A poltergeist, gaunt and grotesque
Sometimes haunts the Enquiries Desk.
When it flings rusty knives
Clients flee for their lives,
Even shrieking the word ‘Kafkaesque’.

This warning is well-meant, no doubt; but it is unclear whether the supposed spectre is a visiting querent, or an employee detailed to impart information. In fact both sides of the Enquiries Desk, in any normal institution, will inevitably be fraught with tiresome memories of frustration and misunderstanding.