French Bureaucracy, Continued.

Well folks, I suppose there are times in everyone's lives where you encounter stupidity beyond your own comprehension. This is one of those times.

A few days I ago I finally heard back from the City Hall in Lille about my French identity card. Expecting them to say that I could roll on down there to pick it up after a month of waiting, I was quite excited when I picked up the phone. Within about five seconds that excitement turned into a level of frustration that I didn't think was possible. I was informed that I cannot receive my identity card at this moment. The reason? According to the idiot who processed my application, there is no 'agreement' between France and Canada about granting dual-citizenship. I had the man on the phone explain this to me twice, so I could allow my brain to process this insanity, and make sure I wasn't just imagining things. But I heard him right the first time. Now this is a strange situation, considering my father has Canadian-French dual-citizenship, as does my sister. I informed the man of this, and he told me 'well, I don't know what to tell you'. I swiftly hung up on him.

After cooling off, I decided to go to the City Hall and deal with this in person. When I arrived and got to speak to a receptionist, they told me the same thing, showing me my application, and the written reason of why I can't get this card that allows me to work a legitimate job here. This is where I really got to know how much the French simply overlook important details. The woman told me 'well, just because you were born on French soil, doesn't automatically give you French citizenship, neither of your parents are French'. My head almost exploded. But I kept calm, showing her my birth certificate which clearly states my father was born here in France, in a town called Quimper. This shut her up, and stumped her for a moment. She left, and brought in the man who phoned me that morning. I guess he didn't realize I hung up on him, because he was rather polite. He told me 'well, WE DON"T KNOW if there is an agreement between France and Canada that grants dual-citizenship'. You don't know? Isn't it your job to know? And if you don't know, maybe fucking look into it? I mean, something that would take a person five minutes to look into, on the internet, in a book, something that if they had looked into, would make my month-long wait actually worth while, wasn't within their capacity? The man simply stared at me and started apologizing, stating that this office in particular doesn't actually process the application, and that they get sent to the police bureau in Paris. Fantastic. I pointed out the fact that the lady I had spoken to earlier wasn't even aware that I was fully French through the fact that not only was I born here, but my father was as well. This very important yet overlooked fact is a perfect example of how the French work. He told me that she just made a mistake. Well it's a pretty big fucking mistake to make if you ask me. The man simply told me there was nothing he could do, and that I would have to present my case to a Court in the Police Station, show THEM that there is an agreement between France and Canada, because apparently they can't be bothered to check themselves, and beg for my citizenship. I calmly took my papers and walked out of the office, for fear that I might reach across the table and start strangling this man. Imprisonment didn't sound like the right solution.

Basically every one I have spoken to about this matter, including the City Hall in Eaubonne where I was born, has told me that this is completely bogus and that someone, somewhere, fucked up big time. No kidding. I guess my only choice is going in front of this tribunal of French pricks, and nicely explaining to them how stupid their government workers are.