[UA] The Functionary

[John Scott]

At 04:07 21/03/2003 -0800, you wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>Is there an Avatar of the Functionary anywhere?
>
>I'm not really thinking of the Indispensable Servant, more of the faceless 
>bureacrat.  The guy at the Passport Office who makes you stand in line 
>three hours then tells you you're in the wrong line anyway.  The Soviet 
>apparatchik who processes housing applications but puts yours to the 
>bottom of the pile if you have the wrong stamp on it, the Italian tax 
>assessor who assigns penalties to you regardless of why you might have 
>been late with your return.

That is the Necessary Servant - the dark side of it. If they weren't 
necessary, you wouldn't be trapped there.  They have power over you, as all 
servants have power over their masters, and the difference here is that 
you've both aware of it, and aware that they are choosing to express that 
power - to bring it out into the open instead of hidden as society dictates 
it should be.

John



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