“The system is down.” This standard line – a favourite among employees at state institutions – gets me down. It seems to be the answer to everything.
Rates and taxes queries, licensing issues and even enquiries about court proceedings are answered by this one-liner.
Usually, the one delivering the message looks right through you. Her face is expressionless as she states “the system is down” in a robot-like voice.
“So what do we do now?” you ask. “Come back tomorrow,” she mumbles. “Will the system be back up tomorrow?” you ask. “I don’t know,” the monotonous voice replies robotically.
I want to know who is responsible for creating and maintaining the “systems” at state institutions that are so often out of order. And, frankly, how are they still employed?
Oh, believe me, I have asked many a state department spokesman this question, yet it never gets answered.
Their attempts to answer include:
“It is a mere hiccup we experienced while adapting to a new online program.”
“The online era is full of challenges. Thank you for your patience.”
“This is not our portfolio to elaborate on. The IT department is devoted to finding a solution.”
“Your query was referred to our IT department.”
Eventually, my queries end up in a file 13 somewhere, which can probably not be accessed – obviously file 13’s system is down.
So what are we to do about this? I don’t know. And I am not sure the state’s IT guys will come up with a solution any time soon.
