How many reading days 'til Xmas??
I've been doing a lot of reading lately, but unlike before this is reading I can't really enjoy, on any scale really. I've been pouring over various government forms to get more money.
One set of forms is a loan application that really, REALLY should have been over and done with by now. For one, I already did them with the help of my dad. It should be cut and dry, except they changed the procedure so that when you're a grad student, you have to fill them out yourself. I can understand the logic behind this - if you're old and smart enough to get into grad school, you don't need your parents to fill out your forms, and they want to hear it from the guy or gal they're actually giving the money to. Fine. My understanding wavers, though, when they make you fill out the same forms as the undergrads, so in every section there's a spot for parent and a spot for student; the difference between undergrad and postgrad applications is pretty much you have to fill out the forms as if you were your own parent. People, I am not the product of incest, but apparently Sallie Mae won't give me any more money unless I put on the overalls, stick that blade of hay in my pseudo-redneck teeth, and proclaim to the lords of beaurocracy that I am my own father. If they didn't say their offices were in Florida, I'd swear they were Kentucky folk getting their red-taped vengeance.
The other set of forms was a customs rebate form. When my laptop was shipped over, Customs charged 200 pounds in VAT. This is bullshit, but since that argument won't holdup in court I have to fill out forms. I don't mean to alarm anyone but I don't think these have ever been actually read before by human eyes. It asks you to fill in EPO numbers but doesn't tell you what an EPO number is, where you might find yours, who could tell you any of this information, or on what mountain this Form Guru sits. It asks for your name and your representative's name with no indiction of who should represent you - does the man who represents himself for Customs have a fool for an importer? I spent about half an hour online trying to track down all of these terms and abbreviations and it's contributed to my exhaustion right now (it's 2:30pm, I should not be this tired).
I realize I've been a bit casual in my tone with this entry into my reading blog, and maybe this isn't the place for such rants. I say that the purpose of this blog is to document our comprehension of text, and these forms may have been the most difficult pieces of text to comprehend I've ever encountered. Did I succeed in understanding the beaurocrats' message? Was I able tomake my ideas clear to them in a way they, in turn, will understand? I'll let you know when the checks clear.
One set of forms is a loan application that really, REALLY should have been over and done with by now. For one, I already did them with the help of my dad. It should be cut and dry, except they changed the procedure so that when you're a grad student, you have to fill them out yourself. I can understand the logic behind this - if you're old and smart enough to get into grad school, you don't need your parents to fill out your forms, and they want to hear it from the guy or gal they're actually giving the money to. Fine. My understanding wavers, though, when they make you fill out the same forms as the undergrads, so in every section there's a spot for parent and a spot for student; the difference between undergrad and postgrad applications is pretty much you have to fill out the forms as if you were your own parent. People, I am not the product of incest, but apparently Sallie Mae won't give me any more money unless I put on the overalls, stick that blade of hay in my pseudo-redneck teeth, and proclaim to the lords of beaurocracy that I am my own father. If they didn't say their offices were in Florida, I'd swear they were Kentucky folk getting their red-taped vengeance.
The other set of forms was a customs rebate form. When my laptop was shipped over, Customs charged 200 pounds in VAT. This is bullshit, but since that argument won't holdup in court I have to fill out forms. I don't mean to alarm anyone but I don't think these have ever been actually read before by human eyes. It asks you to fill in EPO numbers but doesn't tell you what an EPO number is, where you might find yours, who could tell you any of this information, or on what mountain this Form Guru sits. It asks for your name and your representative's name with no indiction of who should represent you - does the man who represents himself for Customs have a fool for an importer? I spent about half an hour online trying to track down all of these terms and abbreviations and it's contributed to my exhaustion right now (it's 2:30pm, I should not be this tired).
I realize I've been a bit casual in my tone with this entry into my reading blog, and maybe this isn't the place for such rants. I say that the purpose of this blog is to document our comprehension of text, and these forms may have been the most difficult pieces of text to comprehend I've ever encountered. Did I succeed in understanding the beaurocrats' message? Was I able tomake my ideas clear to them in a way they, in turn, will understand? I'll let you know when the checks clear.
posted by Ryan Walsh | 2:18 PM
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