Polite staff but inefficient systems at tax office

THE EDITOR, Madam:

On Monday, June 13, I went to the Constant Spring tax office to pay some of my taxes and have my car licensed. The transaction totalled five property taxes and a car licence renewal.

I was quite impressed with how the staff handled the large number of persons and the facilities they had in place for senior citizens, of which I am one.

When directed inside the building, I still had a favourable rating of the nice, comfortable seating and cool environment while listening to the numbers being called, as if at a bingo game. After waiting for nearly two hours for my turn, I was finally called. On handing my papers to the clerk at the counter I was told, “We are only dealing with three items, sir.” “What did you say?” I enquired.”Only three, sir.” “So what about the other two?” I asked. “You have to come back another time, sir,” was the reply.

My bubble of experiencing good service burst; all my favourable impressions where like I was enjoying a lovely dish of soup and suddenly a lizard fell in it. ”Can I see a supervisor?” I asked. “Yes, she is sitting at the next window.” She was not much more helpful, but offered to do the transaction at another time.

I calculated that processing the extra two transactions would take about two minutes, but I must come back another day, burn my expensive gas, risk my life playing Russian roulette with the taxis on the road, and probably spend the greater part of the day to do what should have been done at the first attempt.

When we add all these wasted times spent waiting in offices; on the roads; put on hold when calling office telephones, which send you around the mulberry bush; and a host of other things, why should we complain about Jamaica’s steadily declining productivity rate?

TREVOR SAMUELS