A day or two before I left for my U.S. vacation, I remembered that we needed to renew Aleena's passport. It was not set to expire until January of next year, but for some reason countries require that your passport be valid six months beyond your scheduled trip. Aleena's passport was due to expire five and a half months after our trip to Japan. Lucky us, we got to go to visit the American Services Center (ACS) at the U.S. Embassy.
The ACS, as its name suggests, provides services to U.S. citizens living abroad. The two main services probably involve passports and providing documentation required by the Thai government for certain official business. When I wanted to get a Thai driver's license, for example, I had to go to the U.S. Embassy and get a notarized form confirming my address in Thailand. Of course, the only thing that the U.S. Embassy knows about my address in Thailand is what I tell them, but none the less it makes the Thai officials happy so I am required to comply.
I have generally found dealing with the ACS a very frustrating experience. The ACS employees are a mix of Thai and Americans. I think all the key roles are held by Americans, but the front line people are usually Thai. There hours of operation are 7:30 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. and then from 1:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m.
We arrived at about 10:15 a.m. to renew Aleena's passport. Within ten minutes we had filled out the paperwork and were waiting for an interview. A few minutes before 11:00, the clerk tells me that the pictures that I submitted did not leave enough space above Aleena's head. This was extremely frustrating, since the clerk had looked at these pictures when we first submitted the paperwork but had not mentioned any issues. By the time we went out and had the pictures redone, the ACS was closed for its two hour break. Tim managed to actually talk our way back in past the guards, but the woman who conducted the interview had already gone to lunch. Actually, they told me that she had left for an emergency, and told Tim in Thai that she had gone to lunch.
I was beside myself as we had to wait for nearly two hours for the office to reopen. Tim took the girls to lunch, while I sat and fumed. Yes, I had made a mistake with the picture, but how difficult would it have been for the clerk to point it out earlier in the process?
When they reopened, they conducted the interview and approved the renewal. The passports are actually generated in the U.S., so it takes a few weeks to receive them. While I was back in the States, I received a confirmation email that Aleena's passport was ready.
Fast forward to yesterday. I was sitting at my computer at 8:45 a.m. when I remembered that we had to pick up the passport. We leave on our trip on Monday, so it was the last day to pick it up. I checked the confirmation email for any instructions, grabbed my passport, hopped in a cab and was on my way. I arrived at the ACS at about 9:40 and was please to see that there was no line and my number was called in fewer than five minutes.
As so often is the case with the ACS, what appears to be a promising experience quickly transforms into an experience teeth-grinding proportions. The clerk asked for Aleena's old passport. I hadn't brought it. The email didn't mention bringing the old passport, and honestly, I couldn't even remember that they had given us the passport back. The clerk said that they could not give me the new passport without the old one.
I looked at the clock and swore softly. It was unlikely that I could get home and back in an hour. I really didn't want to come back for the 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. session. I wanted to be done with it.
I jumped in a cab and showed him my home address in my little green book. This is a small notebook that has addresses (and sometimes maps) written in Thail. I use this primarily when dealing with cab drivers. The driver says he didn't know and asked me if I could give directions. I'm out of that cab in a second, as that is a recipe to raise my blood pressure another ten points. I had more luck with the second cab driver, who said Nichada and shook his head yes.
Even though Bangkok traffic made a quick return Trip unlikely, I decided to give it a try. If I didn't make it back by 11:00 a.m., I'd just have lunch and wait until 1:00. I explained to the driver in broken Thai that I wanted to go home and come back. I wanted to call the house so they could find the passport and have it ready for me, but my phone battery was dead. We arrived at the house at 10:25, and I had the passport in my hand two minutes later. I had Yaow ask the driver if he could get me there in under thirty minutes, and he said yes.
I was watching the clock the entire ride back, as we were really cutting it close. The driver passed the normal exit for the Embassy. When i questioned him, he said "rote tit" (traffic jam). At 10:57 a.m. we were thirty yards from the Embassy which was on the other side of the street. I handed him six hundred baht (the fare was 250 baht), told him ten minutes, jumped out and sprinted to the office. The guard looked at me, and said two minutes. I smiled and said that I only need one.
When I made my way back to the ACS, I was at first dismayed that they had locked the box where you take a number. If you don't have the number by 11:00 a.m., they won't service you until the afternoon. I saw the clerk from earlier in the day and got his attention. Fortunately, he decided not to be a complete jerk and waited on me right then. Ten minutes later, I was back outside with Aleena's new passport in hand. The taxi driver was waiting for ten meters up the road.
I definitely understand that the ACS has rules that they need to follow. What frustrated me so much this time is that the confirmation email didn't say anything about bringing the old passport. Maybe they told us three weeks ago when we applied, but adding the one line in an email would cost nothing and would make the experience so much less painful for the people they are supposed to serve.
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