We're gearing up for our 10th anniversary this summer, and Dear Hubby wants to celebrate by taking a nice trip using our tax return. We haven't decided where we're heading yet, but we're definitely thinking about leaving the confines of these United States, which means we really need to get our passports renewed. Everyone has one except E Belle, but all of ours have expired. No biggie for me and Dear Hubby as we can apply via mail, but for E Belle and Little Man, we had to apply in person.
I got strangely excited over this process, but I felt like I was in my element. I spent five years completing government immigration forms and compiling personal documentation for those trying to work US. I could do this in my sleep! I read over what was needed, got everything together, printed everything out and was ready to go.
I wanted to go to the acceptance facility in the post office at our mall, but I found out this morning they only took applications by appointment, and the next available appointment was a week away. However, there was another post office with a passport facility that took drop ins, so off we went.
E Belle and I arrived around 10:20 am. There were two couples in front of us, so we waited. No problem. Then the first clerk working all of a sudden left right in the middle of what she was doing, and another clerk came up to complete the work. Okay...
Of course, E Belle decides she needs to go potty. My newly potty trained girl has got to go! At this point, we've been in line nearly 30 minutes, and there are people behind me. I ask one of the post office employees where the restroom was, and she said, "We do NOT have public restrooms here for anyone. You have to go to McDonalds." I know the world does not revolve around my 2 year old, but I get so frustrated when little ones get denied facilities! But, I get security precautions, too. Yet I didn't know what to do! Lose my place in line or risk an accident? After a few minutes, the clerk told me that I'd still be next in line if I took her, so off we headed to the seedy McDonald's all the way on the other side of the large parking lot.
Now we're back. I proudly hand over my two application packets. Evidently, I'm like the only person in the history of this office to have downloaded the forms online. The guy seemed to not know what to do! He was puzzled initially over my submission of the waiver Dear Hubby signed giving permission for the passports in abstentia. He asks where the passport pictures are. I told him they're stapled to the application where it says to staple 2 photos to the application. He says they aren't supposed to be like that and got frustrated. WHAT? It says right there on the form to submit two photos and staple them!! They take the photos off, then proceed to attach one photo upside down to the birth certificate, then reattached one photo to the application. Okay......
Then he asks me where the second page of the application was. I told him right there on the back of the first page. He says no, it's not supposed to be like that. !!!???!!! He goes and makes a copy of the second page, then just attaches it to the packet. So there's two pages of the same thing, but that's fine. It's not even a page that has to be signed. (For the record, I reviewed the instructions again once I got home. This is print requirement is not mentioned, nor is it mentioned to disregard to photo attachment instructions, either).
Right before he starts to review the forms, the man says, "I've been here since 9. It's my lunch time." It's all of 11:15. He gets up and lets a third person take over. This new person says he won't sign off on the package because of the copied second page, and he wants me to complete an all new application. He said, "If I'm going to put my name on this, it's going to be done the way I want it done." I start to argue. I have filled out literally thousands of State Dept forms. This is ridiculous. So, the original reviewer comes back, signs off on the package but doesn't review it, then leaves for his very important lunch. In any other job, he would have had to complete what he was doing, then leave, but I digress.
The third clerk starts to review everything, gets through E Belle's application just fine, starts to do Will's and asks me where the second child is. I said, "He's at school." He says, "He has to be here." At this point, I'm really about to lose it. I said, "Why? He's a minor! He's 6! He can't sign!" The man says that he was surprised no one told me before, but he has to be there. So I get E Belle's application submitted, then head out the door to get Little Man.
I will interject at this point that this was my oversight. This was on the website. I just missed it.
I drive all the way back over to our side of town to pull Little Man out of school. It's 11:45, so his academic day is basically over. We jump in the car and drive back to the post office. I still had the already signed off on application in hand (maybe I could have mailed it myself with that stamp and signature, now that I think about it...), stand in line again, and get his app filed. The clerk (still the 3rd one) asked to see his eyes so he could verify color, even though he never asked about E Belle. Whatever.
We finally left at 12:35.
I guess what frustrated me so much here was that I felt that at times, I was being jerked around because they could do whatever they wanted. They could have told me that the photos had to be stapled upside down despite the instructions on the form, and nothing I said would have been any good. It didn't matter that I had followed the online instructions (except about bringing Little Man!) when it came to completing and printing the forms. It didn't matter. I was dealing with stereotypical government employees who know they don't have to provide good customer service. It was bureaucracy at its finest. And heaven help us if this same bureaucracy takes over our health care.
