SISBN#342

Standarrd Issue Spanish Bureaucratic Nightmares are becoming so ubiquitious that they are now hilarious to me. I've decided to periodically document them for you. We'll start with # 342 for no good reason.

Monthly train-metro pass: so if you commute by public transport, it makes sense to get a monthly pass. In Spain like alot of places, this requires a special photo-id card. In Spain you also need a little paper ticket that is supposed to last a month. If the process were sensible you would go to a train or metro station, fill out your application, they would take your photo, charge you a small fee, and hand you your laminated card in about 5 minutes after it has cooled down form the machine.

So I went to the metro station. The guy told me that they do not issue these cards in the station, or any station. Instead you have to round up some things and go to a tobacco shop. First, nobody ever takes your photo, you have to round up your own passport photo. I have a really nice pasty sickly one, and for some reason i look really happy (and ill). And you are supposed to make 2 photocopies of your ID (this is familiar to me, everything requires two photocopies of everyhting. You will be told you have to go get copies of something even when there is a photocopier clearly visible behind the person). So I've already made 2 trips to get these things, then its time for the tobacco shop...which did not issue the train pass. Nor did the second one. Finally the third one did! They never asked for the photocopies i made a special effort to get, they just made up my card and gave me the ticket. Now, there must be a special reason this is done in a tobacco shop right, and in only specific ones? Like they have some special piece of equipment or a special computer database? No, its just a piece of cardboard with an adhesive cover that you use to attach the photo, it is assembled by hand in 5 minutes. Meanwhile in every metro station, there is a person sitting behind a window with nothing to do for the whole day, unless the turnstile malfunctions.