You would think that it would be relatively easy for the CIO, who is entrusted to keep more than we like of our private and very personal information, that they would know the gender of a person whom they issue the mandatory Central Population Register (CPR) card, wouldn’t you?
Well, not exactly. With the tens if not hundreds of millions of dinars they evidently wasted since their inception, they still can’t decide what gender a person is. So much for data mining.
Okay, leave data mining; we are required to be present and accounted for right in their premises after taking an “electronic appointment” with them – a process which by all the accounts I have heard is completely and utterly useless – for them not only to finger print the accused, but also take other biometric data, which might or might not include stool and urine samples, blood type, retina scan, sperm count and other bodily fluids, oh and your religious and confessional association – just for their stats package, you know – that the persons who are collecting this data would look up from their keyboards in between them chewing on the miswak, picking their noses, eating some sunflower seed, or all three together – they are multitasking you see – and decide whether to press the “M” or “F” key to record this vital piece of information too.
Not a chance. A friend of mine just got his CPR card issued and on it he is clearly a hermaphrodite!
Well done, CIO.
Comments
It’s not just the CIO that is gender challenged! When I went in PERSON to register at the LMRA, they put me as MALE. When I pointed out that I am a female to the employee, he told me “It’s ok and not to worry.” I asked him whether he needed this to be accurate for statistical purposes, and he gave me a blank look.
Very interesting.
maybe I need to start asking my barber for his card….
just for curiosity sake.
But would not “Businessperson” not only make it simpler but also reduce the added work load of having to stop and think?
I think that’s what they were trying to do with this “slash” character, but unfortunately I don’t think there is a proper way to translate that into Arabic. Well, maybe شخص أعمال? I’m not sure. But in either case, with the level of “intelligence” they have – if one can call it that – they should know better.
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Mahmood – When it comes to the state of government services heres one to get your journalistic teeth into: http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Government/10214681.html
Have a look at this link, its about efforts by the UAE government to improve conditions for their nationals when travelling overseas. I wonder whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bahrain is thinking of a similar initiative to get reciprocity for Bahrainis given how we welcome many nationalities to our shores.
It should be
أعمال ØÂرة