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WOW! What a system!
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I feel I need to share this story just in case you need to get a passport on the fly.
So we all know it is taking FOREVER to get passports by mail. Steve and I are leaving for the UK, Netherlands and Hungary on July 28th. I realize on, we'll say July 6th that my passport expires in JAN not JUN as I had thought. Less than the 6 months required. Opps! So, I call the post office and ask about expediting... the woman laughed at me! According to the government website this should take about three weeks. Not so according to the woman on the phone. She has had folks send in their passport for expedited renewal and had to cancel their trip because their passport is "lost" in the system. Well, that freaked me out. I broke the news to Steve that we would need to go to Chicago... oh well. So you can now book appointments to get a passport in Chicago... GREAT! I had to wait until we were within two weeks of our departure date to book. After MANY calls I finally get through the automated system and get an appointment for Wednesday, July 25th @ 8:30am. Cutting it close but no problem. According to the website and the automated person on the phone I am to arrive no sooner than 15 minutes prior to my appointment. So I do like a good little American citizen. I am told by security to go to the 23rd floor (not the 18th as on the web and on the phone message). So I do. I check in and I am told to take a seat with probably 100 other people in a hot, smelly, yucky room... I am also told my appointment doesn't matter!!! So I take my seat and impatiently wait. People around me are bitching about having an appointment and having to wait with those that don't have an appointment. I try to keep my mouth shut to not add to the heat in the room. Oh, I forgot to add that there are only two.. that's 2, people processing applications in this room! After about 30 minutes a guy comes row by row pulling people that have "appointments". None of this is verified of course. He pulls about 20 of us and takes us where... the 18th floor! The rest of the process goes quickly and I am out the door at 9:30 with a ticket to return at 12:30 to pick up my passport. Pick up went easy as well. It took about 15 minutes. The moral of the story... make an appointment! I still feel sorry for the poor, dumb people in that hot, smelly room waiting for two people to process a billion applications. Some may still be waiting and I am on my way back to MI with a fresh new passport in hand!!!
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