Bureaucracy - don't you just love it!

[rynd2it]

Originally Posted by Bevdeforges

Are you by any chance close enough to any of the other towns that you could consider de-annexing yourself from your current town and joining a town with more reasonable requirements? You'd need to get your neighbors involved, but we've made noises about this here and it really does seem to get the mayor's attention.
Cheers,
Bev

I don't think so - we don't have enough neighbors even! It's a small LD of 5 houses and a farm.

Interesting idea though

[Tanksalot]

Let the mairie chill out a bit and then go back to them and very nicely ask them, OK, what would you advise us to do in this situation? Don't offer any possibilities and don't say a word once you've asked the question (just smile alot and let the silence hang heavy) - toss it right back in their laps and let them come up with a solution. It drives 'em nuts!

Hi Bev,

I read this piece of advise and fell of my chair laughing It is very similar to my career in sales when you ask for the order be quiet, if you open your mouth you lose.

Look forward to applying this to my next Marie problem....


Tank Johnson

[rynd2it]

Originally Posted by Tanksalot

Hi Bev,

I read this piece of advise and fell of my chair laughing It is very similar to my career in sales when you ask for the order be quiet, if you open your mouth you lose.

Look forward to applying this to my next Marie problem....


Tank Johnson

The problem with this method is two-fold:

a) The Mairie is not in a hurry to get the job done
b) They have already told us in writing that we must consult the designers for an alternative solution.

I agree on the sales stuff though

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by Tanksalot

Hi Bev,

I read this piece of advise and fell of my chair laughing It is very similar to my career in sales when you ask for the order be quiet, if you open your mouth you lose.

Look forward to applying this to my next Marie problem....


Tank Johnson

When I was watching Hollande's first interview as President, it dawned on me that there must be something about how they train the enarques to respond to questions. Hollande always seems to jump right onto a response, without giving it the slightest consideration first - I guess to show that he really does have all the answers (yeah, right).

It's like in the schools here. You never dare to respond with "I don't know." If you don't know the answer, you make something up. Being wrong is worse than admitting you don't know. (Or so it appears.)

I like to use those observations when dealing with the administration.
Cheers,
Bev

[hils]

Originally Posted by Bevdeforges

You never dare to respond with "I don't know." If you don't know the answer, you make something up.
Bev

Having been a professional trainer (IT systems) in a previous life, I understand that syndrome. In a course, if I was asked something I didn't know the answer to, I always made something up - the rationale being that if it was preying on their mind they weren't taking in what I was telling them next. I then did mega-homework after class to find the real answer and told them the next day that I had been wrong and gave them the right answer.

That scored extra points 'cos it humbled me and it made the trainees see that I took their questions seriously and did my best to answer them properly. That technique could only be used a few times in the course of a week tho'.

However, in a "front the public" role, it wouldn't necessarily work and bureaucrats here do seem to rely upon that you won't query their answers and won't do homework and come back to haunt them.

HA! They haven't got used to the expats yet, have they?

H

[kikinuts]

Move to where I live. The SPANC doesn't give a crap and neither does the Mairie!! I've been here for 11 months and have reported my landlady to EDF, l'Agence Régional de Santé SPANC, le Fisc, lawyers and god knows whom else because she is a total outlaw on all fronts and NOONE seems to care (I spent all winter with no heating for example). Currently, all waste water goes straight into the ditch and has been doing so for years apparently. The Mairie and the SPANC are dragging the feet whilst my landlady is polluting the "commune's" water. Baffles me.

Anyway, I've found a new place to rent so if you want mine you're welcome!

Sorry, this doesn't help you at all but I needed a rant (please read my post on exchanging drivers' license).

Good luck, apparently the only thing you can hedge your bets on is your own patience!

Kiki

[rynd2it]

Originally Posted by kikinuts

Currently, all waste water goes straight into the ditch and has been doing so for years apparently.

Kiki

So does ours (apart from toilets) and therein lies the start of the whole problem. It was a condition on the sale that the system was replaced.

Still no news

[rynd2it]

Hi,

Here's the latest. Permeasol could not find an alternative solution, our contractors suggested Plan 'B' which would work but they could not get approval for it. Plan 'C' was to get another soil test done which would remove the necessity for the drain to the ditch. That would cost money. The contractor decided to press the Mairie for an explanation but four days of unanswered calls weren't getting us anywhere.

We had discussions with the neighbours who had a similar problem some years back and the upshot of this was I decided to personally visit the Maire in person. I was lucky, his assistant knew of the issue and got me 10 minutes of his time. It was immediately obvious that he had misunderstood the volumes of water involved, I got the Maire (himself) to phone our contractors and five minutes later we have a solution. Overnight tonight (we are promised) documents will be faxed and signed and work can restart on Monday.

Bev's advice on personally meeting with the Maire was spot on, even with my limited French the conversation was easy and we got a result.

Thanks for reading this far and for all the advice and support

Merci à tous

[Bevdeforges]

Who knows? Perhaps the mayor was honked off that you hadn't shown your faces there yet to "introduce yourselves." Or maybe he took your coming in to see him as acknowledgement of his "authority" (giggle).

I'm constantly amazed at how much "protocol" there is in these little towns, but getting yourselves known at the mairie is always the easiest way to deal with the idiotic bureaucracy here in France. (Well, maybe not the way I got myself known at the mairie when I first arrived... but that's another story.)

Congratulations, in any event. You are one step further along on that long road to "assimilation." (We are the Borg. You WILL be assimilated.... Resistance is futile.)
Cheers,
Bev

[rynd2it]

Originally Posted by Bevdeforges

Who knows? Perhaps the mayor was honked off that you hadn't shown your faces there yet to "introduce yourselves." Or maybe he took your coming in to see him as acknowledgement of his "authority" (giggle).

I'm constantly amazed at how much "protocol" there is in these little towns, but getting yourselves known at the mairie is always the easiest way to deal with the idiotic bureaucracy here in France. (Well, maybe not the way I got myself known at the mairie when I first arrived... but that's another story.)

Congratulations, in any event. You are one step further along on that long road to "assimilation." (We are the Borg. You WILL be assimilated.... Resistance is futile.)
Cheers,
Bev

Actually we did know the mayor having met him both socially and officially previously. He's a nice guy but was out of his depth and could not admit it - face to face made it easy for him to explain his objection and for us to overcome it. This is a lesson I have personally preached for a long time - until today I was allowing the experts to tell me what should be done.

We'll see if it all works out next week - fingers crossed

Cheers