I got my first glimpse at Portuguese bureaucracy today, and it seems far worse than the American version.
My Portuguese national ID card and passport have both expired; I went to the Loja do Cidadão (literally: Citizens store) in order to renew both (unsuccessfully). I dont care to explain the situation in full, but one thing did stick out:
You have to purchase all of the necessary paperwork. This always requires standing in line and occasionally (but not always) requires getting a numbered ticket (knowing exactly which ticket is an exercise of its own). My ID card renewal form cost 7.05€ while my passport renewal was a modest .10€. The former I can understand (assuming there’s no additional fee once I pick up the card), but the 10 cent fee for the passport forms is silly.
Also: There must be a change shortage in Portugal, because cashiers are always demanding (and annoyed when you don’t have) change. They (and by They, I mean the establishments) are the ones causing the problems by not choosing round number prices; for example, the passport renewal fee is 43.61€. (tax is always included in prices). Supposedly some of the oddball prices are leftover from the Euro conversion, but I don’t buy that excuse since people complain about price inflation since the conversion (what used to cost 50 escudos often costs half a Euro, a 100% price increase).