A bureaucracy is “a
government administered primarily by bureaus staffed with non-elected officials”.[1]
Bureaucracies were established in ancient China, in ancient Egypt, in the Roman
empire and have continued to modern times. Karl Marx, Max Weber, Woodrow Wilson,
among others, wrote about the advantages of bureaucracies.
Over time, the definition
has moved to describe the “dark side” of bureaucracy. We talk about the red
tape, the inefficiencies and the problems and have come to expect that an
encounter with a bureaucrat will be negative. Ellen and I have heard horror
stories about the French bureaucracy and have come to fear that we may have to
meet with impatient and impolite functionaries.
Au contraire, mes amis! Our encounters with la bureaucratie française have been
positive.
Maybe it is because the
specter of an encounter with an impolite or bored functionary makes us invest
an inordinate amount of time in preparation. Maybe it is because we are polite.
Maybe it is because we speak French. Maybe it is because we’re old. Whatever
the reason (most likely the last one), we have had only successful and positive
encounters with the French system.
Case in point: the French
visa process. In the original application, we had to travel to Chicago to visit
the French consulate to obtain our first visa. We arrived armed for bear and
encountered a lamb of a bureaucrat. She was most impressed with the notebooks
with tabs marking the sections to match the questions that Ellen had created. “Très organisé!” she said to her
colleague as she held up the notebook. A few weeks later – in the timeframe she
had given us – our visas arrived and we were off to France.
Each time that we have gone
to our local prefecture in Avignon to renew our visas, we have had similar
experiences. The appointments have been efficient. At the prefecture, you are
greeted by a person who asks why you are there and then helps you select the
right category so you end up with the appropriate number for the queue (there
are multiple reasons that people need to meet with a bureaucrat: driver’s
license, identity cards, visas and each category appears on the overhead
screens with the number of the person currently being served. Our waits have
been short even though I am pretty meticulous about being there with plenty
of time prior to our scheduled appointment time.
It seems now that the
hardest part of our “day with the bureaucrats” comes after the appointment when
we have to choose where we will have lunch in Avignon!😊
