More Visa Excitement

Fifty | Ninety | Twenty-Five | US Pics | Vesuvio

3 December 2022 - Alpharetta

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We drove back to Atlanta yesterday via the shorter route of I-16 and I-75. This one I know like the back of my hand. Along the way Iwona wanted to stop at Waffle House again. That plus country music and she's really turning into a southern woman! We arrived at Grandma's in the late afternoon and spent the evening playing Apples to Apples to with Nancy, Ken & Brenton. Meanwhile we were awaiting a package from UPS. On Wednesday I learned that I needed to ship off my passport to the consulate to get the visa I've been working toward, but they said to overnight it and they would overnight it back. So UPS got the package there overnight, they stamped it Thursday and then sent it out via UPS again. Online tracking yesterday confirmed that it would be delivered to Grandma's by 9PM Friday. Since we have our flight tonight I was understandably nervous about hit whole process. Will UPS really be able to overnight it? Will the consulate really be able to process my visa that quickly? Well, the consulate did their part but UPS was only 50% successful. Around 11PM last night, 2 hours after the scheduled delivery window, the online status changed to "The delivery date will be provided as soon as possible". Today I learned that UPS never had any intention of delivering it yesterday, which was extremely dishonest. To accept payment for an overnight delivery that you know you can't fulfill is just irresponsible. But I didn't know that last night yet so I was hopeful that I'd get it today. This morning the app still had the same useless message, but said that it had arrived in Roswell at 3 AM. So I called and talked to a very unhelpful UPS call center employee who informed me that it was scheduled for Monday delivery. She also said that there was no where for me to pick it up, and would not even admit that it was an overnight that should have been delivered yesterday. Finally after twice telling me there was no one else I could speak with she transferred me to a less incompetent individual. This person also said there was nothing to be done, but apologized that it was not delivered Friday. I did not give up, however, and finally wrangled out of her the address where the package was. She said that there was no one there because it was closed though. Right. A package distribution center is closed with no one working in December. So I hopped in the car with the ever-charming Iwona to sweettalk our was to getting the package. Pulling out of Grandma's neighborhood I saw the Amazon delivery truck and wished aloud that they also did overnight shipping. When we arrived at the UPS distribution center it was, of course, a full parking lot. The customer service center was closed, so we strolled into separate entrances and talked to people until one of found our way to the manager in charge. A guy about our age, he offered to help find the package if possible. After waiting about 15 minutes he came back and told us that he would be unable to get the package. It was currently in one of 30 tractor trailer trucks they had out back to open Monday. Monday! This was when I learned that UPS never intended to deliver it Friday. Ridiculous. Iwona really knows her sweettalking though, and soon enough he was looking in the truck where the package was to find it. Having written warehouse management software in college I knew that he really had very good information about exactly where it was. In another 15 minutes we had the package with my passport and the new fancy visa. Not taking no for an answer and killing them with kindness we succeeded with the help of the solution oriented manager of the Roswell UPS distribution center. I wrote a letter to their customer service telling how he went above and beyond. And just like the ESTA story at the beginning of our trip, this one had a happy ending.