Red-tape/Work Rant

One would think that with the approach of the summer the work amount would settle down at least a bit. But nooo, not for us.

I got all worked up and fuming today. I guess I fail to put it in words, but what grinds my gears is a useless waste of effort, time and energy in the name of self-perpetuating red-tape. Well, let me paint the situation for ya.

Imagine you have a resolved case, there's nothing more form your side that you can do in it, but you can't just close it right away without a confirmation from the end user. Let's say that the end user ignores your emails and do not give any confirmations. But worry not, you know you have your 3strike rule to use - day 1 - strike one, day 3 - strike two, day 5 - strike three where you explain that since there has been no reply to either of the three strikes the case will be closed after 5 working days. Sound simple and straightforward right?

Let's say you're at day 3 and are about to send out your strike 2 when you receive an email from IC that paraphrasing says something in the lines of - What you're doing with the 3strike rule is all well and nice, but you should update the case each day.

With what???

So what you say is that the routine now looks like this?
Day 1 - Strike 1
Day 2 - BS update 1 (something in the lines of - awaiting strike 2)
Day 3 - Strike 2
Day 4 - BS update 2
Day 5 - Strike 3
..oh, oh, but that's not it, you still have 5 working days to go before closing the case, so
Day 6 - BS update 3
Day 7 - BS update 4
Day 8 - BS update 5
Day 9 - BS update 6
Day 10 - Finally closing the case.

Ain't nobody got time for that!
This is effectively the definition of spamming, not working. Believe it or not, I have actual cases that need real working on. Priority cases too. If we really had nothing to do, it'd be different but we're swamped. Still.

Mind you this is not something that has been documented in routines and none of us has ever done it this way. So, yes, I do feel like the utter bitch when I stand up for something that I consider utter lunacy, but THIS kind of bullshit "working" is exactly what's wrong with this world and I just cannot remain pokerfaced when encountering it.

I was told - look at the broader picture, Josie, missing one such "check" could cost lots of money.
Yeah, I'm looking at an even broader picture, alright, and I'm left speechless and petrified imagining how much manhours are wasted globally on pointless, idiotic red-tape. The time would have been better spent on seashores picking up all that plastic waste..

Rant out.

Hugs&Coffee,
~Josie~