e-commentary

. . .

[0911 hours]

B          “You shall punch two holes at the top of the pleading.”

C          “What if you receive a pleading without two holes punched at the top of the pleading?”

B          “We reject it.”

C          “Even if it is a Motion For Stay Of Execution?”

B          “Don’t care if it’s not right.  Rules are rules.”

C          “I’m not talking about a stay of execution of a foreclose of a debt involving a fork lift, I’m talking about a stay of execution of a person.”

B          “Don’t care if it’s not right.  Rules are rules.  That is why they are rules.  Rules rule.  Two holes punched at the top of the pleading.”

. . .

[0937 hours]

C          “Do you know where the Recorder’s Office is located?”

B          “Do I look like a receptionist?  No, I don’t look like a receptionist.  I don’t look like a receptionist because I’m not a receptionist.  Do I really look like a receptionist?”

C          “You look like a person.  You look like a person receiving a pay chcck from the government.  You look like a person who might know which agencies are in the building.”

B          “Ask the receptionist.”

C          “Where do I find the receptionist?”

B          “There is no receptionist.  We don’t have a receptionist.  I don’t know where the Recorder’s Office is located.”

. . .

[0942 hours]

B          “We don’t record documents with two holes punched at the top of the pleading.  Period.”

C          “The court required two holes to be punched at the top of the pleading.”

B          “Don’t care if it’s not right.  There are rules.”

C          “I can’t remove the holes.  The statute says that every properly signed and notarized document ‘shall’ be recorded.  ‘Shall’ is a mandatory verb.  That wording actually makes life easier for all of us.”

B          “It’s discretionary around here.”

C          “Now today is a Tuesday.  On Tuesdays, some supervisors exercise discretion and record a document even if it has court-ordered holes in it.”

B          “Well, it is in fact Tuesday, we can make an exception this time and follow the statute, if you insist.”

. . .

[“Now the hired help is taking home regular paychecks.  I don’t.  The hired help has generous health care.  I don’t.  The hired help has been promised that they will receive a defined benefit retirement plan until they depart this planet.  I won’t.  The response of the ‘receptionist’ is not dictated by some absurd official policy.  And here on the wall near his office is a sign noting that the Recorder’s Office is down the hall to the left.  He may be a private sector contract employee who suspects that the contractor who may file bankruptcy to shed any financial obligations, yet he is receiving a regular paycheck.  Not far below the surface, Americans are angry, bitter, raging, frustrated and percolating.  Seems that some are working, although something is not working.”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“Hold it [the chicken] between your knees.”  Jack Nicholson / Robert “Bobby” Eroica Dupea in “Five Easy Pieces” (1970) (With a little finesse, he could have gotten the toast without anyone getting toasted.)   

Tear, fold, spindle and mutilate

This entry was posted on June 6, 2011 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Bureaucracy, Courts, Movie Reference, Pensions, Pogo Plight, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.