I recently went to get a new passport. I queued for almost 2 hours (it was lunchtime after all). When I finally found myself in front of an agent, she read through the documents that I had spent the previous weeks obtaining referees etc when she thrust it all back at me saying that my photo had not been initialled on the back. As Victor Meldrew would say – I dont bloody believe it! Now I have to pester my ref all over again.I could write a book on events in getting all the necessary signatures and the mileage accumulated in doing so …Is this really 2015
Letter below was in my inbox when I got home tired and frustrated, but it cheered me somewhat,
AUSTRALIAN LETTER – I think the sender might have been upset!
Dear Mr Minister,
I’m in the process of renewing my passport, and still cannot believe this.
How is it that K-Mart has my address and telephone number, and knows that I bought a television set and golf clubs and condoms from them back in 1997, and yet the Federal Government is still asking me where I was born
and on what date ?
For Christ sakes, do you guys do this by hand ?
My birth date you have in my Medicare information, and it is on all the income tax forms I’ve filed for the past 40 years.
It is also on my driver’s licence, on the last eight passports I’ve ever had, on all those stupid customs declaration forms I’ve had to fill out before being allowed off planes
over the past 30 years.
It’s also on all those insufferable census forms that I’ve filled out every 5 years since 1966.
Also… would somebody please take note, once and for all, that my mother’s name is Audrey, my father’s name is Jack, and I’d be absolutely bloody astounded if that ever
changed between now and when I drop dead !!!
****! What do you people do with all this information we keep having to provide?
I apologize, Mr. Minister. But I’m really pissed off this morning.
Between you and me, I’ve had enough of all this bull****!
You send the application to my house, then you ask me for my bloody address!
What the hell is going on with your mob? Have you got a gang of mindless Neanderthal ********s working there!
And another thing, look at my damn picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? I can’t even grow a beard for God’s sakes. I just want to go to New Zealand and see my new granddaughter. (Yes, my son interbred with a Kiwi girl). And would someone please tell me, why would you give a **** whether or not I plan on visiting a farm in the next 15 days? In the unlikely event I ever got the urge to do something weird to a sheep or a horse, believe you me, I’d sure as hell not want to tell anyone!
Well, I have to go now, ’cause I have to go to the other side of Sydney , and get another bloody copy of my birth certificate – and to part with another $80 for the privilege of accessing MY OWN INFORMATION!
Would it be so complicated to have all the services in the same spot, to assist in the issuance of a new passport on the same day?
Nooooo…that’d be too bloody easy and makes far too much sense.
You would much prefer to have us running all over the bloody place like chickens with our heads cut off, and then having to find some ‘high-society’ ****** to confirm that it’s really me in the goddamn photo! You know the photo… the one where we’re not allowed to smile?…you bloody morons.
Signed – An Irate Australian Citizen.
P.S. Remember what I said above about the picture, and getting someone in ‘high-society’ to confirm that it’s me?
Well, my family has been in this country since before 1820! In 1856, one of my forefathers took up arms with Peter Lalor. (You do remember the Eureka Stockade!)
I have also served in both the CMF and regular Army for something over 30 years (I went to Vietnam in 1967), and still have high security clearances. I’m also a personal friend of the president of the RSL…Lt General Peter Cosgrove sends me a Christmas card each year.
However, your rules require that I have to get someone “important” to verify who I am; you know…someone like my doctor – WHO WAS BORN AND RAISED IN BLOODY PAKISTAN!…a country where they either assassinate or hang their ex-Prime Ministers – and are suspended from
the Commonwealth and United Nations for not having the “right sort of government”..
You are all pen-pushing paper-shuffling bloody idiots!
By: Mike meteor - 8th October 2015 at 14:25
Steady, Linc! Using one’s brains is discouraged y’know.
It’s interesting that similar forms designed by those that use them, (my colleagues), have bigger boxes. Ones from central government don’t. (And please don’t start me on those occasions when even I can see that what I am saying is nonsensical….times like that are enough to give me a nervous breakdown; but rules is rules…so I am informed!). In the end I thank goodness that retirement is now but a decade away.
By: Lincoln 7 - 8th October 2015 at 12:17
Mike, Wouldn’t it be easier just to make those boxes a tadd larger?. It’s not as if there is not enough room for that to be done. Not what one would call rocket science exactly, is it ?.
Jim
Lincoln .7
By: Mike meteor - 7th October 2015 at 21:00
Not necessarily a defence of ‘jobsworths’, but those teeny boxes are scanned by a computer…..if the tick/signature infringes on the limit of the box then the computer throws up it’s hands and sulks. My own experience is in accepting DBS (what we used to call Criminal Records checks) forms. If they aren’t acceptable then the applicant has to fill in a new one and we are not supposed to do it for him/her. The office record stands at six spoiled forms before pity was taken and the form filled in on the customer’s behalf! (Me, I’m a soft touch; my humanity switch kicks in a mite sooner than that but then, in this company I would say that, wouldn’t I? ).
By: viscount - 6th October 2015 at 23:22
A slightly opposite UK Passport photo story. While teaching 16-18 year olds, I was frequently involved in helping filling-in their first Passport form and signing their photos. One girl prepared her form and photo, but waited 6 months before applying at the very last minute. The Passport Office faxed me, asking to confirm she was indeed the person on the photo – only on the fax the photo was an absolute silhouette, no facial detail at all! I did not let on I could see no detail and just faxed the passport Office confirmation (actually it was definitely her as her hair outline was so distinctive!).
By: TonyT - 6th October 2015 at 20:43
Went to Gib on a NATO travel order which is just a sheet of paper, in fact I had come from Germany where I lived on the same thing, the aircraft couldn’t get into Gib due to the weather and diverted to portugal which isn’t part of NATO lol. Luckily they were nice and let me in for the night, but the barstewards managed to get their own back, departing they managed to smash a bottle of Bacardi which had soaked through all my uniforms, unable to do anything about it I turfed up at work the next day smelling like a distillery, which was noticed in the heat lol.
By: bazv - 6th October 2015 at 17:33
Yes they are very picky about both the form and the photo !
Luckily I did a little research before applying and decided to use the post office service !
By: Scott Marlee - 6th October 2015 at 15:36
i once tried to get my first passport for a job out in afghan, filled the paperwork in, got the photos signed, referenced etc, even paid for the 1 or 3 day rush service (as the job was due to go live) got to the passport office to be told oh no, as its your first we need to know a lot of stuff about you so you need an interview..oh and your photos arent good enough, something petty like they were too much of an angle ( done at the post office on the passport photo service) all of this meant i missed the job, and they werent taking anyone else on, it was £2000 a month tax free working with the US forces handing mechanics the tools they asked for 🙁
its easier to get into the country than it is out :/
By: Creaking Door - 6th October 2015 at 12:32
What I can never understand about the tick / details / signature boxes on official forms is why, when they have a full A4 sized piece of paper, are the boxes where you are expected write so tiny and yet so much of the blank space around them is completely wasted?
By the way, when I last filled-out a passport renewal form, I found at least two spelling mistakes in the form!
By: AlanR - 6th October 2015 at 10:56
The small “TICK” boxes within the paperwork had small boxes, and all the ticks made by the applicant MUST be within the confines of these boxes,
Jim
Lincoln .7
One of the advantages of getting it checked at the post office. When we showed our completed forms to the
woman on the counter, she pointed out that my wife’s signature was just touching the edge of the box, so
advised doing it again.
By: Lincoln 7 - 6th October 2015 at 10:46
A friend of mine recently submitted his Passport Application, and it was seemingly all O.K. and pukka. Three weeks later it was returned, with a letter informing him that he had to re apply. REASON WHY…The small “TICK” boxes within the paperwork had small boxes, and all the ticks made by the applicant MUST be within the confines of these boxes, however, said friend had, very slightly gone out of the boxes whilst ticking just two said boxes, and this was the reason it was rejected.Said friend was not very happy.
Jim
Lincoln .7
By: bazv - 5th October 2015 at 19:24
Because of red tape fears – the last time I renewed my passport – I used the guaranteed acceptance service at my local post office – seemed to work out ok !
Got my new pic taken at Timpson’s LOL
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October 5, 2015 at 5:55 pm