I'm sorry for mainly using my blog to vent these days. I really should be posting more happy things.. I dunno why I'm not. Maybe its because the things that bother me keep festering until I get everything off my chest and then have people validate it that I'm not crazy for getting so upset. I dunno... At any rate, my apologies for the following angry rant.
Where I last left off, my immigration woes had reached a climax. Here's the update. I've been able to figure out exactly what happened to my green card.
I was raking my brain trying to pinpoint where everything went wrong. Then it was like a giant light bulb went on in my head. The stupid zip code... When I first got here received a letter stating that everything was approved and to expect my card in this amount of time, blah blah blah. However, on that paper, they had the zip code of my address all wrong. They had flip flopped two numbers. I called them immediately and for that corrected. I received another letter confirming the correction.
Once I remembered all this, I went through my stack of immigration papers and realized that by the time I had caught that error it was too late. The green card had already been created and sent out with the wrong zip code. After talking to the people at the post office and waiting an extra day for the tracking number information to be retrieved from 'the archives' I was told that the package with my card was sent to this podunk little town an hour away from Colorado Springs because that's where this incorrect zip code told them to go to. Since my address clearly didn't exist there, they sent it back to where it came from and was received on January 3.
This whole ordeal was doomed before it even started. It was clearly immigration's fault since they entered five little numbers in the wrong order. I have all the papers to prove I gave them the correct information in the first place so they couldn't place the blame on me.
With renewed hope, I called the blasted immigration "Customer Service" line again to explain the situation that I figured out all by my lonesome.
It was like talking to a brick wall.
"Please file form I-90 to replace your lost green card as our records clearly indicate we have not received your card back in the mail."
I told them that I had the proof from the postal service that it was returned on Jan 3 but I got the same response. They have no record of it coming back to them. But I know the postal service isn't bs-ing me because I can pull up the tracking information online myself. But none of that mattered. They stood by what they said. Their computers didn't tell them what I was telling them.
I eventually got transferred to the unreliable tracking number people because I was told there might be a second tracking number issued if in fact it was received and remailed.....
NOPE.
After being dismissed by the immigration people I called back all fired up and this time wasted no time talking to the initial customer service person and ask for the tracking number people again. I explain everything all over again. This time, the person said he'd have people look for it and I should have it by April 10... Skeptically I said thank you and ended the call. April 10 came and went and guess what. Nothing but lies.
I've asked people what to do because clearly taking to someone about it does jack squat. I know exactly what happened and nobody is willing to own up to it and actually help me. I've been too frustrated to even think about this these last few days. However... Lately things seem to happen where everything that could go wrong does, and I can only take so much before I snap. I think I'm pretty much at that point now and its not because of anything that happened with immigration. I haven't reached out to them since this last guy bold face lied to me. I'm at my breaking point because of a stupid hair straightener.
A couple years ago I got a fancy CHI straightener from my parents for Christmas. It had lived its life and it was time to replace it. I checked on Amazon.com and found a brand new replacement for a huge discount. I ordered it and received it in a really short amount of time so I was very happy. I've had it for less than two weeks and it already crapped out on me. Some connection inside came.loose because now the only way it stays on is if I jam the cord into it. The thing doesn't stay on on its own. Less than two weeks. Seriously??? It took all the self control I had to not throw that thing into the wall... I emailed the person I got it from and I'm hoping with all I have left that I won't have to buy another one. Otherwise I'd end up spending more than one costs at a beauty supply store. Ugh...
But because of this, I'm spent. I'm tired of fighting. Part of me wants to just throw in the towel. Don't right the supplier for the straightener. Just fork up the money. Don't fight for the green card. Just fork up the money. I don't have any fight left in me. It's obvious nobody at immigration gives a crap to actually assist anyone. Even if I were to photocopy 30 or 40 pages worth of paperwork and send it to them, who's to say it'll amount to anything because who knows if they'll actually even look at it. It'll probably get tossed into some pile not any different from the pile that my returned green card got thrown into. So I'm stuck. I don't feel strong enough to fight anymore. Or do I just fork out the cash and forever hold a grudge against this whole process. I couldn't even get my social security card without having to reapply for it because it didn't get sent the first time.
But then, if you're like my mom, you'll be saying that I should just go back to Canada. They're not any better. I'm getting ripped off of two months worth of parental benefits because they forgot to switch me over from my maternity benefits when those ended. Apparently I can only be in their system for how ever many weeks. So because I was in their system and it took them that long to fix it once I noticed I wasn't getting paid and it wasn't just because they were late, the consequence is that I'm losing out on a significant chuck of change that I was otherwise entitled to.
So its obvious that nobody is perfect, but come on... This is beyond ridiculous. I must have a target on my back or something. I feel like the only thing I can do now is cave..
