The girls need new passports. The USPS web site says that our local post offices accept applications with no appointment through 4pm. Except that they don’t. They do require an appointment and close well before 4pm. Plus, the phone numbers for making appointments were not being answered.
My wife’s frustration level was very high and required the lure of an Outback Special to be mollified. Though I think that may have ended up being a disappointment as well…
Renagerie 
#1 by Giggle Pixie on February 10, 2009 - 2:19 pm
Wow! I can’t believe the post office closes so early! Or at least that one part of it? Still…that sucks. Sorry you’re having to go through all this!
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#2 by Ren on February 10, 2009 - 2:27 pm
@Giggle Pixie, yes, just the Passport Application portion closed that early. An extra annoyance in the whole thing is that apparently both parents must be present — though I don’t know any of the details about that, or what you do when it isn’t possible — but I assume that part is not the fault of the post office.
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#3 by Ken on February 11, 2009 - 1:06 pm
Yes, Star had a similar degree of frustration when trying to find an appointment time that fit with all four of us being available. If I recall correctly (I’m confident she does) we showed up the first time during a “no appointment” period that actually still required an appointment with something like a 3 week backlog.
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#4 by Ren on February 16, 2009 - 4:07 pm
@Ken – Yes, I think Marci is going to make an appointment for sometime.
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#5 by Faiqa on February 11, 2009 - 6:13 pm
Gasp. The passport office is inconveniencing its patrons? That. Is. Shocking. 😉
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#6 by Faiqa on February 11, 2009 - 6:14 pm
Oops, I meant *post office*.
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#7 by Ren on February 16, 2009 - 4:12 pm
@Faiqa – One thing I have yet to mention to my wife is that I’m fairly confident that if I had made the plans that had this result, she would’ve blamed me for trusting the web site and not calling to verify. Oh, well.
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#8 by kapgar on February 12, 2009 - 9:29 am
Post Offices and banks are all alike. Never any consistency across the board in terms of hours of operation. Tellers/cashiers walk away from their window whenever they feel like it even if you’re standing right there. And you feel like you’re being scammed with how much they charge you for services rendered, yet you can never prove it.
Oh and thanks for the reminder that my wife and I need to get our passports. Whoops.
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#9 by Ren on February 16, 2009 - 4:18 pm
@Kapgar – Welcome! I’m not sure my service at the post office has been that bad, though it does seem like there’s always a long line.
Glad I could serve as a reminder.
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