that this is an Ancient Roman invention, and so you must look at it with those eyes, not our modern, hyper-efficiency is everything lenses.
Think of yourself as an Ancient Roman going to the Forum…you meet nice fellow citizens who are also here by necessity conducting their daily business, on your way out you have an espresso with the guard who pointed you in the right direction, you catch up on the previous day’s politics with Info-Booth Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, Sig.ra Franca shows you photos and shares stories of her grandchildren while she bangs on the malfunctioning 1970s printer in her booth, etc. etc.
And if nothing else, precisely because it does take two hours to get the most insignificant paperwork done, the catharsis and sense of elation you feel once you’ve finished your bureaucratic task and have walked out of the building definitely almost makes it all worthwhile!
Definitely.
– Contributed by GB (see bio), Editor, Italian Notebook.
Oh my God, this would be even funnier if it weren’t true. I’ll never forget the days I spent sitting in public waiting rooms for so many things- from my codice fiscale to getting a bank account to getting an x-ray. That’s one of things I don’t miss about Italy.
GB. A masterly piece of suppressed frustration tempered with (a very generous) amusement. Kafka would feel right at home here. I think it was in Dark Heart of Italy (Tobias Jones) where I read that every Italian devotes two weeks of his/her life each year to standing in line. Still, a good place to plot a murder…
this is close to my heart unfortunately. i never imagined all the paperwork and documents i would have to apply for, sign, and wait for….jsut opening a bank account required 19 pages – each with required signatures-here in new york it was jsut a half page with one signature. i imagine the more things which are part of your file, the greater the chance of losing them. i am in the process right now of applying for elective residence. wish me luck! i have a house in sardinia so i hope it wont be a problem, HA!
Now I understand why it took many many years for my husband’s father to return to the US from Italy. He had become a uS citizen, went back to bring his family over, got drafted by the Italians for World War II, got gassed, made a prisoner of war, then had to make years of trips to try to get a Visa to return to US. But the Roamsn spread their culture for now getting a Visa for visiting Brasil is the same process of take a number and wait.
This really made me laugh! We had to change addresses each time we moved to another city (we did this 4 times in 2 years) and Perugia, where we applied first for our permesso di soggiorno, was a nightmare. The most efficient and smooth, Verona, hands down. Thanks for this very entertaining note! I do have to take exception to the idea of Italians “standing in line” – I was never sure they completely understood the concept of waiting their turn!! ;)
I love this post! It so characterizes the Italian bureaucracy, and with good humor.
This is all so true and so amusing. Is actually one of the things we do miss about Ital y. Well not really the standing in lines, but Imust say in Naples things work a bit swifter. You just have to go “around the world” to get it done. But still, took less time to go thru red tape there than it did anything in the US.
I do miss Italy so much!
I agree, this makes me laugh. A person hasn’t lived until they experience the Italian bureaucracy. Last year, I received my Italian citizenship from the consul office in Los Angeles. The previous year, on the recommendation of the consul office, I tried to complete this task in Italy. I spent a week going back and forth to the Questura. I failed. I thought I was close, but in the end an official said “no”.
Now, it’s all laughable.
la mia patria, bello!
This truly brought back some memories. Rosemary don’t you remember that Perugia changed over to the number system shortly after we arrived in 2005. The problem was knowing which “letter & number” combination matched the services we needed.
O mamma mia! I’m flooded with nightmarish memories. Che risata!
Reading all of these ll notes brings back a flood of memories of similar frustrations over our 27 nonetheless happy years living there. One of the worst things is if they make the slightest mistake on a public document. My home town is Louisville, Kentucky (USA). When I bought a car, unfortunately the clerk had transcribed an “n” for the “u”. To change that required me to request the change at ACI Roma, and begin the whole process again. Eventually I was required to return to Torino (we were living in Roma at the time) and request that the auto dealer make the change. After about a year we had the correct document. Did any of you ever see the film “MADE IN ITALY?” It came our in the 70s, but you won’t find it now. It was “removed” from circulation as too “offensive”, yet all of it true, like the stories printed here. But, still we love Italy. What a place!!
It sounds like many of you are removed from the present conditions new immigrants are subject to when applying for similar things in the NYC area. In some places, English is hardly understandable.One must stay calm with angry individuals that take out their frustrations on naive new commers,especilly the non English peaking ones and give them a very hard time by misguiding them to stand for hours in the wrong lines. The incompetence,the lazyness,the shouting, the attitudes,filthy offices,soiled chairs,day long lines that never end (sometimes the lines circle a city block, and for hours one must indure scorching summer temperatures without water. At the end of the day, totally starving (no matter where you look, all you can grab to eat is dog food)…..Please….Italy, does have issues in this regard, and at different times in history has been better managed. The Romans would never tollerate this. But do take a closer look at what is going on in your own back yard these days.
Connie,
Thanks for calling attention to that. As citizens of America, we have never had to experience what current immigrants face. I know that my experience in Italy gave me a much better appreciation for what it feels like to go to a different country, not being fluent in the language and trying to navigate your way through the immigration system. Your comments are justified and humbling.
This article is hilarious, and so well written! I have been to the police station at least 15 times in the past year, trying to complete my application for my permesso di soggiorno. My husband and children all have British passports but I have an Australian one! I do not even want to work, but the process has been astoundingly complicated.
Your final comment “the catharsis and sense of elation you feel once you’ve finished your bureaucratic task and have walked out of the building definitely almost makes it all worthwhile!” is so true – we are going to have an enormous Permesso di Soggiorno Party when it finally comes through!