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How To!

How To Hack Any Bureaucracy

How To!

Slate Magazine

Business, Education, How To, Self-improvement

4.41.9K Ratings

🗓️ 11 July 2023

⏱️ 47 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Gwen applied for unemployment during the early days of the pandemic, she never thought she’d still be waiting for her benefits years later. Despite hours on the phone, countless emails and even a court appearance, Gwen is haunted by her inability to get the money she was approved for. On this episode of How To!, co-host Amanda Ripley brings in Marina Nitze, author of Hack Your Bureaucracy. Not only does Marina help Gwen find shortcuts in her state’s unemployment system, but she has useful advice for untangling any bureaucratic nightmare. If you liked this episode, check out: How To Fight Outrageous Medical Bills. Do you have a problem that’s keeping you up at night? Send us a note at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. Podcast production by Derek John, Rosemary Belson, Kevin Bendis, and Jabari Butler. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on How To!. Sign up now at slate.com/howtoplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.5

This podcast is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you probably aren't just listening to

0:05.9

this podcast right now. You're doing something else, right? You're driving or you're cleaning or

0:10.7

you're doing the dishes, but what if in addition to all of that, you could be using this time to save

0:16.4

money by switching to Progressive? Drivers who save by switching save nearly $700 on average.

0:22.7

And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Multi-task right now quote

0:29.1

today at Progressive.com. Progressive casual key insurance company and affiliates. National

0:34.6

average 12 month savings of $698 by new customers surveyed who saved through progressive

0:39.6

between June 2021 and May 2022. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and

0:46.4

situations. Hey everybody, it's Tim Heidecker. You know me, Tim and Eric Bridesmaid's

0:52.8

and Fantastic Four. I'd like to personally invite you to listen to office hours live with me and my

0:58.2

co-hosts DJ Doug Pound. Hello. And Vic Berger. Howdy. Every week we bring you laugh fun games and

1:04.6

lots of other surprises. It's live. We take your Zoom calls. We love having fun. Excuse me.

1:09.4

Songs. Vic said something. He's a song.

1:19.7

Please subscribe. No. Don't try to make the bureaucracy care because fundamentally like

1:27.2

bureaucracies do not have feelings but they are made up of humans who have feelings and so what you

1:34.3

want to give the bureaucracy is what the process needs to move forward.

1:41.1

Welcome to How To. I'm Amanda Ripley. We've all been there. Lost in some kind of

1:47.6

diabolical bureaucracy, dealing with a chatbot or a line at the DMV or sitting on hold with

1:55.2

your insurance company for hours. For this week's listener, their battle with the bureaucratic void

2:01.7

started in the early days of the pandemic. My name's Gwen. I filed for unemployment but I

2:07.6

haven't received the money and I have all this logged information that says I received money that

2:13.2

I didn't receive and it's it's messed up a lot of my stuff like my tax returns and all sorts of

...

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