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| - Dealing with a government bureaucrat is sort of like running into someone bigger than you in a dark alley. If you're lucky, they won't give you any trouble. But if they do - and they can for any reason, whether they're having a bad day, they don't like your hairdo, or they're just a little bored and need to spice things up by screwing someone over - you really don't have any recourse. All you can do is assume a deferential posture, don't challenge them by making too much eye contact, and do your absolute damnedest to have all your ducks in a row for them when they (finally) call your number. Then hold your breath and hope for the best.
I credit this strategy with the fact that I've mostly had pretty decent experiences in government offices. I'm a big believer in the basic goodness of humanity, and I think most people just aren't out to screw you over - even when they easily could. But my experience here was an exception to that rule.
My wife and I went here to get her name changed after we got married. Two out of the three employees we talked to were snippy and unhelpful. One insisted that we needed to go to the Superior Court across town and get a certified copy of our marriage license, as the original didn't suffice (which we did, for thirty dollars). They also misplaced her papers, and nobody made much effort to find them for about 15 minutes. When we returned, thirty-dollar document in hand, to another MDV location, a much nicer lady there told us that we most certainly did not need it.
As a devotee of twentieth-century Russian literature, I suppose I'm grateful for the little taste of what basic, routine interactions with the government must have been like in the Soviet Union. However, after wasting thirty dollars and a couple hours of our time, we definitely won't be coming back here.
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