F-ing the ineffable

I used to have a recurring nightmare where I had to fight someone, as in a physical brawl, with fists. And in my dream I would try to hit the person, but my fist would get slower and slower, as if moving deeper and deeper into a pool of rubber. Then the other person would start to punch me and I would snap awake in a sweat.

That experience comes back to me whenever I am trying to deal with bland inanity. I never, ever mind an energetic exchange of views that has the possibility of some middle position appearing that is actually better than where I or the other person started out. I come very quickly to the end of my tether, though, when the other side's position is either "never mind the facts" or "because I say so, is why."

Last night, in a meeting, we were looking at a set of proposed rules for an event. One of the rules says something like, "Under no circumstances are you allowed to do A before date B. However all the expenses of A that you do before date B must be recorded in the following manner..." I can't even find the best way to sink my teeth into that thing. With my editor hat on I could say, "Let's lose the first sentence, since you seem to be presuming that nobody will follow that instruction." But I anticipate the response will be, "But if we don't say not to do it, folks will do A before date B, and we can't possibly have that."

Decades ago I was completing certification for a thing (a different "thing" than the "thing" at the end of the previous paragraph). At one step in the process they wanted to see evidence that I had done some other thing (yes, a different, earlier, thing), and the evidence was to be a document. I didn't have to send them the document; I just had to say it existed and where it might be found if they really wanted to see it.

The line in the form was "Document sighted: _________________"

Uhhhhh.

I spent more brain cells than it was worth trying to get the issuers of the form to see that the word they wanted was "cited", to no avail. Just fuel for nightmares.