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Author Topic: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)  (Read 995 times)

VK5ISO

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A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« on: November 23, 2020, 09:11:38 PM »

All the license holders in Australia (to the best of my knowledge) just received this morning the following  email from the ACMA (the Australian equivalent of the FCC).

I must recognise I was quite saddened to read it.

It seems that the days when being a radio-amateur involved  trying to behave like a gentleman both in private and on the air are long gone.

Quote
24 November 2020
A reminder about respect and basic courtesy

We understand that recently there have been delays in the AMC processing callsign applications, which have been caused by factors out of the AMC’s control.

While this can be frustrating, we have been disappointed to hear reports of rude and disrespectful behaviour from people in the amateur community toward AMC staff.

AMC staff undertake their work with a high level of professionalism and deserve the same respect that we all do for doing our job. It’s never OK to take your frustration out on others.

This behaviour also reflects negatively on the entire amateur community, so if you know anyone demonstrating this behaviour, call it out. Nobody in the workforce should be treated rudely for simply doing their job.

When contacting AMC staff, remember to:

    treat others as you would like to be treated
    be cooperative and respectful
    use an appropriate speaking level and tone
    never use threats, abuse or offensive language.

If communication is not respectful and courteous, AMC staff have the right to terminate the conversation and record a note of the interaction. Repeated or ongoing disrespectful behaviour will be reported to the ACMA.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.


I can only hope that the situation is a bit better in other jurisdictions, such as the States.
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WW5F

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2020, 05:00:15 AM »

It's worse and getting worse here in the states.  Our FCC is nothing but a computer web page.  You can curse at it all you want and nobody will notice.  Soon, it'll cost you $50 USD to curse at it.

And if someone doesn't like what you say, you're just deleted these days.

Apparently, the majority opinion these days is:  If it came from a computer algorithm, it must be right.
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KM1H

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2020, 07:26:28 AM »

Quote
Nobody in the workforce should be treated rudely for simply doing their job.

Define doing their job. Is it to the best of their ability or just business as usual in a government job?  Is ACMA unionized?
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AC2EU

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #3 on: November 24, 2020, 07:38:01 AM »

Yes , COVID has been a great excuse for lazy bureaucrats do be even lazier.
We can renew our FCC license online and it's confirmed within 24 hours.

However we still have to deal with the bureaucrats at the department of motor vehicles!
It took a month and a half to get a registration sticker!

Looks like  governments all over the world are similar in this regard. 

W9IQ

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #4 on: November 24, 2020, 07:45:22 AM »

The FCC does deserve a compliment for their completely on-line process. It is easy and fast. If you are an ARRL member, they will even help you if you need assistance.

It is funny you mention vehicle stickers. I just renewed my driver's license and the tag on one of my commercial vehicles this morning. I was in and out in 15 minutes with the plate sticker in hand. I cannot complain - they deserve a compliment for their efficient service. But here in Missouri, the entire process is contracted out to private businesses that bid for the opportunity.

- Glenn W9IQ
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- Glenn W9IQ

God runs electromagnetics on Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the wave theory and the devil runs it on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday by the Quantum theory.

W7ASA

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #5 on: November 24, 2020, 09:58:05 AM »

Thanks for posting. Sorry to hear the decay of civility became so noticable that a letter was issued re: ACMA.  It's most certainly not only in Oz.  Entitlement driven rudeness is (unfortunately) a growing problem.  If being rude cost the offenders something they prize, it would quickly end.

73 de Ray  ..._ ._
 
I'd like to see Bicycle Jousting used as a remedy.
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W9AC

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2020, 10:48:32 AM »

Yes , COVID has been a great excuse for lazy bureaucrats do be even lazier.

I'm an attorney with daily interaction with the U.S. State Department, DHS, and the U.S. Department of Labor.  Without question, COVID is being used as an excuse to delay client-paid services, delay responses, and push back on matters that government personnel own. 

Just ten minutes prior to posting this message, I had an officer at the U.S. Consulate in Paris tell me that I need to supply them with information that: (1) was already in their possession; and (2) they can easily access in less than 15 seconds on their own systems.  

At every opportunity, government personnel want us to do their job.  There's no penalty for poor performance and there's no reward for superior performance.  The mantra with U.S. Government personnel is: Do the minimum level of work today to keep your job so that you can do minimum work tomorrow. Repeat until the day you qualify for a gold-plated FERS or CSRS pension. 

The situation was pervasive pre-COVID.  COVID as an excuse is an untenable argument.  The private sector has managed to wade through the safety issues -- why not government?  The answer is clear.

Paul, W9AC

 
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N9LCD

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #7 on: November 24, 2020, 12:04:04 PM »

Quote
I just renewed my driver's license and the tag on one of my commercial vehicles this morning. I was in and out in 15 minutes with the plate sticker in hand.

One good thing, in Illinois, you can renew your vehicle registration and get your plate sticker in the mail.  The fee for my credit card payment was less than $2.00.

And the turn around was about six business days!
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AC2EU

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #8 on: November 24, 2020, 01:28:31 PM »

In the US,  the government bureaucrats are unionized ( especially in NY!) . In many cases it's more expensive to fire  a bad employee, than keep them. You have to do something REALLY bad to get fired from a civil service job!

Therefore, as AC said, there is no bonus or upside if you are a great civil service employee or downside if you do next to nothing in a day. The result is overall poor performance in the good times- then with a COVID excuse...TERRIBLE performance.

Does that give me ( or anyone else) the right to be blatantly disrespectful? NO! ...but I can complain!  ;D

WW5F

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #9 on: November 24, 2020, 01:51:55 PM »

Yes , COVID has been a great excuse for lazy bureaucrats do be even lazier.

I'm an attorney with daily interaction with the U.S. State Department, DHS, and the U.S. Department of Labor.  Without question, COVID is being used as an excuse to delay client-paid services, delay responses, and push back on matters that government personnel own. 

Just ten minutes prior to posting this message, I had an officer at the U.S. Consulate in Paris tell me that I need to supply them with information that: (1) was already in their possession; and (2) they can easily access in less than 15 seconds on their own systems.  

At every opportunity, government personnel want us to do their job.  There's no penalty for poor performance and there's no reward for superior performance.  The mantra with U.S. Government personnel is: Do the minimum level of work today to keep your job so that you can do minimum work tomorrow. Repeat until the day you qualify for a gold-plated FERS or CSRS pension. 

The situation was pervasive pre-COVID.  COVID as an excuse is an untenable argument.  The private sector has managed to wade through the safety issues -- why not government?  The answer is clear.

Paul, W9AC

 

Wow.  Thank you.  I feel pretty lonely sometimes, especially these days when it comes to the truth about government employees.

I was a government employee for 28 years.  But I was in the military.  I didn't realize how high a standard I was held to until I became a senior captain and especially after I made field grade.

We hear a bunch of truth today.  But we almost never hear the whole truth and nothing but the truth any more.

GS's and contractors don't do anything beyond each line item enumerated in their contracts.  And something happens to GS's once they make level 13.  They become obnoxious and start to show a god complex.  GS-14's start to treat their budgets like their personal money, especially if it's a black budget.  I've witnessed unquestionable violations of the FAR and been laughed at when I point it out, but couldn't blow the whistle on it or I'd have my pension taken away.  Most people don't realize how governments become so corrupt.

When hillary clinton publicly admitted multiple times on national TV of violating the federal records act and the federal espionage act and then walked away laughing, a super majority of people didn't realize what just happened.

I keep hearing today "There's proof!"  "I have proof!"  "I can prove everything I'm saying right now!" and nothing is happening.  As an attorney, I'm sure you know what's going on.  I know what's going on too.

Our founders knew of this natural tendency of power to almost automatically go corrupt.  It's human nature.  Most people aren't aware we are in the middle of a cold civil war right now.  With most attornies, it's easier to go with the flow.  The outcome of this cold civil war is in the hands of attorneys now.

The thing I don't understand is the press.  They're not even telling us the truth any more.  What do they have to gain to support going full commy?

"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."  Thomas Paine

I've come to personally believe this chinese virus was a biological attack.  And it presented a crisis one side just couldn't pass up.  And it's being used not only as an excuse, but an opportunity.

Don't get me talking about voting computers.

As a young captain, I actually heard a GS-15 say, "If we could only force everyone to do it my way, everybody would be much happier."

Yes, it's a natural tendency for organizations like the ACMA to get tired of dealing with diversity and then start demanding obedience under the implied threat of taking something away from you.
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VK6HP

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #10 on: November 24, 2020, 05:56:30 PM »

First of all, the OP is correct: everyone in a customer service role deserves respect and civility and, like him, I was disappointed to see the ACMA email having to remind amateurs of that.

Second, there is important Australian context missing in the discussion.  The delays being referred to are within the Australian Maritime College (AMC) which is an intermediary organization which won a contract to, amongst other things, provide administration services for amateur examinations and callsigns. As far as I know, COVID-19 is not being cited as an appreciable component of that delay which is, apparently, mostly associated with administrative changes to the examination syllabus and callsign formats etc.

The government regulatory body, the ACMA, does provide electronic payment and renewal systems for existing licensees.

Co-incidentally, I just had an opportunity to try out the system for a new callsign allocation in the context of establishing a second station.  The application process is quite clunky and it is not clear to me that the AMC, or the Wireless Institute of Australia as the previous contractor, add anything at all to the process, except to slow it down.  For information, I append below the auto-reply I received from the AMC; it wasn't welcome, but it's polite enough.  The ACMA mail posted by the OP arrived a few days later.  Note that the AMC is giving priority to new examinations, which I think is fair enough.

A major problem of recent decades is that too many bodies, including the Australian Government, fail to regard the end-to-end delivery of a service as part of their core business preferring, under the influence of various political agendas, to outsource what should be government services to, too frequently, an array of semi-competent contractors.  All too often the result is a mess, and the tax-payer ends up picking up the bill, which they could have done more efficiently with a properly resourced and run government department.  The relentless responsibility shedding continues down the chain, to the point where the mission assurance function fails utterly and all that can be done in the wake of the scandals, failures and goal-post-shifting is for the good old ATP (that's Aussie Tax Payer for our foreign friends) to fix the mess.

There are structural differences which make this experience somewhat different to that in other countries but there are enough similarities in those other places I've lived on the planet for me think that some of the underlying failings are widespread.

Fortunately, in this crazy year, in which Australia has nevertheless fared much better than many places, I guessed that things may be on the slow side and submitted my second callsign application early, so I don't expect the modest second-station plans to be much disrupted in the long run.  And, frankly, it's hard to get very excited with all the other priorities just now.

73, Peter.

-------------------------
Email received from the Australian Maritime College on application for a callsign (original formatting lost):

AMC Amateur Radio Office
 
Thank you for your email to the AMC Amateur Radio Office. We are currently experiencing an extremely high volume of emails and calls but we will respond to your enquiry as soon as possible.
 
29 September 2020
Processing time change – Amateur Radio Callsigns 
Due to the recently announced changes to the callsign template and the large amount of callsign variations received, please be advised that the ACMA have now granted an extension in processing times as follows: 
•   After consultation with the ACMA we will now move from a 45-business day processing time to one in which we will process your application as soon as practicable in order of receipt.
•   We understand that this delay may be unwelcome, but you will appreciate that we need to give priority to processing the exams for both amateur and marine radio (previously 15 business days).

We would request that unless the matter is urgent, please email AMC rather than telephoning. 
 
This will allow the Amateur Radio Office team to maintain all other services within the expected 15 business days. 
 
Updates to the Publicly Available Callsigns Database 
These have now been completed and we thank you for your understanding and patience during this very busy time. 
•   New Callsign change applications and FAQ’s:
https://www.amc.edu.au/industry/amateur-radio/callsigns/new-callsign-template-and-faqs
•   Keep an eye on the News Updates on the website for updated information that may impact you.
•   Visit the FAQ Section for answers to your questions.
Kind Regards
AMC Amateur Radio Office Team
« Last Edit: November 24, 2020, 06:18:27 PM by VK6HP »
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KI7OF

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #11 on: November 24, 2020, 06:25:37 PM »

"Government Worker" - in many situations an oxymoron.
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KF5LJW

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #12 on: December 27, 2020, 11:39:31 AM »

Me thinks Aussies ought to change their name to Wussies or Sheep. If I received a letter like that I would reply back get off your buts and do your fricking job and quit complaining or be replaced. Governments need to fear the population so you can control them. Otherwise they put fear in you allowing them to control you.

That is why we have the second amendment.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2020, 11:42:27 AM by KF5LJW »
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KBKZ2105

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #13 on: December 27, 2020, 04:57:07 PM »

All the license holders in Australia (to the best of my knowledge) just received this morning the following  email from the ACMA (the Australian equivalent of the FCC).

I must recognise I was quite saddened to read it.

It seems that the days when being a radio-amateur involved  trying to behave like a gentleman both in private and on the air are long gone.

Quote
24 November 2020
A reminder about respect and basic courtesy

We understand that recently there have been delays in the AMC processing callsign applications, which have been caused by factors out of the AMC’s control.

While this can be frustrating, we have been disappointed to hear reports of rude and disrespectful behaviour from people in the amateur community toward AMC staff.

AMC staff undertake their work with a high level of professionalism and deserve the same respect that we all do for doing our job. It’s never OK to take your frustration out on others.

This behaviour also reflects negatively on the entire amateur community, so if you know anyone demonstrating this behaviour, call it out. Nobody in the workforce should be treated rudely for simply doing their job.

When contacting AMC staff, remember to:

    treat others as you would like to be treated
    be cooperative and respectful
    use an appropriate speaking level and tone
    never use threats, abuse or offensive language.

If communication is not respectful and courteous, AMC staff have the right to terminate the conversation and record a note of the interaction. Repeated or ongoing disrespectful behaviour will be reported to the ACMA.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.


I can only hope that the situation is a bit better in other jurisdictions, such as the States.

It's worse here.  We have all been taught it but human nature takes over when there is no enforcement of rules and you get what we got here.  A failure of the FCC to take control of these lunatics.  It's a disgrace.   
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N9LCD

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Re: A sad comment about the times (at least in Australia)
« Reply #14 on: December 31, 2020, 08:41:07 PM »

Quote
In many cases it's more expensive to fire  a bad employee, than keep them. You have to do something REALLY bad to get fired from a civil service job!

I worked for a governmental agency under a regional office that had a habit of detailing or, worst, assigning you out of your field office for 30, 60 or 90 days on the grounds you needed "training".  The regional "dictator" got away with it until the C.S.C. stepped in.  "Since there was NO assessment of the employee's need for training, and no communication to the "new" field chief of what training was needed, it wasn't "training". ???

I worked with a guy who made Private Snafu look like a guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Everything told to had to be in the presence of witnesses and documented in writing.  Every one of his completed assignments had to be redone as a check.  Any deviations from written instructions or procedures had to be documented.  It took about TWO YEARS to assemble enough documentation to initiate termination proceedings with the C.S.C and ANOTHER YEAR before he could be terminated.
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