ANDRE BEGIN

Whether we credit Christopher Bullock or Ben Franklin for the saying, it is true what they said about nothing in life being certain except death and taxes. However, I would suggest that they forgot one: filling out forms.

It doesn’t matter whether we are applying for a job, applying for a financial service or looking to put a new roof over our heads. Forms are necessary for service providers to collect the information needed to assist us in taking a next step in life.

I will admit that the first forms I filled out were met with a fair bit of enthusiasm in this rite of passage into the adult world.

Applications for my first jobs and even my first tax returns were joyful experiences. Yes… I admit, my sunny outlook was a sometimes a little foolish and naïve. If only I knew what awaited.

This enthusiasm carried me through the forms I completed for the first apartment, the first car and the entry level position that sent me on my way in my career. Then the firsts became seconds and then thirds.

But it was perhaps when I was asked to take on responsibility as a manager for short periods of time that my enjoyment in the completion of forms started to take a turn.

Forms that used to be an occasional event, were now becoming permanent fixtures of my work life. The worst part was that we weren’t talking about one or two-pagers anymore. Forms were growing in length, complexity and in the extensive list of additional justification documents to be provided.

The enjoyment I felt previously was wearing off quickly.

While I accepted that they were necessary to provide a paper trail and evidence of due diligence, it still did not remove the drudgery that they became.

The most irksome part was when a form or template was returned to me for corrections when the receiver determined that information was incomplete or lacking.

After a few such occurrences, I tried to diplomatically point out that perhaps the form should have been worded more clearly or that a more solid example of their expectation would be in order to avoid this back and forth.

After a few unsuccessful attempts as Corporate Superman to try to fix these wonky processes, my inner voice said “let it go” as my tank of tact and diplomacy was approaching the empty mark.

Each time a form was returned to me, it was another step in “death by 1000 cuts”. I knew it was just everyone trying to cover their respective buttocks, but it wore me out.

Filling forms sucked the life out of whatever joy I held in regard to management, leaving little energy left for the things that I thought truly mattered like offering guidance and support to my team members, when the clock was ticking on a form I had to submit by a certain time to get what I needed.

The irony is that retiring from one’s career to escape the seemingly insatiable appetite for forms isn’t just about a resignation letter anymore. Of course… more forms to fill out!

Fortunately, these days, I don’t eat, sleep and breathe forms anymore. That being the case, I can actually take my time and to try to find the joy of the formality again, as it helps the new service providers joining the Rolodex of my senior years.

Unfortunately, the trauma lingers. When filling out any form over two or three pages, I need to remind myself to take a deep breath and that it’s probably not going to be returned for more information or for a separate addendum.

You would think that by today’s standards where so many forms are available online electronically, forms should be easier… guess again!

Have you ever been in the middle of completing a complex form, stepping away to get some information to put into the template, only to return to a screen saying “Session has expired”? While I understand the rationale for a locking feature when sensitive information is being captured, I can’t help but feeling triggered.

The reality is that the completion of any form that requires pulling out documents from my wallet on a day when my arthritis is flaring up needs a reasonable and compassionate allotment of time.

While I understand that the completion of forms is a necessary evil in life, do some have to be designed to be so evil in terms of their consumption of time, energy and headspace?

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Sincere thanks for reading!
Have a great day,
André