The Kiwi accent seems to require holding ones nose (in more than one way).
Not sure if SA is the same as Zim, but I always think of “right at the robots” when I recollect conversation with those friends.
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Amongst other things, it means that you will constantly be paying local and national taxes without a vote though, if you only remain resident, even if you feel you fit in and want to stay the rest of your life.
It’s certainly going that way economically!
But as regards white people’s accents - I used to think Zim accents ( had a lot of students from there) resembled softer anglophone Cape Town ones - not as harsh as further north - but then there was also hard core, posh afrikaans from Pretoria and that really grated on the ears.
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I think I did it OK with a R.S.A. pal with ‘what a load of krep’.
Yes . That one gets to me, too. But there’s clearly something. Even before opening my mouth the FR who does have English just goes straight in with it. 
Mortifying. Same thing happened in ES.
It’s not as if I was in a 3 piece twin stripe and bowler hat or tweeds …
As someone on SF has said, the FR take A Very Long Time to process things but it almost always comes out OK eventually. You just have to have patience/hold your nerve.
You adapt. I don’t find it much of a problem.
“You want the document I’ve sent three times again.” “No problem here it is my dossier that I strangely have in my bag”.
‘You have no record of C or Y?” “Well I’m sure it’s just mislaid so will give you a day or so to find it - and come back/call you every day to see if you’ve found it’. Usually it does re-appear quite quickly.
Etc etc. If you are organised, polite and persistent it is generally not an issue. You just have to forget about how you used to do things.
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Thank you Jane!
But I feel you are an expert and know how the CS thinks, which is a skill unto itself. I admired colleagues who could manipulate their way through and sometimes even gain the advantage.
I was a platinum card holder with SAA in the mid nineties, great airline 
Frankly, I agree. If one is not trying to work or set up a business 
then I don’t think the day to day red tape here is any worse than I’ve experienced in the UK, or elsewhere. Maybe with the exception of registering a car back in the day. Offices full of completely disinterested people, but they’re all gone now. wasting time in offices elsewhere.
Buying a house… no problem. Tax etc… no problem. Insurance… no problem. Utilities… no problem apart from fibre which seems to me arriving next week. Even dealing with bloody SPANC Nazis… just needed to explain to them, forcibly, that they needed to arrive on time 
We’re great pals now.
We even negotiated the paperwork for a PACS and two marriages. Bit of a glitch on the second one because the lady handling the file mistook Iceland for Ireland as my daughter’s place of birth 
. All well in the end though, once I stuck the proverbial in (as time was running out) and followed up with a big box of Jeff de Bruges for the whole office.
The Impots here have always been very friendly and accommodating. Plus they’ve given me leeway for a couple of mistakes. Bit of a glitch last year with the S1 which was quickly resolved. All other departments, CPAM, Amelie, whatever… no problems.
As I’ve mentioned before , F2F I use the three strikes technique. and have done since I first lived here in 1981. First of all you explain the situation politely and see the response, if that doesn’t work then you move the assertiveness up a couple of notches, if that doesn’t work you throw your toys out of the pram. Invariably the person you are dealing with then becomes your new best friend because they’ve really only been pissing you around as un étranger. Of course, this strategy is all based on speaking reasonable French.
Meanwhile, as I have been doing for weeks now, try getting a response out of HRMC (unless THEY are looking for money from YOU) or DW&P. Nice polite people who sound totally demoralised using systems that just don’t talk to one another. I may as well be speaking French to them 
Again I think you are lumping everyone who works in the public sector as a civil servant. It”s no more true here than it is in UK. UK Civil Servants work for the Crown, ie the National Government as they are there to implement government policies. And are not contractual.
Public sector workers can be on contract, freelance, or salaried staff employed by a local authority of similar body.
All civil servants work in the public sector, but only a small number of public sector workers are civil servants. Knowing the difference can help work out how best to deal with whoever’s facing you.
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Jesus, life’s too short That sounds a bit like “know your enemy”. I don’t need to know, I just need whatever needs to be done, done. And, it always has been.
Now the private sector, and the building trades on particular, is another question. I think it’s particularly bad in the south. Peter Mayle wasn’t joking.
There’s a big difference between some fonctionnaire annoying me and having no water or electricity or a leaking roof. A network of artisans is a great asset
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Depends what you are trying to achieve surely? Anyway, my comment was only intended to clarify the misunderstanding that Corona seems to make fairly frequently.
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Brilliant explanation! 
All too true 
Edited to say I tend to view bureaucracy as a game. 
to win!
I like @JaneJones explanation about dealing with bureaucracy. I always carry a collection of multiple copies of papers with me in order to be able to hand over a copy of something they may have mislaid plus the original (held firmly in my sticky mitts) so that they can verify it’s genuine.
I would add to the list that others have mentioned - give them a reason to want to help you. If you can make a personal contact with them (is this what’s called système D ? ) they will often pull all the stops out. Whether it’s the doddery old lady profile or anything else…
I would also second almost all of what @John_Scully lists in his posts few posts earlier and especially the comparison between French bureaucracy and HMRC. I’ve almost never had the problems here that I have had, and am still having, with HMRC. The only difference in our approaches is that I never ever throw my toys out of the pram - it’s not something I can carry off with any conviction 
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So who gets a pay rise when the public sector increases its rates? Ok I am only teasing 
I see it as performative art If one actually does get cross then I think your ability to deal with the situation diminishes.
I remember one of my best performances was storming out of the carte gris office (for want of a better name) a long time ago and one of them came running after me saying they did want to help 
The whole shemozzle was sorted out in ten minutes. I should have got a standing ovation from the other victims queueing to register (or whatever) their cars. I don’t think I’ve the energy for such a performance these days.
Getting my CdS (which I don’t need but wanted anyway) was a bit of palaver. Though Robert Jenrick would have felt at home 
Ah - I think that is my problem. I rarely get cross but if I do I definitely don’t handle things well. Performance art isn’t in my skill set! I remember during a period of training , having to do role plays week after week after week. I was a disaster every time!
Hello. I am on the verge (or should that be precipice?!) of buying a very VERY small stone cottage, rennovated in 1970s. It needs a total update but it is “liveable in”. Until I retire (in 5 yrs time please god!) I would use it as a holiday home/escape hatch a couple of times a year. The information on this site has been invaluble in helping me understand if I could actually do this myself (husband not interested at all in this project!) so I wanted to say hello and thanks for all your wonderful expertise. What would be your top 3 pieces of advice including major pitfalls (in areas from rennovation to flights to making a sensible offer & everything inbetween). I’m thinking big pitfalls that my estate agent won’t tell me about (as in Houston, We Have A Problem not small fry stuff). I have so far found a Builder, Electrician, and potential Caretaker & am awaiting the DDT report. Torn over offering the asking price or do people make cheeky offers etc. thanks in advance for any/all advice
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Welcome Frances! I would invite you to read back over the many, many SF threads where you will undoubtedly find answers to many if not all your queries
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Ask whether any neighbours keep hunting dogs in their garden
Think about orientation in terms of what sun you will get (so glad we didn’t buy a house on ther side of street as in winter they don’t get sun until after midday. Miserable and increases heating bills)
Check ALL the taps work and with decent pressure (a pitfall we have just fallen into with a new house! I should know better by now but forgot)
If it has been on the market a while then make a cheeky offer!
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