Living in the Real World

This is something I wrote about a month or so ago but never got around to publishing. Not sure why. Sometimes I feel that the 'System' is stacked against normal people. Given the way that that is, it also makes me wonder who the 'System' actually works for.

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Sometimes you have these days when you are exposed to some of the real realities of life, not those that you see on TV or that you have to 'endure' at work. Today was one of them for me. It really makes you realise how cosseted you are from the realities that are all around... and of course how lucky you are.

I was in the Bermuda Government office of Social Insurance waiting for some information and overheard a conversation between an elderly lady and a lady member of staff. This department is the one responsible for paying out the Government pension and for some people this amount is substantially the largest part of their income so is really important. The elderly lady told her story which went like this.

She lives in a home for seniors in the west end of the island and has become aware of another lady who lives in the same facility who routinely intercepts the postman delivering the pension cheques and demanding most aggressively the cheque of this elderly lady (and who knows who else's). The elderly lady said that this other lady 'hates' her and has gone to the extent of acquiring a copy of the elderly lady's birth certificate to 'evidence' that she is the intended recipient of the pension cheque. This lady was understandably upset by this but in the lovely way that so many people her in Bermuda have put it in such a way as that she felt that she was imposing on the government employee's time but really needed the help.

The government employee was as helpful as she could be but there are times when 'the system' gets in the way and this was one of them. She said that the postman could not have given the cheque to the wrong person as that is against the rules (what if that postman did not adhere to the rules?) and said that she would talk to the facility manager to see what could be done to make sure it didn't happen again and could this elderly lady come in again next week to talk it through again.

The elderly lady said of course but could they make sure that it was all resolved by the next payment date which was the 15th? Of course not, said the government employee, all the presets have been set up with 'the system' for the payment to be automatically generated. It was far too late for any change to take place this close (we are the 10th) to payment date.

So this poor lady will remain in limbo as to whether this carnivorous other lady takes her pension money for another month or not.

To me this should be a criminal matter but then again the second instance makes me wonder about that too for a day earlier I just happened to be in the central police station in Hamilton waiting again for another reason. Another lady with two young children, her grandchildren, were also waiting. She was getting progressively more agitated and went over to the counter on a number of occasions to see if she could be attended to. Apparently not as there wasn't anybody there who could see her and then the conversation began that make me take note:

"I have to get to work by 3.30 today so can't wait any longer. Are you sure there's nobody I can talk to?"

"That person isn't here at the moment, sorry. Could you come in another time?"

"What other time?"

"Well we are open 24-7 so you can come by any time."

"Will that person be here then?"

"Well he may be off shift of course."

"So is there anyone else I can talk to then?"

"No, he's the one in charge of the investigation."

"But all I want to do is give my witness statement."

"Well there's nobody here to give it to."

"Can't you do it?"

"No, we're station duty personnel. We don't get involved in investigations. There's only one man assigned to this."

"So will he be here at some other time tomorrow?"

"Oh yes, tomorrow for sure."

"What time tomorrow?"

"When he's here."

"What time would that be."

"Tomorrow when he's on shift."

"When is that?"

"I can't tell you that, Ma'am. That's police business."

The lady left and so far as I can tell, the investigation continues without any witness statement.

Comes back to one of those lines in tunes that you can't get out of your head: "Has the world gone mad or is it me?"

Help!