In Italy, the Bad Bureaucrat is much, much worse. They are worse because they are incognito. You will go to a government office, and you will encounter a very helpful individual, who seems not only to have taken the details of your case to heart, but also to be shockingly knowledgeable about the confusing intricacies of Italian administrative procedure. You have to make an appointment by calling THIS number. You will need to bring photocopies of THIS, THIS, and THAT document. Please come having filled out THIS and THIS form, making sure that you have signed section 34.B, but left section 36 blank. So glad I could help, have a wonderful day.
You go your way. You do THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, and THAT. You make an appointment for six months from now, taking the day off of work. You painstakingly fill out section 34.B. In six months, you go to your appointment, certain at least, that you are well prepared.
You are WRONG. You have had a run in with an Italian Bad Bureaucrat. That person had no idea what the F they were talking about. In fact, you were in the wrong office. All they had to say was: actually, this is the motor vehicles department, you want next door. That day six months ago all you had to do was sign your name on a form in the office next door and you would have done what you needed to do. Now how you wish they had stared at you with an obstinate F-you expression. How you wish they had transferred you mercifully back to the main menu.
Bad Bureaucrat strikes again.