What particular government agencies or departments are unwise to mess with?

15 comments

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2. Vosa, Customs and revenue.

3. 00 branch

4. You mentioning the postal service police just reminds me of that episode of Brooklyn 99 with Ed Helms as the mail cop and how he kept trying to spin “going postal” as a good thing.

5. I don’t think there are any who will go out of their way to screw you over, but you still don’t mess around with HMRC, who do tax and customs. They won’t try to trick you, they won’t do anything illegal, but if you owe them something then you damn well better pay it.

   And trying to sneak stuff into the country is the same, if you get caught doing something dodgy you’ll be punished heavily but fairly for it.

6. McDonald’s in Leeds has security guards at night who will body slam the hell out of you for getting rowdy when ordering your nuggets

7. HMRC. I worked for them. They are tenacious if provoked and you are committing tax fraud/evasion.

   They also rarely publicise their wins. Inloves working for them as honestly there was right and wrong.

8. Railway companies (nationalised or not) by extension of the railway bylaws.

   Incredibly harsh penalties (€40 fine in Berlin vs minimum of £80 going up to 1000s in the U.K.) and very little leniency if you get a jobsworth (the fact you can’t pay for someone else’s ticket for example). All backed up by transport police muscle.

9. Don’t mess with the Royal Household. Liz will sent a double-O after you, or worse, her corgis.

10. Librarians. They’ll fuck your shit up.

11. I doubt you could ever take on the Cabinet Office and really win. Or prosecute any occupant of number 10 Downing Street.

12. UK Visas and Immigration and Border Force.

    Having a foreign spouse and seeing how hard a time she had even visiting me as a tourist before we were married (she’s American), then having to deal with months and months and over £15k in visa fees and solicitor fees so far, where any small mistake can lead to the money just vanishing… they’re just not the people you want to mess around with if you’re having to interact with them.

13. Any. Just leave them alone, and they’ll leave you alone.

    Why do you want to mess with our government agencies or departments?

14. > And then there’s one no one ever thinks of: the mail cops. That is, the in-house police force of the US Postal Service

    I saw a documentary about that once. One guy was accused of deliberately breaking his stereo system, while his best friend became involved in some sort of bizarre undercover pornography ring at the local photo store 😛

15. Same as in the States, the Tax Man in every country I’ve lived in is the most advanced, most tenacious arm of government – Death and Taxes, that’s it I guess…