Scenario: Need to renew my passport and get a passport for my daughter (a minor). Rely heavily on websites to print the paperwork, complete it in advance and to confirm details to ensure I have everything in order to get this done…today. Find her birth certificate, confirm document notarized to ensure she is not getting a passport without her father knowing it. I am confident I have everything so final search prior to leaving the house was to confirm a post office location that did not require an appointment. Conduct my online search – confirm passport application hours all day, call to be sure, but after being on hold give up after 10 minutes.
Drive 45 minutes (to be near another errand) to enter the Medford Post Office on Forest Street. Signs greet us apologizing for service delays due to training going on as well as signs indicating appointments required for passport applications – uggh! Wait in line to see if there is a chance of an appointment for today already knowing the answer. Yep – nope – can’t help you today. Go to Malden – gives me the address. Why doesn’t anyone ensure the website information is accurate??!!
I remain calm (surprisingly) and plug in the address to the Malden post office. Off we go. Wait in line…a friendly woman calls us up and confirms no appointment needed and they also do photos – yes! Things are looking up. Until we are told that I am missing information to proceed. My daughter’s passport can’t be processed. Here is where technology is a wonderful thing: my daughter calls her Dad; he emails me what I need. We drive to a Staples and sure enough, they are happy to print out the document we need. I offer to pay them for their help and the associate declines – happy to help. Very nice. Thank you Staples.
So where does happiness come in?
Next door to the Malden Post Office is the Malden Y. Once we have successfully completed passport #2, I suggest we go into the Y. My daughter cleaned out her bedroom yesterday – a thorough cleaning. In my car are bags of clothes, girly pillows, stuffed animals, and a small wicker rocker. I speak to a woman and a man at the Y and explain that we would love to donate these items if they could use them to give to young girls. They are thrilled to accept the items and that is where the real happiness came today. They explained that the majority of the families they serve are low-income. What Meredith has outgrown would bring a smile to a young girl’s face. Thank goodness the Medford post office could not help us earlier today. We would never have ended up next door to the Malden Y to donate bags of items.
This time, I am not criticizing an entity for having inaccurate information on their website. I can’t stop thinking about young girls finding something they like to put a smile on their face.