Comic 1747 - Procedures and Protocols
Author Notes:
Also Marcus has good news later today
still not out of the woods yet but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
FINAL UPDATE: The drive has been recovered, I just received the file list of the contents of the drive and all looks to be in order, a total of 4tb of data, on a new 5TB drive. They will be shiping the drive out to me and Ill receivec it friday evening, Ill then install it in Cents computer on Monday .... if all goes well it will just be a pop it in and go. My hat goes off to DDR, as they were able to do this far cheaper than I ever could... and would highly recomend them to any one who has recovery needs. They do take out of state requests if you ship them the drive. Shameless plug, absoultly, do they deserver it.. They saved the comic, so I recomend showing them some love
Comments:
They say we're anal, compulsive, and weird.
But when push comes to shove, you gotta do what you love,
Even if it's not a good idea! ♫
Re good news: Waiting for the good news with baited breath.
almost alwaysoften useless. Rather than getting anything done, they're there to tell you what you CAN'T do. Love the cartoon inset. My feeling exactly! :D Good job Cici! (Yes, do check out her comic).I'm optimistically awaiting the good news!
I'd correct that slightly to say "Treaties are PROMISES, negotiated and agreed to by separate entities, often with consequences or penalties for failure." For treaties, consequences can be drastic enough that rules get suspended...
Anyway, I'm guessing you'd reply to the above "rules applied from above are implicitly agreed-to in order to be a part of society one lives in." And I'd agree.
We're mostly in agreement here. :)
I suspect Brittany's method of coping with that is doing what what she's been trained to do: apply bureaucracy.
Not to say there aren’t bad bureaucrats, but there are bad doctors, bad plumbers, bad police detectives, etc. are they bad because they are bureaucrats, or just bad because they are bad people?
They just aren't accountable to random strangers off the street, In the same way that retail clerks are accountable to their boss, but not (directly) to the customers.
"Ok, if the treaty says we need to do that, of course we'll comply. But we also have some regulations that require paperwork to make sure we do everything the right way.
"I've sent notices to Central, NTPD HQ, the Cyber-Crimes Division, the Sanitation Department, and the Diplomatic Corps summarizing the situation, but that's only going to give us a little time.
"So let's get started. AQ00574-K318's needed for everyone. Most of the information will be the same, so it's probably best if we get the meat of it filled out first, then copy it for each organization and then fill in the appropriate org information."
Typing noises.
"Do you think this is about right for the official summary of the situation?"
To be clear, she wouldn't do this for *all* situations. For most situations, she'd simply assign one of her people to the job and not worry about it anymore. But this is one of those delicate and important situations, so she'd take on the work herself to optimize the process flow and make sure all of the required bits get done as quickly and correctly as possible.
She does direct her people to be the helpful sort of bureaucrats as well, but there's limits to what a manager can do so sometimes they're not the best.
Very true. It's like everything else, though, I guess; the bad ones stand out more, making everyone else look bad, while the good ones are quietly doing their jobs quietly and correctly.
In this instance, Britta Coburn is being a somewhat 'bad' bureaucrat, because she is being self-important about her process, throwing up roadblock after roadblock, without offering any assistance, advice, or information. She is failing to recognize, that in a murder investigation, more often than not, time is of the essence. Whether she is inexperienced, self-important, or has some other ajenda, she isn't working to smooth the process. She could be cooperating, and bringing more assistance to the process, rather than complaining about forms and paperwork. All in all, this is what comes to mind for a lot of people when the word 'bureaucrat' comes up.
1. Sometimes good bureaucrats can be very visible, though generally this is because a number of not so good bureaucrats more or less paved the way for the good one to shine. My ex has shone in this way enough times such that there are a fair number of cancer survivors who know her name and will be thankful to her for the rest of their lives. (Not all of the ones she helped will, most of them never noticed, as you suggested, and some of them still died because cancer is horrible and complicated. But she's rolled those dice enough times I'm certain there's more of them than a normal person could count on one hand.)
2. Sometimes the difference between a good bureaucrat and a bad one is the day, or the time of day, or the sequence of which issue arrived on their desk when. After all, they're all human.
It would be hard for me to argue against that.
@Gilrandir, yes I would say that's accurate. I was also inclined to amend my earlier comment. It's not just bureaucrats that bear this burden. Police come to mind as well. Most of them do a good job, and deserve respect for what they do, but have the additional burden of the negative opinions brought about by the actions of a few.
In all seriousness, though; "paper pushers" can sometimes be annoying, but on the other hand, sometimes all it takes is one unsigned document to screw up your whole operation.
Any bets on how long before Tokyo Rose rumbles to the recent news, media lock or not? For her, a Media Lock, has to be a balloon launch event.
*Andrea's hand twitches towards her pistol, clenches into fist, slowly withdraws*
You are both very welcome. It's worth it for us to keep this awesome comic going. We love what you do! I love escaping into the Data Chasers world.
Ps. Centcomm, looking at your avatar pic next to Rose's and Marcus', it looks flat. I would gently suggest that It's time to get a 3D rendered avatar pic like Rose and Marcus have. 😀
SOME people are just stubborn. (looks at mirror) I can not imagine who that might be.
Without context, I can only point out that stubbornness can be a two-edged sword, and sometimes even a bat'leth.
I do remember seeing something about how the Bat'leth could actually be used in a fight. I don't remember it very well but I think the outcome was that it was not optimized very well for fighting? Now I want to go try to find that video again.
I would like everyone to verify this, and test it. ;)
Don't start paying, I doubt you'd see much of a return on investment. Your faithful fans will just have to diligent to vote for DC as often as we can. I'm trying to remember to vote almost daily.
The image could be being blocked by a privacy/ad blocking addon you are using if it is targeting 3rd party images.
I feel with Andrea here...
@a/ns: yay!!!! Thank you, Marcus and recovery team ♡