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[alt_sirius]

Arthur, this application is a monster! No wonder the Ministry had so much trouble getting people to participate. Six pages of application, four - no, five supplemental schedules depending on one's answers - and that's leaving out the mandatory attestations pages with all the clauses one has to sign. 'If selected, I the undersigned do hereby swear and give oath that the Muggleborn Assistant assigned to me or my place of employment shall not be used for inappropriate, seditious, illegal or illicit purposes' and all that.

Well, we expected that much. But Merlin, they make it difficult to try to stack the deck (also the point, I know).

And then it's all in septuplicate (Why are they so obsessed with seven? Numerologically, sure, but Circe. Seven!)

I think we've just about done the thing properly. We put down that the candidate had to have letters and maths, just to be on the safe side. We're not sure what to say about Laszlo's Unlimited, though. If we put down Food Service or Bartending as a secondary requested skill, well, it might trigger them to come and investigate things a little more fully (c.f., the question about agreeing to an inspection of the place of business wherein the Muggleborn will be working if said Muggleborn will have contact with Citizen cutomers in the course of the Muggleborn's duties). Well, I mean to say, the Ministry know about the cafe in the back and our minor annoyance Mr Hill seems to know that not everything in our back garden is officially sanctioned on our licence, else he wouldn't demand quite so much in shakedown Sickles (and yes, he was back again this week, which may be why I'm particularly sensitive to the thought of their 'inspections'). But at the same time, we don't want to leave it off because it might be the kind of thing that tips the balance toward Ellie.

Or perhaps this really isn't such a good idea, at all. Maybe this is an indication that Beth is trying to get us caught somehow, under the guise of doing something altruistic.

I don't mind saying it feels dirty just to fill the blasted thing out. The idea that something so supercilious could also be made into a distilled process is maddening. If there's anything you can think of that will help assure it gets us either Laurel Sinclair or Ellie Summer, mate, give it to us. Dora will drop the application on her trip in Sunday, so we've the rest of the weekend to make any changes we need to make (and make sure it gets fixed on all sets of the application).

Dora and Bea are up. Arthur, Bill, if you've any advice, we'd love to hear it.

Comments

[alt_arthur]

I am sure you will be even more annoyed at having to fill out everything in septuplicate when I tell you that three of those copies are popped into an envelope once received and never ordinarily see the light of day again, but are instead put in 'permanent storage.' Storage for what I have no idea, nor does anyone else I know. You are right, it is absurd.

Put down 'general customer service tasks.' That should not raise any awkward questions, and yet has the virtue of being entirely true, in case of any further investigation. You might note specific abilities that might be needed for the various tasks, something such as 'able to lift and carry twenty pounds for at least six feet.' That could be either a box in a stock room or a bus pan of dirty dishes, but you needn't tell them which one!

Anything you can put in to hint you think the candidates you will interview are not fully human will not go amiss, as much as it may set your teeth on edge. (I remember one application once, which requested that potential employees should be 'fully housebroken.' I couldn't help but feel outraged, but Jenkins was instead impressed, saying that it was clear that the applicant had 'thought of everything.')

[alt_sirius]

Thanks, Arthur. Yeah, we listed the lifting under the physical requirements but I suppose we could put another pass on the 'Justification of Need' section. We've been drafting it on spare parchment until it's right before putting it into the form itself.

We've already put down that she'll have separate facilities. Merlin forbid a servant use the same bathroom as the rest of the family. Where we're struggling is whether to indicate the desired camp of origin. Laurel was in Ashfield; have we any idea where Ellie was at last report? And what justification can we use to bring someone all the way down from there when there are plenty of muggleborns closer to hand? I suppose that'll have to be your sleight of wand.

And yes, it's causing some interesting discussions among the three of us but it's necessary, if we're going to do the thing, to put up the proper show.

It's a busy night, too - weather finally had a break in it. Everyone wants to get out of the house before the rain starts again.

[alt_arthur]

Leave the desired camp of origin blank, and I'll fill that in once I pinpoint Ellie's location. As for sleight of wand, in the section where it says 'For Administrative Use only' fill in: 'WEAS-A45' and send it to me directly. That will assign the file to me. Ordinarily, applications are doled out randomly between five or six staffers when they come in, but I'll record it in the book myself as being assigned to me and take it from there. It's all right; we do have the power to assign ourselves particular applications and shepherd them through personally.