One of the things that most terrifies me in the world – right up there with being in a hospital without someone to advocate for me – is not having the paperwork or other things I need to get the services I’m entitled to or to protect myself from some kind of officialdom.
This was brought home to me the other day when talking to someone who is helping a neighbor who needs a health aide. This person is able to do the work, but was struggling with having the right paperwork of their own to get signed up with the office that would pay them to be the aide.
They have IDs, but maybe not the right kind of IDs. They’re signed up for some things, but they’ve lost the password.
Maybe it sounds like they’ve been careless, and maybe they have been, but you shouldn’t have to be so damn careful about such things. It should be easy to get what you need, not a damn fight for every little thing.
It’s not, mind you, about certification for the job. It’s just not having exactly the right ID cards.
And they also had to get my neighbor signed up for the care, which is another complicated step in the process.
You have to prove you’re entitled to help, after all. The fact that you’re sick isn’t enough.
I can do this for myself, but then I have a law degree and have in the past done the kind of work where you help people who are in trouble due to misplaced or screwed up paperwork. I also will jump on top of a problem that has elements that could be disastrous because, as I said, this is the sort of thing that scares me.
I file my taxes on time. I pay my bills on time. I keep up with my IDs. And I still panic over this kind of stuff.
I mean, every time I’m headed for an airport, I have a coughing fit that is clearly a panic attack. (I have allergies, but this is different.) I’m tense until I’m through TSA.
And mind you, I’m an old white woman with the right paperwork and I make a point of packing carefully so that I don’t draw any attention. Continue reading “Bad Systems”…