Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
By ReadWorks
“A system of government or business that has many complicated rules and ways of doing things”: that’s one definition of bureaucracy. Here is another: “an administration characterized by excessive red tape and routine.” And here is one more: Camille wanted to get a passport. She wanted to leave the country. She wanted to go to Peru. She was not totally sure what she would do in Peru. She spoke Spanish, at least, so it wasn't as if she would be a total outsider. Obviously, she would visit Machu Picchu, where 500 or 600 years ago the Inca built a little hideaway nestled in the greenest, sharpest mountain peaks in the world, 8,000 feet above sea level, so high up the clouds sometimes lay down on the ridges to sleep. And don't forget Lima, the capital, where they serve the best food in the Americas, home to almost as many people as New York, boasting a university older than any in the U.S. Or maybe Camille would go to Japan. Or Austria. Or Switzerland. With a passport, you can go anywhere. So she applied for one. The first step was to fill out forms she had found online. To Camille, the only thing more boring than filling out forms was waiting in line. No worry—she had plenty of time to wait in line after she filled out the forms, and went to the post office to hand them in. The post office was small and hot and there was just one puny fan in a corner by a window so grimy it was a wonder that enough light got through for the brownish plant on the windowsill to survive. Or maybe it was already dead. The line snaked all the way around three walls and went out the door, so Camille's wait began in the sun, and concluded an hour and a half later, when the woman behind the counter told Camille she had to make an appointment on the phone before she could hand the forms in. The woman behind the counter gave her a number to call. Camille called the number as soon as she got home. At the recording she pressed 2, then 1, then 4. A voice told her to hold. She listened to some truly awful music. The music lasted only thirty seconds before it looped to the top again. While she waited, laying on her bed in her room, Camille read online about Machu Picchu. No one knows for sure what it was for. Most researchers believe it held ritual or 1
© 2015 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.
Bureaucracy
spiritual significance for the Inca, who were conquered by the Spanish and wiped off the earth in 16th century (not too long after building Machu Picchu, whose name translates to something like “old peak”). When she finally reached a live human, the voice on the other end told her she had the wrong number, and gave her a different one. Camille spent the next hour looking at Inca architecture. They built giant stone temples. They built complex irrigation systems up to half a mile long, way up in the mountains, with over a hundred outlets. With a few small adjustments, they would work today. To get the massive rocks of their pyramids and waterways to fit together, the Inca lowered one giant stone onto another, over and over, until they crushed themselves into place. That was sort of how Camille felt—like one rock crashing onto another—when the second number she called also redirected her to another number. And then the third number redirected her to the first. Camille gave up, and went to bed. But she would not let bureaucracy crush her. The next day she redoubled her efforts. Finally, after a heroic attempt that left her exhausted and hungry, she reached the right extension of the correct number and made an appointment. The appointment was a month and a half later. It's funny how you can't remember what you did while standing in line if someone asks you the next day. Probably you looked at your phone, or thought about what you might eat next, or replayed an argument or a kiss. But you can't remember actually doing it. It's just what you usually do. What you probably did. Similarly, if you asked Camille what she did in those forty‐five days between making the appointment and the actual appointment, should wouldn't be able to tell you. They were forty‐five days of standing in line. The waiting made her all the more anxious to get her passport. So she showed up extra early, before the post office opened, on that forty‐fifth morning. She arrived with her paperwork triple‐checked. She was first in line. She handed in her paperwork. The lady behind the counter accepted it, said everything was in order, and told Camille that her passport would arrive in the mail in eight to ten weeks. Two more months. More waiting. More and more and more. What did Camille do while she waited? She worked. She ate dinner with her family. She wrote and read and watched movies. She didn't ignore anyone exactly, but she behaved like people who would soon leave places they never 2
© 2015 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.
Bureaucracy
really liked to begin with. She hardly ever texted back. She accepted invitations to the movies, to friends' houses, to parties, to dates; and then she didn't show up. She made excuses that no one believed. She was ready to go. But the passport didn't arrive in eight to ten weeks. She gave it one more week, just because she dreaded making more phone calls to automated systems. After eleven weeks, she swallowed her fears and started calling. Oh, it was even worse this time. The online forms she filled out disappeared into the void. She made complaints, sent emails, filled out more and more forms. Not one response. So she went back to the phones. “The phones!” she wrote repeatedly in her notebooks. What did the phones give her? Even more redirection, misdirection, a total lack of direction that made her feel as though she were spinning down a whirlpool to the ocean floor. She was lost. But then: a small victory. Camille finally spoke with someone who could help her. With empathy, the voice on the line told her that there was only one thing she could do: go in person to a certain building and wait in line there to speak to a specific officer. She wrote down the particulars. But the thing about small victories is this: they are typically followed by larger defeats. You get tired. It's not like the passport was the only thing in Camille's life. She had a dog to feed and walk and care for. She had family. She had obligations and responsibilities. The passport, the idea of the passport, slipped through the cracks. And then Camille was promoted at her job. More responsibility, more work. Less time. Camille is doing pretty well. She started seeing her friends again. She eats better and exercises. She's happy most of the time. She hasn't yet visited that one building on the other side of the city, not yet, but she can go any time she likes. 3
© 2015 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.
Questions: Bureaucracy
Name:
Date: _______________________
1. What does Camille want to get?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
2. About how much time passes over the course of this story?
______________________________________________________________________
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3. Read this paragraph from the story.
"What did Camille do while she waited [for her passport]? She worked. She ate dinner
with her family. She wrote and read and watched movies. She didn't ignore anyone
exactly, but she behaved like people who would soon leave places they never really liked
to begin with. She hardly ever texted back. She accepted invitations to the movies, to
friends' houses, to parties, to dates; and then she didn't show up. She made excuses
that no one believed. She was ready to go."
Based on this evidence, how does Camille feel about her normal, everyday life?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
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© 2015 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.
Questions: Bureaucracy
4. Why might Camille want to travel so badly? Use evidence from the text to support
your answer.
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______________________________________________________________________
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5. What is a main theme of this story?
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6. Read the sentences and answer the question.
"That was sort of how Camille felt—like one rock crashing onto another—when the
second number she called also redirected her to another number. And then the third
number redirected her to the first.
Camille gave up, and went to bed.
But she would not let bureaucracy crush her. The next day she redoubled her efforts.
Finally, after a heroic attempt that left her exhausted and hungry, she reached the right
extension of the correct number and made an appointment."
What does the author mean by the sentence, “But she would not let bureaucracy crush
her”?
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______________________________________________________________________
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© 2015 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.
Questions: Bureaucracy
7. What word or phrase best completes the sentence?
Camille wants to get a passport ________ it would allow her to travel outside of the
country.
____________________________________
8. What does Camille have to do to try and get a passport?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
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9. How does Camille change over the course of the story as she deals with all the lines
and waiting? Support your answer with evidence from the story.
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
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10. Does Camille “let bureaucracy crush her” by the end of the story? Why or why not?
Support your answer using evidence from the story.
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© 2015 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.