Repeat

Gradually I've been moving my uncle's mail over to my address. It's a tedious process since many organisations have security checks and many are incompetent. Some are both. I braced myself today to phone one which does send his mail to me but addressed to: Oxford, Berkshire. Once I'd given his name, my name and his reference details and said that Oxford was in Oxfordshire not Berkshire, it went like this:
- I can't change his address without authorisation.
- I'm not asking you to change his address. I'm asking you to correct an error. Oxford is in Oxfordshire, not Berkshire.
- But I can't change the address.
- I don't want you to change the address, I want you to correct a mistake. Oxford is not in Berkshire, it's in Oxfordshire.
- Ah, I see what you mean but I'll need authorisation.
- O.   K.  Well, it doesn't actually matter to me if you continue to send mail to the wrong address - I'm just phoning to let you know you've put Oxford in the wrong place.
- I'll need to contact my manager.
- That's up to you but it's a simple correction, not a change of address.
- I need you to wait while I talk to my manager.
- No, you don't. You can talk to your manager without me.
- I have to follow the protocols.
- OK, but I don't have to hang on while you follow them. I'm going to hang up now.

She was probably as frustrated as I was by her deskilling.

This organisation is based in Salisbury, Wiltshire, about 70 miles away. There is only one county between Salisbury and Oxford and that is, um, Berkshire. Perhaps everywhere that isn't Wiltshire is Berkshire.