So, this is a very long story (but interesting). I'm mostly just typing it because I want to remember every detail, and I'm scared they'll slip away. I want to be able to remind myself of the horrible day that I survived, so when I think I'm having a bad day, I know- and remember- that it could be worse.
Background: My work is rushing a passport for me so I can go train the Mexicans that are replacing us at work. Most of my team has been placed into other jobs within the company, so I'm not bitter anymore. I found out that I needed a passport on Wednesday night. It was confirmed Thursday. I had the basic paperwork done, but I needed to get with an agent to get it all sorted out. It was too late on Thursday to do this, so I made plans to call at 0800 on Friday morning. I had already made plans with my grandparents to sign paperwork at the bank at 1100, and Rob and I had intended to go down south on Saturday for a barbecue anyway. I'll do the rest of this in a timeline.
0800- I first made Rob breakfast, and got him off to work. I fixed myself a bowl of cereal and sat down with my papers and the laptop. I got ahold of my personal passport agent (Renee), and she told me that I needed to have two copies of everything, and started going through them one by one saying, "Put the original on your right and the copy on the left." She got to something that I did not have a copy of, and she told me to make sure I have copies of everything, and to call her back. I hung up to make copies of everything.
0820- I called Renee back and left her a voicemail. I started to clean the kitchen to kill some time. I knew I had to take a shower, but I didn't want to be in the shower when I called her back.
08:40- I called Renee back and got her on the phone. We went back to putting originals on my right and copies on my left. Everything was done, and she got to my birth certificate. She said, "now take the original birth certificate with the raised seal and put it on your right." I said, "Wait- I have a notarized copy of my birth certificate." She told me that it would not work. Luckily, I had considered this possibility the day before, and I had ordered my birth certificate to be overnighted to my house. I read somewhere that the processing time could be 3-5 days though, and I was a little concerned. I explained my concerns to Renee, and she said that if I did not have it by 1400, I needed to call her, because we would have to upgrade my service from 3-5 day processing for my passport to 1 day processing, and I would have to have everything mailed by Monday if I could not get it to FedEx by 1700 on Friday.
0920- I called the company I ordered my birth certificate through, and sat on hold for 15 minutes without ever getting an answer.
0940- I called the company that has my birth certificate and sat on hold for 5 minutes without ever getting an answer.
0945- I called the lady in Little Rock that I had spoken to the day before about ordering my birth certificate, and she transferred me to this wonderful woman named Chasity. Chasity explained that they had just received my order. I think of Chasity as the woman in the back who goes through file cabinets looking for certificates. She said that if they sent it now, it would be at my house on Monday. I could not confirm what time on Monday, or that I would be there, or that I would be awake, or that it would be there at all. She said that I could have it sent to a UPS store, and they could sign for it, and I could pick it up Saturday. In that case, I would still have to move my passport processing to 1 day, and I am not comfortable doing that and letting my company pay for it because I'm a grown ass adult who has no idea where her original birth certificate is.
1000- I got in the shower and thought about my options. I had to be at the bank at 1100. I had to have a $170 check or money order to put in this thing before I sent it off. I had to have my birth certificate. I had to see a physical passport agent so they could seal all of my original documents. I had to take the sealed original documents to FedEx with the copies and put them in an envelope to send off using the pre-paid shipping label that Rush My Passport had sent me. I had to have all of this done by 1700.
1015- I got out of the shower, threw on some clothes, grabbed all of my documents, and got in my car. I called my boss and advised her of my plan while I was on the way to her house. She told me that she would write a check for $170, and she would have the company reimburse her. She lives 20 miles from me. I also emailed her the prepaid shipping label that I forgot to print so she could print it for me, and pass it off to me.
10:30- I called Renee and Chasity to let them know my plans. I also called Rob, so he wouldn't worry about me.
1045- I arrived at my boss's house, and took her check and my documents. I drove 10 minutes to the other side of town to meet my grandparents.
1100- I called my grandparents from the bank and realized I was at the wrong bank, and they were at the bank by my boss's house. I went back over there, signed the documents, and cashed the check.
1130- I was on the interstate, and was headed to Little Rock.
1410- I arrived at the Health Department and the Office of Vital Records. I walked in and explained that I had been speaking with Chasity. The man at the desk went and got Chasity from the back. That wonderful woman gave me 3 copies of my birth certificate with the original raised seal, and a receipt that showed that she had reimbursed the overnight shipping fees that I did not expect to get back due to a sudden change in plans. She then told me that the closest post office (where I was hoping to find a passport agent) was a few blocks away, and I looked it up on Google Maps.
1440- I arrived at the post office, and stood in line patiently. I bought a $170 money order and asked if she could seal my passport documents. She said that the other post office in town was on X Street, and they could take care of that for me.
1455- I jumped in my car, and found the post office on X Street on Google Maps.
1510- I arrived at said PO, and walked to the front counter and asked if there was anyone who could seal my passport documents. I also asked if there was a copy machine, because I needed a copy of my money order for my giant pile of copies. The nice man at the front desk made me a copy and directed me to the corner hallway where the passport agent's office was. There was a sign on the door that said "Sign in before entering." I looked everywhere, but could not find a sign in sheet. I walked in and saw three women sitting at his desk. I explained my situation, and he said, "I pulled the sign in sheet because I'm working with these 3, and I leave at 3:30. I will not have time to help you today." I explained how far I'd driven, and that I didn't need his full help. I just needed him to sign and seal a few documents. He said, "You can try the place on Z street. They're open til 4." I was furious, but I went to my car to look for the post office on Z street. I could not find said post office, so I (fuming) went back in to the front of the post office, and asked the nice man at the front if he could help. He gave me a specific address, which I put into Google Maps and set out for.
1530- I arrive at Z street, and do not see a post office. I asked a kid in the parking lot if he knew where a post office was in the general vicinity. He said that there wasn't one that he knew of. I saw a library though. I grabbed all of my papers (desperately hoping), and went into the library. I thought at the very least, they could tell me where the damn post office was. As soon as I walk into this wonderful building, I see a big glass office with a sign that reads "Passport Agent." In all seriousness, I almost started crying. I walked up to the front desk, where they told me that she left at 4, but since I was just getting some documents sealed, it should not be an issue. I signed in as next in line. The ladies at the front gave me a pager and told me that she would page me as soon as she was free. They also told me that there was a bathroom and a cafe upstairs (there was other stuff too, but I was starving and I had to pee very badly, so that was pretty much all I heard). I went to the bathroom, and then I got a sandwich. I went back downstairs to sit outside of her office. She finished up with her current customers and turned off her office light. I caught her before she shut the door, and I explained my situation. She grabbed another woman, and the two of them together went through my papers one by one to make sure I had everything. She even made a copy of my drivers license for me because the one I had was with the front and back on two different pages, so she combined them.
1635- The ladies sealed my documents into a secure giant white envelope, and advised that I was about 10 minutes from the closest FedEx. I put it into my Google Maps, and was on my way.
1640- I arrived at FedEx and went in to organize my copies. I signed the last of what needed to be signed, and I organized the documents, ready to be sealed into an envelope. I realized that I did not have the shipping label that I thought my boss printed. I went out to my car to find it, but it wasn't there. When I came back in, I asked the man at the desk if he possibly had a computer to use to print my shipping label. He politely directed me to customer computers that I could rent for 50 cents a minute. I would have paid 5 dollars a minute at that point. I printed 2 copies of my shipping label ($1.50 each), and took all of my stuff to the counter. We found an envelope it would fit in. We folded the shipping paper on top, sealed it, and I was done. On my way out, I noticed that FedEx closed at 2100.
16:50-For the first time in hours, I stopped to look at my phone. I had 6 missed calls and as many missed texts. One text was from Rob. "Can you please go to the Subaru dealership in Little Rock and pick up my flywheel. They close at 5:30." The missed calls were all from him. I put Subaru into my GPS and saw that it was 20 minutes away in rush hour traffic. I set on my way, and called Rob to let him know.
17:15- I arrived at Subaru and parked in the service area by an employees car. I went in and got the flywheel. I confirmed that it had the little blue round thing in the middle (that has an official name, but I can't remember) and I happily took it out to my car. I sat in my car and called my mom to let her know that I survived, and then I used my phone to book a hotel on Priceline.
17:45- I finished booking my hotel on Priceline, and ended up in an area 30 minutes outside of LR. I had requested Little Rock, and I was pissed at Priceline... just pissed. I started to pull out of the parking lot, and I realized that I was blocked in. The exit had a chain going across it (with a metal pipe holding it in the middle, so I couldn't drive under it), and the driveways that lead to the front lot were blocked with rental cars. I drive a Hyundai. There was no way in hell I could jump the curb. I went around to all of the doors and banged on them looking for someone. At that point, I just lost it. I started bawling, and I called Rob (who was now on his way to Little Rock). He laughed at me (which pissed me off) and told me that he happened to know a guy who works there, and he would call to have him let me out. I then saw a car pull in with a dealership sticker on it. I chased it to the other side of the lot, but the guy was not an employee. He was dropping of the loaner car and picking up his own. He also happen to know someone who worked at the dealership, and he called to ask them to let me out. I have no idea if it was Rob's friend or the stranger's friend who came to let me out. He dropped the chain, and I drove over it and disappeared.
18:15-I headed to my hotel in BFE. I was still pissed about how far away it was, but I desperately needed a real bathroom and a nap. When I got to the hotel, I asked if they could transfer my room to one in town, and they advised me that there were no hotel rooms in town. George Straight was in town on his last concert tour. That wasn't happening. I'm still mad at Priceline, but not nearly as much, and now I'm much closer to my own bathroom and bed. I called Rob to let him know that I was keeping the room in BFE.
Fast forward:
2230- Rob and I got back from dinner and Rob told me that instead of the barbecue, we would be going to a friend's shop to put in his new clutch the next morning. I was pissed, but too exhausted to care. Besides, he could go as early as he wanted, and I could sleep until check out time. Whatever.
FFW:
0700- Rob is awake and dressed and out the door. I wanted to go back to sleep, but I was dreaming about all of the things I probably screwed up on my passport application, so I'd rather just be awake. I got dressed, put my makeup on, and went downstairs for breakfast.
0930- I arrived to the shop to bring the boys coffee. I had full intentions of hanging out for a minute and then going shopping.
1330- I am still at the shop. Rob's motor is out of his car, and they realize that he was shipped the wrong clutch.
1430- We all went to lunch, and someone remembered a friend who was selling a clutch for this particular car. We went and bought this other clutch from the friend of a friend.
1830- The boys realize they do not have a new, correct throw out bearing (sp?). They call around in their Subaru club buddy group and find someone with an extra.
1930- The only thing accomplished on this car is some very shiny wheels (Thanks to muah).
0230- The motor is replaced, and everyone is cranky and exhausted.
0330- We are at IHOP waiting for our very late dinner. We had planned on staying with our friend, and he had just told us that he lived 40 minutes outside of town. I was pissed... not at anyone in particular, just at life.
0500- We are at our friend's house on his couch, finally closing our eyes.
FFW:
1300- We are up and showered, and out the door by 1400.
1600- We ate lunch and are now on our way home. It's typically a 3 hour drive, and I had to be at work by 1900. I arrived at 1840.
0259- I am whiny and exhausted. I want sleep, and I want my Rob. I want to go home, and I really do not want to be babysitting the Mexicans who took my job. 3 more shifts.
