I had to deal with the EPA a few times, and the city municipal water folks once. The latter were completely and totally incompetent. They had zero clue about anything. The EPA guys were trying to do a good job, they were, but the CFR is so "byzantine" and bizarre, they spent hours on the phone back to HQ trying to interpret passages I pointed out to them that were mangled. These guys typically had degrees in environmental science and knew their basics. I had no problem with them.
I had to deal with OSHA twice, and it was the same deal really, younger fellow trying to do the right thing and confused by the Code. I managed to avert a $100,000 fine because of the ambiguity I noted.
I had to deal with the US PTO a few times (Patent Office). They were staffed by two types, younger fellows going to Georgetown Law School at night who put in their hours and then studied, and the old geezers who had been there for eons and DID NOT CARE. The geezers knew how to work the system, they had to track something called "counts", which is akin to billable hours. It was a scam of course. We learned how to work the system to out advantage. I once had a patent approved in nine months from sending it in to notice of approval. I was proud of that one.
It actually was an invention, which is very unusual in patentland.
