Sentence:  In 1893, Georges Courteline immortalised France's petty bureaucrats in a satirical novel called "Messieurs les <WSD>Ronds-de-Cuir</WSD>", after the leather cushions that civil servants sat on. The "ronds-de-cuir" are still ridiculed and detested. Like Courteline's bureaucrats, the tormentors of the préfecture derive sadistic pleasure from sending people away for ever more documents. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A French bureaucrat or functionary; an office worker.