Yesterday I mentioned the Canadian kindness we receive when dealing with their government agencies and banks. Today I gotta tell you their applications for benefits put the U.S. to shame.
They are easy to read, easy to file, require very few steps to completion and the only thing we have to put in snail mail is a signature page. Even a middlin’ bright woman like me can do it! Wow. I’m so excited. I actually didn’t lose my temper. I didn’t bang my fist on the desk. I didn’t spend hours trying to find some obscure document.
Uh, a day without a tantrum? What’s next? Mental health? Probably not.
It is so much easier than the U.S., that I am further appalled by the bureaucracy and red tape syndrome we seem to foment here.
I think Canada found a way to use the bullshit for fertilizer.
Harking back 13 years to the immigration process for my Canadian husband, I marvel at the number of times we had to duplicate forms and documents for the U.S. There were hundreds of photocopied pages required. We printed and reprinted and copied until both of us were sick of it and re-thinking our decision and pitching fits and banging our heads on our respective desks. Well at least I was. I wonder if it is easier now….His work card expires in a couple of years. I’ll find out then.
Once again the quote of the week comes from Douglas Adams.
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. Douglas Adams, “Last Chance to See”
We do have a tendency to stick our hands in the fire repeatedly.
Douglas Adams certainly has a way with words.
It is remarkably entertaining to pluck these tidbits of insight from Adams fiction. Or simply look up quotes by Adams and find yourself in the middle of some high humor, including a few immensely satisfying non sequiturs.
I love British humor. So dry, it only whispers of vermouth.
I wish I could share your beliefs about the Canadian government, Kathy. My wife and I are US citizens who moved to Atlantic Canada fifteen years ago. The process of becoming permanent residents was maddening. Now we’re on the verge of becoming dual citizens, and while we thought we’d made it through the hard part by getting here in the first place, this step has been far worse. Meanwhile, they closed the local citizenship office, and no one on the phone ever knows anything. After twenty-two months, we have our interviews on the 22nd. Wish us luck. And good luck to your husband, too!
You certainly have my best wishes for your interview.
I think I’ve just been so disgusted by U.S. partisanship, intolerance, and hate-mongering that I’m looking for any shelter in the storm. It seems that, like a junkie fixed on his drug, the U.S will have to hit rock bottom before finding its way out. It is beyond my comprehension. Thanks you for your good luck wishes. We are muddling through.
Kathy
P.S. I do so love your blog!
________________________________
I am hard-headed, extremely so! If I don’t experience it first-hand, it will probably not sink in. And even then, sometimes I have to come up against the lesson 3 or 4 times before I finally really get it. 🙂
I’m stubborn and opinionated. Recently I learned that sometimes its best to just shut up and pick your arguments! An entire life in the learning!
Yes, I am still trying to learn to keep my mouth shut! 🙂
I hope it doesn’t take you as long as it did me!