I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
I wasted my day today with a fruitless trip to the US Consulate here, which I'm displeased to report is every bit the bureaucratic behemoth of any Turkish government office, but whose employees lack the charm of Turkish government officials. I have no idea why our diplomats would think "surly, indifferent, put-upon, and Soviet" is the attitude they should adopt toward US citizens abroad.
The US Citizens Section at the consulate here has a reputation for DMV-level unpleasantness. A contact at State laughed darkly when I called him afterwards to marvel at this--he said there are endless complaints about what he described as the section's "customer service."
I have no idea why they haven't all been fired, in that case. I'm a US citizen, not a US customer. One would think the first requirement of a career in diplomacy is a gift for it. I hate to imagine what someone who is not a citizen of the United States would think of our country if that tone of voice and attitude were his introduction to it. Actually, I don't need to imagine--I know. It offends them terribly, and I cannot blame them.
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Jun '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Take the Baksheesh out of the system and that's what you get
Jun '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Another idiotic debasement of both reality and the facts.
Jul '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Coming Soon to a Hospital Near you!
Edited on Jan 11, 2011 at 2:53pmJul '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
"What other obvious questions about disasters, you might wonder, has the federal government failed to ask itself?"
1) Will customer service cost me Claire's vote?
Aug '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Is it an unintended consequence of anti-terrorism legislation? When I was processing my daughters through the US consulate in GuangZhou, I was told that only US nationals were allowed by law to process Visa applications, and only so many US nationals would be posted to a consulate. So no matter what the demand for routine processing, which you could imagine could be handled by bringing on local clerical staff, the system guaranteed very overworked people.
Who, in my case at least, were reasonably friendly and efficient. But at that time, at least, the availability of consulate appointments was the rate-limiting step in the adoption process.
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Exactly. Something else that struck me--something we have all half-consciously noted, I'm sure--is a tone of voice often used by women in the federal government in particular. I'm trying to put my finger on what it is, in particular, but it is galling: a combination of scolding petty authoritarianism, charmlessness and bitterness.
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
I don't know. But the Turkish employees at the consulate--who were surely just as overworked--were charming and gracious to me, despite being unhelpful. Not the Americans. I found this embarrassing.
Nov '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
No, it's a consequence of State Department officials being (and having always been) horrible, horrible people. The job description attracts only the scummiest bureaucrats and political hacks.
May '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Claire Berlinski, Ed.:
I'm a US citizen, not a US customer. ... I hate to imagine what someone who is not a citizen of the United States would think of our country if that tone of voice and attitude were his introduction to it. Actually, I don't need to imagine--I know. It offends them terribly, and I cannot blame them. ·
Claire you are not even a "customer" of our government, you are a supplicant. The tone and manner are offensive because they are intended to be. It's a way of putting you in your place, and establishing who is the authority and who is the servant.
And of course you cannot be a "customer", in that customers can choose to take their business elsewhere. You are not allowed that choice.
Edited on Jan 11, 2011 at 2:02pmMay '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Claire, I've often marveled at what a poor job we do of welcoming visitors from other countries at our airports when they land. I think about the foreign airports I've visited and how clearly they help you through immigration and customs. And then contrasted that experience with what I imagine it feels like to land in and attempt to navigate JFK.
Dec '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Well, I apologize, sort of. My Dad was career at State and I observed a gracious and efficient office, under him. Consular Affairs has always been different, and separate, from most embassy operations and it can get messy.
I once got into (minor) difficulty overseas and went to the embassy and was both shocked and embarrassed (for my country) at my reception. This was an embassy at which my Dad had been the First Secretary, just 5 or so years before, and I was there for the first time as an adult, without my old Diplomatic passport. Once the duty officer found out who I was, everything changed and I was ushered past the glass partition, but that should not have been the case, for me as an ordinary citizen. Nor should "ordinary" citizens be treated the way I was when I first arrived. These are our international Welcome mats.
This is something I haven't thought about, for many years, but you are right; we need to do something about this. It merits some consideration.
Jul '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Exactly. Something else that struck me--something we have all half-consciously noted, I'm sure--is a tone of voice often used by women in the federal government in particular. I'm trying to put my finger on what it is, in particular, but it is galling: a combination of scolding petty authoritarianism, charmlessness and bitterness.
I have called it the 'air of superiority."
I'll recount; in 1987 I had to file a building permit with King Co. Washington. It is to date the only building permit I've ever filed for.
In the County office is a bureaucrat who deals with that section of that leagal code 8 hours a day 5 days a week. I am NOT stupid for not knowing what she knew, yet she still treated me like a complete imbicil for not knowing what she did know. Add to that she was impatient with me for "needing my hand held" in every aspect of the process.
It was as if it were an interruption to her day of 'important' business" my needing her aid because I'm such an idiot.
Edited on Jan 11, 2011 at 3:08pmRe: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
When you have to deal with a monopoly -- whether public or private -- and you need them and they don't need you, you are apt to be treated shabbily unless you are a VIP and they know it.
Oct '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Think it's bad for citizens? Try applying for a B1/B2 visa at a U.S. embassy post 9/11. Mine (obtained in 2000, when I thought the procedure then was humilitating) expires this month, and I shall not be renewing it. I no longer travel to subprime countries.
Oct '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Exactly. Something else that struck me--something we have all half-consciously noted, I'm sure--is a tone of voice often used by women in the federal government in particular. I'm trying to put my finger on what it is, in particular, but it is galling: a combination of scolding petty authoritarianism, charmlessness and bitterness. · Jan 11 at 12:56pm
Such was also the case many, many years ago when my father worked at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo. He was initially surprised at how bitter the State Department employees (my father was with Treasury) were. Tokyo was, and still is, a prime posting, so why all the anger and resentment? If one were relegated to a consulate in Ouagadougou, I could understand - if not approve of - the bitterness. But Tokyo? Or Istanbul?
Aug '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Not exactly consular affairs, but neither the Brasília nor the Baku embassy answered my e-mails about intellectual-property protection or translation software respectively. Come on, questions like these should be occasions! Take a swing, for heaven’s sake! But then, I’ve sat alongside the International-Relations-B.A. types who take the Foreign Service exam; I have no trouble picturing them in faraway postings, with the sullen hollow self-possession of wet possums. They never told us it would be this hard!
On the other hand, the Santomean Embassy in Lisbon answered my e-mail about visas with alacrity and charm, complimenting me on my Portuguese. It should be a most galling embarrassment to all American diplomatic personnel (Portuguese-speaking, English-speaking, or wet-possum-speaking) to be outshone by two flyspecks off the African coast.
May '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Paul, this may be true in the USA but it is not generally true in Japan. I think Americans simply do not have a tradition of government work being prestigious. Therefore we get what we expect to get.
Edited on Jan 11, 2011 at 9:18pmMay '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Claire,
Try writing a personal letter (hand-written) to HRC. It's worth a try.
Jun '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
Speaking of DMV -- I'm driving around with an expired license because I can't even get a parking spot at our local NJ motor vehicle office. The hours have been cut & lines have been out the door & mountains of snow are covering a good number of spots. I witnessed about five near accidents in the lot today, so decideded to head home before I was hit. Today was my fourth attempt.
Jul '10
Re: I am Not a US Customer. I am a US Citizen.
outstripp
Paul, this may be true in the USA but it is not generally true in Japan. I think Americans simply do not have a tradition of government work being prestigious. Therefore we get what we expect to get. · Jan 11 at 9:17pm
Edited on Jan 11 at 09:18 pm
Beg to differ. The kinds of people that take government positions, in my experience, tend to consider them very prestigious indeed, and tend to have a world view that stigmatizes anyone without the same sensibilities. As always, there are exceptions, but at State they were hard to come by when I was there.
The federal workplace is rife with schisms. When military is in the mix, it is the two year military rotation versus the permanent civilian/GS civil servants versus those money-grubbing contractors. Add in the usual interdepartmental food fights and whatnot that come with any poorly disciplined workplace.
Edited on Jan 12, 2011 at 3:10am