N.O. Dept of Vital Records
I spent a significant part of my day trying to acquire copies of my father’s death certificate that I need to deal with settling his estate. I would just like to note that the New Orleans Dept of Vital Records has at least one worthless waste of protoplasm working there.
When someone is calling about their father’s death you are not supposed to
- Interrupt them repeatedly
- Sigh in exasperation at every question
- hang up on them mid sentence.
While I cannot remember the woman’s name, and was so furious I did not write it down, I will have to aim my curses and profanity at my memory of her voice. Here’s to karma, baby, hope you get yours!
This is how the city departments run. This is why We Are NOT Okay. The feds and the state bear more than a fair share of blame, but there is a whole lot to go around on the local level.
January 16th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Try to deal with some of the jerks on the front line in person… it takes every bit I have to not strangle these creatures.
On the flip side, there’s some good folks there, but they tend to be older.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
I’m surprised they actually answered the phone. Most City departments expect you to present yourself in person for humiliation.
This is a calculated effort to prove more employees are necessary.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:01 am
I was actually just bitching about City Hall earlier today with my boss and related the following story to her, which my boyfriend experienced a few years back (pre-K):
At the time he was doing IT work for a firm that did some computer work at City Hall. One day he went into an office there to work on a computer and walked in to find the office floor, furniture, etc, covered in plastic sheeting. Why? Because the City Hall employee occupying the office had taken it upon herself to bring in her houseplants from home and re-pot them while at work.
He’s also mentioned multiple occasions when he walked into office areas of City Hall and it was basically like the employees were having a party, just chit-chatting, etc. The re-potting houseplants story is the one that really kills me though.
January 17th, 2008 at 8:08 am
I somehow suspect the house plants were more qualified for the job than the City Hall employee re-potting them. The house plants are probably more responsive, as well.
January 17th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
ya know, it’s stories like this that scared the crap out of me when I went to the Notarial Archives office to do some streetcar research, but they were the exact opposite of the horror stories. Perhaps because they’re across the street in the old Amaco building, maybe it’s something in the city hall air that turns employees into hostile vegetables.
January 18th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Could it really be that simple?
Nah…….