On Mon, Dec 09, 2002 at 05:42:01PM +0000, tarquin wrote:
I'll tell you the long saga of me versus my local social services one day. It will take a large number of beers (and ideally some shadow-puppets for the action scenes!) but it boils down to said social workers repeatedly quoting regulations at me, despite my pointing out that they didn't apply to particular case in question; and then them being unable to actually tell me which person or body was responsible for the regulations' existence, and which person or body had the power to overrule it -- since they seemd to timid to do so. it took about 2 years for the whole thing to be sorted out.
I have experience trying to take things up the chain of command. It always boils down to "This or that act that was passed as legislation ordains that it shall be thus, and gives us no flexibility to act otherwise". And good luck getting your elected representative to help; that often makes it worse. Lower level flunkies poison the ear of the head minister (an elected official, who is appointed) if you try to talk to him, and don't let you talk to him in the end anyway.
Jonathan