In other news:

I was driving through Boyd, TX (population 1,281) a few days ago and I got pulled over for going 57 in a 45 zone. I was literally 100 feet from the 60mph sign when the officer put his lights on. I was already past the sign by the time he pulled me over. He gave me a warning.

So, with that warning in mind I drove to Houston the next day to get my visa from the Indian Consulate. I set my cruise control and kept to the speed limit all the way there. I only nearly ran into a semi once on account of playing with the radio.

I got to the consulate without any major issues. (Except that they had changed the name of the road the Consulate was on, but I figured that out.) I got there, took some time to find the right building, the right floor, the right suite. I found the door and I read a sign that said, “Hours: 9:00 am to 12:30pm and 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm.” The time according to Mickey was approximately 2:15pm.

I walked around a little more and found the receptionist, who informed me that they only take visa applications in the morning. It’s a long drive to Houston, and I wanted my trip to have a purpose so I made my case known. She said if I was willing to pay an additional fee of $35 I could get it that day.

Fine, I was willing. So I waited until 4:00 when the office was supposed to open again.
I was still waiting, along with about 100 Indians at 4:40. Finally the window opened and it got to my turn, they told me to sit down and wait until everyone else had gone through.
(Houston traffic is a known horror this was my thought at rush hour.)

Finally, my turn again. I gave the woman my passport, my contract, my application. She said, “You must pay an extra $35 for this.”
I said, “OK”
She said, “You can only have a one year visa.”
I said, “I only want a one year visa.”
She said, “This contract only says one year.”
I said, “Okay.”
She said, “You marked five years on your application.”
I said, “No, I didn’t”
She looked at it again and said, “Oh.”
She said, “You want a business visa.”
I said, “Employment.”
She said, “You marked business.”
I said, “I wrote ‘employment’ in the blank.”
She said, “You marked business.”
I said, “I want employment, I didn’t know there was a difference and there’s not a place to mark ‘Employment’.”

She left. 10 minutes later she came back and gave me my visa. It said, “B” as in “Business.” I took it back and said, “I wanted “E.”

She said, “I asked you and asked you! You said Business!”
Someone came up behind her and asked her what was wrong (Since she was yelling at me.)
She said, “I asked her and asked her! She said Business, now she wants Employment!”

I was shocked!

Honestly I know I may have marked business, but I also wrote employment, I said, employment, the contract said employment. And maybe I’ve lived a very sheltered life, but I have never come across an Indian national as rude as this woman! (Maybe she was American who knows?)

So she took the visa back and 10 minutes later she handed me another one.

I looked at it and said, “You have the wrong dates on here.”
She said, “No, we don’t.”
I said, but the contract starts June 1. This is dated for tomorrow.
She said, “WE decided the dates.”
Then she left.

She was unhappy, I was unhappy. Good job mean Indian woman!