Ask not and all that

As a card-carrying liberal, I'm obliged to believe that collective action (i.e., government) can bring much good to many people. As a guy trying to get a couple of things done (sign up for fall classes at a local community college, sign up for Medicare), I get close to the idea of term limits for administrative personnel.
First off, I do have to note that there are some truly spectacular performers who work for government agencies. My advisor at school is a class act - a knowledgeable teacher with a commitment to quality education, compassion, and good humor. Another person in another agency remembers critical details about my life, speaks to those circumstances with respect and concern, and does good things on my behalf.
The three people who staffed the windows at the college, however, worked very hard at the task of doing nothing useful and making it seem as though it was my fault. They talked among themselves when they could, looked down at stack of papers rather than up at the people waiting for help, asked arcane questions, and gave orthogonal answers.
(Although this piece, Colleges serve the people who work there more than the students who desperately need to learn something., focuses more on academic practices, the attitudes certainly trickle down to the front lines.)
The Gardner Social Security office is tucked into a corner of the former Heywood-Wakefield building complex. A police officer sits at a desk in the corner of the very small waiting room.The signs warning about the symptoms of H1N1 outnumber all of the other signs. You use a touch screen get a deli counter ticket.
When my number was called, I went up to the window, took a seat, and explained my mission and circumstances. The person behind the counter told me that the person who usually does this was out to lunch. She then said that if I wanted to have Medicare Part B start on October, I couldn't fill out the forms now. "This is way too early," she said.
"I need a red pen," she said, fumbling around the desk. (This wasn't her regular desk. and she didn't know where anything was.)
I handed her my red Pilot^® pen. "Is this red?" she asked. She used the red pen to write SEP in red on the top of the page. She used blue ink for the rest of the form.
, in She sternly warned me not to sign or date the piece of paper she filled out and then said that I had to deliver it to the Worcester office anyway.

I can accept that people in government (and in business and in life) make bad decisions that cost us money and waste our time. (Stimulus Slammed: Republican Senators Release Report Alleging Waste - ABC News). We're all gonna make mistakes, big ones for sure.
I have more trouble with bad attitudes. At least try to pretend that it's not all about you.