Post O' Gripes

Aarrgh...

Various branches of the government and a drug store have irked me lately, so if you don't feel like reading a whining rant, this is not the site for you.

I got a letter from the State Department today saying that Delaney's passport photos are overexposed and therefore can't be used. I need to have more pics taken, acceptable ones, and send them back in. How delayed is her passport's arrival going to be now?

Within moments of receiving the slightly distressing letter, Delaney and I were in the car and on our way to the drug store where the unacceptable photos were taken. I cheerfully asked to see the manager and was told that I was speaking with the acting manager (who also happened to be the lady who took the lousy photos a couple of weeks ago.

"Yeah, this is really going to go somewhere..." I thought.)

I calmly explained the situation and asked for a refund on the photos. I then asked if there was something they could do to the camera to keep this from happening again.

"No, it's because of the white background. They're so picky at the passport department."

Another worker leaned in to glance at they crappy photo they'd taken.

"Yeah, they're so picky," she said.

I somehow managed not to roll my eyes.

You know, they really oughtn't advertise the service of passport-photo-taking if the resulting pics are useless for passports. If you know the State Department is picky and likely to reject the photos you produce then do us all a favor and stop offering the service. I didn't stick around to explain that their incompetent camera might be jeopardizing my family's summer vacation; I had some proper photos to obtain.

Off we went to CostInc and voila!


I'm so thankful I was able to get it all taken care of today, but it won't be in the mail until Monday. Good thing I started this whole process as early as I did.

But this...this is the truly exacerbating tale. Read on:

So, a couple of weeks ago I received a check in the mail, a very large check that declared itself to be a tax refund.

I was thrilled for about three seconds before reality set in and I realized that a very unfortunate mistake had been made. There was no way that money belonged to us and I certainly didn't want to get a bill several months later when they figured out that their accounting totally sucks.

I dreaded calling the accompanying phone number, but knew it had to be done. After being on hold for a combined total of about 45 minutes, Naomi informed me that what I had already informed her about was true: They had made a mathematical error which resulted in the cruel tease of a ginormous check. She told me to watch my mailbox for instructions on what to do next.

They arrived a few days later in the form of a letter.

There was no "Thank you for your honesty, attentiveness and good citizenship", just a threat that if I didn't pay them back in 30 days they'd start charging me interest on the money they incorrectly sent to me. I laughed out loud at that. Do you think they'll reimburse me for the postage?

Yeah, me neither.