Adventures in Passporting

Recently, I've had to get a new passport as ten years had past since I got my last one. Naturally, the U.S. Government wants you to have a new, up-to-date photograph. I would rather take the photo at home, but with the U.S. Government's stringent rules of photo size, head placement, background color, etc., I'd rather get one from someplace that does passport photos regularly. Getting one, though, was quite the challenge for me, unlike it was 10 years ago.

After completing the paperwork that I picked up at the Post Office, I first attempted to get my photo taken at a Rite Aid Pharmacy late one Sunday morning. No customers were in the store yet (it was a church-going day, you know). I walked over to the photo department and looked around for someone. The clerk at the store registers came over and asked if I needed help. I asked about a passport photo. He said that they do do them...but the photo department person hasn't arrived yet. "They're supposed to be here...but they're not yet. I don't know where they are," he said. Fine. I left and figured I'd swing by another time.

The next day, I went to another Rite Aid on my lunch hour, near my job. Lo and behold, someone was working behind the counter (a plus!) and I noticed a sign about passport photos (another plus!). Despite the sign, I asked her if they did passport photos there. She made a face and said honestly, "Yes, we do...but they've been getting rejected due to the lighting in here." I see. I question as to why they don't remedy that situation (doesn't Rite Aid stock lightbulbs?) and leave.

The next day, I'm leaving work and I get a call from a friend who's heard about my woes. He says that a co-worker of his just had their passport photo taken at a different Rite Aid and didn't have any problems. On my way home from work, I swung by there. Mind you, this is a new Rite Aid and is one of the swankier areas of the city. I go inside and see NOBODY behind the photo counter. There's only a customer standing there...patiently waiting. I stand behind him, figuring he knows what he's doing. "I've been here half an hour," he says. "Nobody's come?" I ask him. "No." I look around the store. There's NOBODY working inside there except for a very elderly woman behind one of the main registers, and she has a line of five people. I leave...

...and go to the nearby Walgreens. I walk up to the photo counter and see three customers...waiting. And NOBODY behind the counter.

A week later, on the way home from work, I decide to try another Walgreens. Naturally, a man is waiting at the photo counter and there's NOBODY manning the post. I ask him if he's been waiting long. He says that he has been there a little while. I decide to wait a minute or two with him. The woman at the front register with three customers in line asks for help over the P.A. system. Out of the nearby store office come (very slowly) two personnel. One, a manager, the other, a beauty specialist (according to her nametag) who must work in the cosmetics area of the store. Seeing that there are people waiting at the photo counter (imagine that?), the manager (a man) tells the beauty specialist (we'll call her Pearl) to go behind there while he attends the front register. The customer in front of me tells Pearl that he just needs something hanging behind the counter (I, on the other hand, would have reached back and grabbed it myself, after my many experiences with many stores' photo personnel). Pearls hands him the items and moves on to me. I tell her that I want to get a passport photo (I've already read that they offer it on their signage). "Oh, well, you'll have to wait until he comes back," she politely says, pointing at the manager over at the register. "Of course I do," I state. Behind me other people have come to drop off their photos for developing. Naturally, Pearl is clueless how to do it. Why the manager didn't recommend SHE go over to the register and HE work the photo counter, I'll never know. Scratch that: I do. It's called NOT THINKING. And, sadly, too many people in customer service jobs today follow that philosophy.

Just then, Naomi, another Walgreens employee, walks by. "Oh, here's Naomi. She works in the photo department. After she clocks in, she can help you." Oh good, I think. Naturally, Naomi walks slow, takes her time clocking in, taking off her jacket, etc. She pulls out a digital camera and snaps a photo of me. I'm halfway there! Then she goes over to the customer photo machine (where you can do your own prints) and loads the photo into it. (Couldn't I have done that? What level of professional passport photo taking is this?) Because that apparently seems to be the ONLY photo machine working (what's that big machine in the back?) and someone is printing 200 photos on it, I stand there waiting for my photo's turn to be printed. I wait about 20 minutes longer than the 10 minutes I've already been there. By this time, Pearl, Naomi, and the Manager are all behind the photo counter, pretty much doing nothing, as we all wait for the last of the 200 photos to spit out. Mine finally prints and I'm on my way. Now I just have to hope that their lighting was good...