Absurdity of French administration

The time has come to throttle someone from our French insurance company. If I weren't already used to France's bureaucracy I believe I would be having a serious breakdown. I am very close to staging a major tantrum only it would be of no use.

Over the weekend I just read somewhere that Thomas Jefferson once said: "When angry count to ten before you speak: if very angry count to a hundred." Well, I've been counting since this morning...

I will not bore you with details but I have been fighting it out with the public health service and the private additional health insurance that is customary in France since beginning of November last year!

We are going round in circles and although at least my phone calls are being answered, none of the terribly bored-sounding assistants the other end are able to assist me. My twenty something e-mails have been left unanswered (not one has received a response!) and every letter I send - including original prescriptions and invoices - comes back in its integrity asking for more proof. We are now at round 7 I believe and the paper trail just keeps getting heavier.

The French phone company is making a fortune off my telephone calls. If I did not speak French I would have learnt it over the phone by now! Thank Goodness I can communicate in their language but the lovely bureaucrats still don't seem to understand what I am saying... or, they just could not be bothered.

I feel like I am battling with a computer that just keeps on producing the same monotonous moves and can do so until eternity. So, where can I pull that plug?

Is there even a chance of out-living French bureaucracy? I fear they will ALWAYS get the better of you in the end... and should anybody ever be in doubt the bureaucrats will go on strike the Friday before Easter weekend just to make sure you remember who rules the Nation!