Raymond Angelo is the Exoticoption.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Trapped in the Red Tape

Funny how you can ALMOST spell the word "trapped" using the letters which make up "red tape". Because, I guess, when you think about it, red tape is the really really useless piece of shyte which does nothing but hinder you, and I feel that, in my recent handling with the National Services Portal, I was drowned in the bloody red tape.

Case in Point:

NS Deferment is a sorta big deal here; you have to declare you are not going for NS because you have some form of education going on. So I get a letter awhile ago, slightly more than a month, saying that I have to defer. So yeah, I get the letter, and my mum told me sternly that I HAD to do it, because there was a fine of up to $10000, which is a really big deal. I go and defer the day after receiving the letter, but lo-and-behold, I can only defer a few days after receiving the letter, which seems like a totally pointless process.

So the letter lay in the forgotten for awhile, and I receive a reminder letter, which I'm thankful for. The deadline is August 8th, today. And it was only on the 7th, yesterday, when I got around to deferring. And this is when they shit hit the fan.

I typed in the wrong password once, and then another time, and then my ability to log-in is FROZEN. HOLY SHIT. I proceed to calling the hotline in a state of ULTIMATE PANIC AT THE IMPENDING CRISIS, and I was told that there were two choices; wait for the mail to come (after 3 days, but then I would have been past the deadline, and $10000 poorer), or fax them, along with a copy of my IC on the fax, and they'll message me password.

Surely, with the technology hoo-haa, I could have just e-mailed them, but no, fax it was. Who the heck uses fax anyways?

So I go on a mad hunt for someone willing to lend me their fax machine, and I found a kind soul in Glen Wirawan (Godbless him, he just got baptised). Proceeded to his house, faxed 'em, and was happy waiting for their message of my password.

And then the next day comes, and as I was about to enter the cinema to watch 'Suburbia' (which is awesomely creepy), my phone rang and it was the NS people calling to say that my fax was too blur. This is at around noon btw. Why couldn't they have called earlier, instead of lulling me into a false sense of relaxation?

So I go back to Glen's house after the movie, and fax them again, this time, with bigger resolution, and better quality. I wait for around 30 minutes...without getting a response. Pissed off, I called them, and they said it was TOO DARK. Seriously...my face is there, my IC number is there, THEY KNOW IT'S ME, so whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!?!?!

In the end, I scanned it, in greyscale, and then brightened it like crazy, and finally, it was approved.

I went home, and did the deferment thing, which went like "Would you like to defer?", and you just click "Yes", and that was it.

Way too much trouble for a way too obvious answer. Seriously. Yes, or no? Goodness. I guess I'm partly at fault as well for not doing this thing earlier, but then again, it could have been made easier if we had used something called E-MAIL, or maybe do away with the too-dark/too-blur thing.

Mind you though, I liked the hotline people, because they were helpful. The system is the thing I have something against, that's all.

1 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home


 
Locations of visitors to this page Free Web Counter
Free Web Counter