Working in both academia and government, it feels like I’m exposed to the maximum possible amount of face-palm-inducing bureaucratic shenanigans.  I’ve collected some good quotes that hopefully illustrate why bloated edifices of red tape and generalized rules fill me with alternating rage and despair:

 Teacher incentives:

"If a student does earn a D, they are given a semester to upgrade it to a C -- with the threat that if not, they will be asked to leave [the school] anyway. And since the teacher who gave the D would have to put in extra work, without pay, over the following term to help the D-student do this.... what teacher is going to give a grade of D knowing that the consequence is more work and headache for themselves?"

 

Vacation time:

'I have hit the maximum of accumulated vacation, so I have been taking Fridays off as "use it or lose it".'

 

Safety:

"[the wiring that doesn’t have expensive precautions to keep someone from being electrocuted] is unacceptable even though it's low voltage [less than your phone]  – it’s still electricity"

 

Equipment training:

“You’ll have to take a practical test on operating the equipment, which will be kind of weird because the instructor giving the test won’t actually know anything about [the custom equipment that the test is for.]”