Saturday, January 24, 2009

Paper Pushers

A few days ago I had need to enter a county government building to get some papers. I went to the county center in Redwood City. The department was the county records for the sherriff.

No, I was not trying to beat a rap against me. I was trying to get a security clearance letter, so that I can be approved to volunteer at an orphanage down in Mexico. The letter basically says there are no warrents out for my arrest, and I haven't committed any felonies. I got the letter, no problem. Whew!

But what struck me as slightly odd about the whole set-up in the sherriff's records department, was that every single employee there was a young, rotund woman. There was a huge open room with cubicles filled with these large girls, all wearing sherriff uniforms. Badges and all.

There were no men. There were no skinny, or even regular size women. They were all young. All large.

Now, I don't have anything against large women. I happen to be one myself. But it was just slightly surreal that all of the paper pushers in that office shared the same demographic.

It made me wonder about the nature of people who work for the government. The bureaucrats. How do they get there? What are their motivations?

It's got to be the good benefits, because those uniforms were doing nothin' for those ladies.

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