I've seen too many run-ins with Child Protective Services where the case worker got it in her craw that So-and-So was not a good parents and gave the family hell for months. A good Baptist or Progressive dealing with a Muslim or conservative Xian, for instance. Only once did I see the social worker reamed out by her boss for being a total ass. Not fired, not demoted. Not punished, not really. For putting a family through 6 months of hell, 3 kids split up in a large state and forced to do things contrary to their religion "for the Lord!" while the parents were put through the wringer and told they'd never see their kids again if they screwed up interviews or site visits. You try being a Sabbath-keeping kosher-observant 13-year-old fed bacon and bologna and porkchops for days until you say thank you with gratitude for the pig meat, and you're told you're possessed by almighty Satan himself unless you mow the yard on Saturday afternoon ... for months. Until you violate your beliefs. (Now, imagine that the kid is Native American or Muslim or vegan Hindu. There ya go. Basket case social worker had it in for this family.)
I watched a co-worker struggle with the IRS for years. She screwed up as bookkeeper and fought with the IRS. Pastors waived FICA/OASDI in perpetuity in the '50s and in the '80s the bookkeeper had deducted FICA taxes for years. SSA wouldn't pay benefits and owed them a refund, but the IRS wanted an original copy (!) of the forms. Then just a copy of the forms. Then, months later, admitted they'd have had a copy of the forms the entire time and were obligated to provide a copy if asked--but who knew to ask? But their warehouse burned down in the '60s, so, not possible. Wait, ask this other person. No, not everything was at that warehouse, maybe a copy survived. Submit this form, we'll check. Eventually. Yes, there's a copy. You need to order a copy through channels. Contact person #1 couldn't help, but referred Lynn to somebody else. Who couldn't help. But referred her. The person she was referred to couldn't help, but referred her. The next person she was referred to couldn't help, but referred to to somebody else--the first person who did the referring. So he referred her to yet a different person. Ah, at last. Now, a request had to be sent, signed and notarized, on form _____ to that person. Address? The same building, one floor down. They all worked on two floors, often had line of sight during the work day, and shared a common lunch room! And that was over a year. Once she got the form from the person on floor 10 or whatever, she had to send that very same photocopy to the guy on floor 11. Scores of hours, stress, numerous bottles of wine. So that Jay on floor 11 could have John on floor 10 send Lynn across the US a copy to be sent back to Jay on floor 11.
Makes the Army in M*A*S*H look soooo reasonable and efficient and organized. But M*A*S*H was fiction. Lynn kvetched and spent a lot of time with her head resting on her desk on "IRS days."
Both instances? Petty, stupid bureaucrats feeling themselv... their power. Perhaps overworked, but only helpful at times. Lynn worked for a church. The IRS folk she talked to did *not* like that she worked for a church. Yes, it was blatant discrimination.
Prosecutors and cops do the same thing for politics, grievances, race. For the same small minded, petty, power-grubbing reasons. People are people. You give them power without adequate checks, may as well give them a plunger, drop trow, and bend over.
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