Bureaucracy: Two Ordinary Tales

When I lost my wallet a few months ago, I also lost my U.S. Driver's License, which upset me no end. I've had a Driver's License since I turned sixteen—more or less a hundred years ago. I don't drive in Mexico, but I do rent cars in the U.S. Being unable to do so would be really difficult.

Driver's License

As it turns out, we have a friend who is well-connected in Mexico's legal bureaucracy. When I told her how upsetting it was to be unable to drive a car, she offered to help me get a Mexican Driver's License.

Don't ask me how, but she assembled all the required documentation (medical certificate, written test), thus complying with the formality of the law. My role was to show up, get my picture taken, sign some documents and pay for the license.

I later asked if there's a term for the service she'd performed. Yes, was the answer, she had acted as my gestora.

So, naturally, I had to look up gestor in the dictionary: "...the person who carries out dealings with public bodies (bureaucracies) on behalf of private customers or companies, in a manner that combines the roles of attorney and accountant."

Later, my friend told me that the physician who signed the medical certificate had asked, "Does she know how to drive?" Fortunately, the answer is yes, with a clean record spanning five decades.

In relating this anecdote to me, my friend added reflectively, "You know, I'd never do this for anyone who wasn't qualified." Her remark underscores another trait of Mexican culture: its intense personalization, where it isn't what, but who you know—who knows who to get things done.

I asked my friend to take a look at this description of her work before I posted it. My concern was that publication might cause trouble for her. Her response is revealing, "No, once the documents are formalized, everything is fine—the matter is successfully concluded. Even many Mexicans don't understand this about trámites—the paperwork is everything."

Laundry: Ticket Trumps Reality

Still have doubts? Let me relate an anecdote about Reed, two loads of laundry, and two laundry tickets. On two separate days Reed takes our laundry to the nearby lavandería. Day 1, the load is sheets and towels; our clothes go on Day 2. It takes 24 hours for a load to be washed, line-dried and folded.

Recently, Reed stopped by to pick up the first load—sheets and towels. The young woman who usually does the laundry wasn't there. In her place were two older men sitting and chatting. One man was clearly tending the shop. Later we found out that he is the owner, who has since formed quite a friendship with Reed.

As Reed picked up the bundle of sheets and towels, he noticed some of our folded clothes lying on the folding table. So innocently he asked if the rest of our clothes were ready—at which point, he fell down the cultural rabbit hole.

"Oh, no, señor," assured the older man, "your ticket says that they will be ready tomorrow—not today." 

"But some of the clothes from tomorrow's load are right here," replied Reed pointing to the folded clothes resting on the folding table. 

"Oh," the man confidently assured Reed, "those clothes are for tomorrow's delivery."
Reed responded, "If our clothes are ready now, may I take them now?  It'll save me a trip."

A considerable back and forth ensued—pretty much along the lines of the famous Abbot and Costello routine, "Who's on First?"

Eventually, the second man chimed in, "Yes, some of the clothes dried faster; they're the ones you see." 

But the owner was adamant:  If the ticket says delivery tomorrow, then delivery tomorrow is what it will be.

Culture Lesson: The Paperwork is Everything!

When Reed got back home, he was sputtering.

Laughing, he noted, "This is a perfect example of the bureaucratic attitude: the document determines reality! The clothes may be dry, but reality is what the ticket says it is." 

He continued spluttering:  "Facts—objective facts? When a piece of paper is involved, paper trumps reality!"

Yet more evidence that formalism (conformity to the rule—in this case, nothing more than a laundry ticket) is a consistent feature of daily life in Mexico and a defining trait of Mexican culture.

Still Curious?

Our friend, Gary, maintains a terrific Blog, Gary's Impressions of Michoacán, Mexico. When he and his wife recently sold their property in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, the post describing the experience illustrates yet again the dictum, The Paperwork is Everything!