Thursday, February 08, 2007

government offices: purgatory for the living

yesterday was the day of the long awaited biometrics appointment.

appointment being a loosely used term thrown around by the government which it turns out actually means appointment to wait for two hours. it was fantastic. you couldn't bring in anything to help pass the time. i was separated from joel who couldn't wait with me, and instead had to sit in another waiting area. then, the powers that be decided that there were too many people in the building and unceremoniously threw my husband out of the building along with a bunch of other people, who strangely, were all men. due to the fact that we were separated, he couldn't convey anything to me about what he was going to do for the indeterminate length of my wait and i couldn't tell him to go out for a drive or something. since we weren't allowed to bring in our cell phones even if they were turned off, i couldn't simply text him and free him from his long wait outside the building, sitting on concrete.

he retrieved his cellphone from the car and called people to eat up all that time.

again, being a biometrics appointment, all i was there for was the scanning of my fingerprints and the taking of my picture. time spent doing the thing i was there for: seven minutes.

a word to the wise: if you are going through processing, do not bring your young children. toddlers just do not have it in them to sit quietly in one place for two hours. it just simply isn't going to happen. it's called a babysitter. get one.

otherwise, you better be willing to endure the scorn of the others in the waiting area each time your child goes into a screaming and crying fit because you've told her for the 27th time she can't get off her chair.

the same woman came into the processing area just before i left and her kid started freaking out. i had tried to help her by attempting to distract the child with some of her toys, but she crawled off the chair again. when i picked her up and put her back on it, she started screaming so loud that they refused to finish processing her mother and told her that she had to come back another day - specfically telling her NOT TO BRING HER KID.

it happened so often, i couldn't even feel sorry for her. after the official came in and told her that they COULD NOT process her with her kid behaving like that, i just looked up, and said, "sorry. i tried, but i have to go." and hightailed it on out of there.

i am starting to firmly agree with theresa's policy of not bringing her kids out in public until they are old enough to understand how to behave while out of the house.

i can't wait - joel and i have our interview for my residency adjustment on march 6th! this means we get to go through all this government rigamarole all over again in about a month! whee!

2 Comments:

Blogger BikingBettie said...

2 hours of nothing to kill the time = yucky!
But I'm glad you're getting closer and closer to being a 'real' person.
Hey - I found out today that in 1906, Canada passed a law that stated no poor people could come into their country. Interesting, huh?
If I'm not working on March 6th (as I am currently in the process of job searching and that might be the week I take off as a vacation before starting a new job) I'll keep Joel busy or something.
KEEP US POSTED ON EVERYTHING!
xxoo!

2:40 PM  
Blogger Freckles Q. McMurty said...

Thanks for the offer to occupy my husband, but I think this time he actually HAS to be at this meeting. I think it's the whole deal where they ask us questions to make sure that we are not doing the whole sham marriage for a green card type job.

we shall see.

and post you, indeed i will! good luck on the job hunt! :)

6:35 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home