A Canadian in America...

For your Amusement

For those of you who may or may not already know, I have been having difficulty in obtaining a Canadian Passport. I sent my application on March 19th, and hadn't yet received the passport back to me as of the day I left the US for Canada. Well, let me tell you what has happened since! I called Ottawa on Friday to check the status of my passport. They hadn't opened it yet, so it wasn't in the system. However, they told me the date that they were working on, and I knew that they would be coming to my passport soon.SOOOOO, on Monday morning, while on Vacation mind you (in the mountains, the most beautiful place on earth), I crawled out of my warm, safe little bed in Kananaskis at 5:25 am to call their office. Lo and behold, my application had been opened and was waiting to be processed. WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT, I said to the person on the phone. I AM IN CANADA, and I need the application transferred to Edmonton!!!!!! Okay, said the lady, I've sent an email to the transfer office to transfer the application to Edmonton. They will call you within the next few days to let you know when to pick up your passport.

OK.

So, they called me yesterday (Tuesday) while I was in Calgary, and told me that they probably wouldn't be able to transfer and process the application in time for me to leave on the 4th, and my best bet is to go and re-apply for my passport in Edmonton.

OK.

I got to the passport office this morning a little after 8:00. The wait wasn't too bad, and because of my circumstances I got an "E" number which put me next in line. Bahahahahahahahaha. I got to the lady, and she started looking over my application. I had done everything they told me to do on the phone (and a couple things weren't correct). Not a good sign. So, she starts typing in my information, and all of a sudden she exclaims "They've already printed the book for your passport".....


WHAT?????

Yup, you heard right. They processed/printed/mailed my application yesterday and it's now on it's way to my apartment in Mt. Prospect. IL. United States of America. Exactly where I am not.

How's that for efficiency?????

Anyhow, so the lady had to go and figure out what the H%LL to do with me. Hahahaha. I was just laughing. Dumbfounded, really, at their stupidity. It's all okay though. They're treating it like a lost or stolen passport. They issued me a temporary passport to get me back home, and all I have to do it go to the consulate and exchange it for the one they mailed me. Or something like that. They almost made me pay for it again though. That would have made me really annoyed. But she got the passport fee waived, and I get to pick it up on Tuesday.

What a disaster!!!!!!

Did that make your day????

posted by Jo @ Wednesday, June 27, 2007