Oh yeah, HR is ridiculous. For example at my company, if your appraisal says you "meet expectations" that's not good enough; you are expected to exceed expectations. The paradox of this obviously eludes whoever is responsible for it.

At appraisal time, you pick 3 cow-orkers to give you "feedback". Everyone stitches this up with their mates; if you tried to be honest - because no-one's perfect - you'd effectively be punished by having the lowest score of your peers!