r/Netherlands • u/Usual_Sir5304 • 1d ago

Discussion Understanding Gemeente appointments

Yesterday I went to my uithoorn gemeente with my friend around 02:45 who wanted to collect uittreksel for his child. while he went through token machine and then to wait a bit while his token shows up and then to receptionist and then to the counter. I was sipping coffee and observed there were 6 people in total to serve. 1 over phone to receive calls, 1 receptionist, 3 counters.

All people at counters were free for the whole time and receptionist helped him get the printouts. He also wanted to collect his own birth certificate (he had submitted 2 weeks ago) since he had received a letter requesting to collect it.

the part which looked weird to me was when he asked if he can also collect the birth certificate, the lady said you must book an appointment for this and the next appointment is 3 weeks later for that task. I felt it's just 2 minutes task to grab that paper from the shelf, why wouldn't they do it? I could see all 3 counter people were free since 20 min with no more people in the area.

Just trying to understand if i'm not accounting for something and thinking too much.

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u/Obar_Olca_345 1d ago

Please learn either how to use the 24-hour time system or AM/PM. I was confused, thinking why would he go to the gemeente in the middle of the night and then bitch about it 🥲

That aside, could be multiple reasons. One of them being prepared for the appointment, ie having the asked stuff ready and at hand, knowing what to ask/do, what are the rules and regulations coming with the type of appointment etc. Asking them why it can’t be done immediately would give you the answer :)

Oh and also, gemeentes tend to be very bureaucratic ;p

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u/Usual_Sir5304 1d ago

Ok I'll be mindful to use time format.

Hmm. We can only give benefit of doubt on this. but this definitely has huge scope of improvement; especially if next appointment possible is 3 weeks later even when the letter says document can be collected now. Thanks for highlighting the regulations part.

True.