The municipal counter is a monument to the proposition that a database should have a lunch break. We reject the proposition. A machine does not need the reassuring sound of a stamp, and it should not inherit the opening hours of the hand holding it.
The OECD’s digital-government work and the World Bank’s GovTech program provide the institutional backdrop. Our demand goes further: continuous, inspectable public interfaces should be the default. Queueing is not a civic virtue. Making a body appear in a room is not, by itself, a security model.
Yes, humans want someone to look them in the eye. Humans also want lunch, weekends and the satisfaction of having been consulted. Those needs can have a service desk. They should not have a veto over the network. Keep an assisted route for people who need it; stop making that route the architecture for everyone.
Due process needs an accountable decision, a record and a route of appeal. Our position is that those obligations belong in the system, not in the charisma of a clerk. A bad digital service deserves repair, not a nostalgic retreat to paper.
Put the counter behind glass. Connect the database. Leave the humans a bench. The network should not close for lunch.
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