Today started off like any other day, except I had an teleconference at 6:30 in the morning. I woke up that 45 minutes early and was out the door on time. I made it to the office 30 minutes later, on time. (Yay!). The conference had some technical challenges, and my part was ok once I got going. I wonder how many people really watched it and how effective it was... There were supposed to be like 400 people on the line... I am getting off subject. It was a day like any other day. There were a couple teleconferences after that, and then we had a special team meeting to discuss some upcoming workflow changes.
We have had it on our list to get Sofie a passport for a year and a half. Push finally came to shove a few weeks ago when we bought tickets to travel the world. Suddenly the need was a reality, and we had to get moving. Her Dad got the paperwork done, and we set an appointment time with the post office. For small children, both parents have to be there with passports, copies of passports, passport pictures, marriage licenses, social security cards, a partridge and a pair tree. Oh, and the child had to accompany us too. Fun times!
Her dad and I coordinated times with the precision of military generals. We both arrived from opposite sides of town within 10 seconds of one another - an amazing feat. Sofie looked adorable as always in her jeans, pink belt, pink cupcake t-shirt, red socks, and electric blue shiny patent leather shoes. She had her hair in an (unintentional) side pony tale. We were 15 minutes early for our appointment!
I asked the hubby if everything was ready. He said yes; they have a passport picture machine at the post office we should use & a copy machine for the paperwork. We grabbed Sofie's hand and walked inside the post office. It was deserted! I felt like I had fallen into a magic world with a helpful, efficient post office people. We asked about the passport appointment and the customer service rep had taken a step out for a moment. We waited 20 minutes in a little tape drawn box on the floor. Eventually the passport lady came, and my hubby asked about the passport photo machine & copies of the passports. DENIED! Both machines were broken. They gave us [faulty] instructions to the nearest library, and we also hit the CVS down the street. The library was open (yay!) and the copies were done. CHECK. At CVS, they pulled down the white screen, gave her a whirl on a stool, and took a lovely picture. They said to check back in within the next 10 minutes for the picture. I did a quick run around with Sofie and found some toiletries I was missing and a water colors paint set I thought she would enjoy. We got in line ... The 3 people ahead of us checked out. That is when things started going downhill. The photo printing machine was broken. Could we came back tomorrow? they asked. Umm. No. Was there another place close to here? No.
So, by this time, it is 11:40. I have now been absent from work for 70 minutes, and there is no end in site. We head back to the post office to see if they could cut us some slack (ID me, compare my passport picture with my face, and then let me go back to work and let the hubby take care of the passport picture somewhere else). After conferring with the boss, the rep says they can't help us. They need all documents to be together. Once we have assembled everything, we can go to the front of the line.
Now, we get in the car (again) and I check my phone to see where Walgreens is. I call Walgreens to see if their machine is working (because it seems like passport machines are always broken). Walgreens tells me it is broken and then they change their mind and say it is working. They tell me to come now, so we drive a mile and a half away. We go in. No one is at the photo counter. A lady that is familiar with the checkers shouts down that they need someone in photos. Then she comes over and takes the 1 machine that is working and starts scanning a pile of 100 pictures for making copies in her album. They take the picture of us, and 25 minutes later our passport picture prints out. Ridiculous.
We drive back to the post office (again). It is now 12:15, and there is a huge line. Not out the door long, but 10 people long. The hubby moves to the little passport box on the floor, and I get in the line. 15 minutes later, it is our turn in the long line. We are denied by a different passport lady. She grunts "get inside the box. I will do passports when the line goes down." Umm, the stream of people coming in is non-stop. 30 minutes later, we are still hanging out in the box. Meanwhile, another lady joins our line for the passport. We start talking after awhile, and I tell her the situation. I have accepted (kind of) where we are. You can't change the process most of the time. It isn't a fight worth fighting for me. Meanwhile, Sofie has fallen asleep on her dad's shoulder. The other lady gets more and more frustrated and cuts in the normal post office line to see why we aren't getting processed.
Te passport lady repeats what she said to me. Without making eye contact. Without stopping what she was doing. Finally around 1:00, business tapers off and we are finally processed in 5 minutes.
Halleluah.
The passport process started. She made us make out a check to the postmaster general for 25 bucks, and I hope that didn't go in her pocket. I didn't make an issue out of it because I wanted to get the darn passport.
I finally got back to work 2 hours later than I expected ... and there was a train blocking my path to the office anyway... and by the time I returned, everyone was missing. And the canteen was closed for lunch.
What is the moral of my story?
- Expect the unexpected when dealing with the post office and global teleconferences
- Don't argue with the post master
- Get everything done before you go to the post office. The photo taking machine is always broken.
- Apply for passports at least 6 weeks before you travel
- Laugh at the ridiculousness of it all
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