The Virtues and Vices of the Civil Servant

It's the person we love to hate here in Greece. We talk about how lazy and inefficient they are, yet if we were given the chance to become one, we would grab it without second thought. It's the civil servant.

Dealing with public services is normal for the citizens of each country. But even thinking about it is a big headache for most Greeks. Why? Because the bureaucracy to do one simple thing seems never-ending and because, most of the time, the people who are supposed to be at your service and help you (civil servants) make things worse rather than better.

So, if these creatures are so hated, why does 90% of the Greek population wishes that either they were one or their child became one? Because, there are perks to being a civil servant:

You have a steady paycheck.

You get extra benefits for getting married, have a child and so on.

If a woman chooses to have 4 children one after the other, then she can be on maternity leave for 10 consecutive years and get paid by the public (yes, it's true!)

You have a sort-of boss that you have to listen to, but there's no real danger of you ever getting fired.

You get more days off than other people throughout the year and paid vacation.

It is, however, a sector that lacks creativity, productivity and potential.

Back in the day, working for the public was a menial job that no one wanted, because you made more money working in the private sector. When it started gaining some respect as a place to work, all of the politicians and heads of local authority got their friends and family jobs there. This means that many times you would find illiterate people as heads of a department, just because they had the right connection... no joke.

Most of the workers in that generation still remain in their positions today. That's why you'll find several rude individuals who will have you going for one office to the next, just because they don't feel like dealing with your issue correctly.

Many times, you'll find people like this shopping at the supermarket or running other errands around the city during their work hours, because nobody checks on them. Oh... and they want to retire early with all their pension and benefits intact. Even if these people are small percentage of the whole, they manage to ruin the reputation of civil servants.

For those people that have been hired in the public service the last few years, it's a different story.

Read the rest at www.allthegreeks.com