3 times a charm?

Yesterday has been an incredibly frustrating day. We’ve been having a hell of a time trying to get updated doctor’s forms. Yesterday I’ve been told that the doctor has had some family issues (terminally sick mother), which I sympathize with 100%, but I just cannot understand why 2 pages that should take less than an hour to print, fill out and notarize (if the notary is in your same building, it takes less obviously), should take over a month and a half to get done. I don’t like to be pushy, and expect someone to understand our needs and just let me know if they cannot do it; then I can go elsewhere. It took a strongly worded fax cover letter to get the job done. I didn’t like doing it, and they didn’t like getting it either (trust me, it was professional, but I guess it stings when it’s true).

I had communicated all the details to them, such as what form to use, where to download from, etc. I even emailed a scanned copy of the expired certificates we had from the previous doctor so they could see what the end result needed to look like (confirmed the emails were received too). So yesterday I got a call that they completed everything and I called Lori to pick them up since she works very close to their new office. For round #1 everything was wrong (did not use the form, did not appropriately do an affidavit for the copy of the doctor’s license, gave me only one copy instead of 2). I didn’t know the certificates were wrong but when Lori described the copy of the doctor’s license, I knew it wasn’t right. So I called, explained again and they said it would be done shortly. In the meantime I had Lori fax me everything so I could check it, as now I wasn’t trusting anything. So I discovered the mistake, tried to call at 1:45pm and the phone said they were out to lunch. So I faxed the old certificates, a copy of the form and my infamous cover letter. Within 5 minutes I got a call, where they explained by prefixing with “not to be rude or anything but…” etc. And believe me, I wasn’t rude and neither were they. I hope they can understand. So for round #2 Lori picked up the certificates, faxed them to me again, and guess what? They left out our place and date of birth, our address and the patient IDs on the blood tests (and a date on one form). I never knew it was so hard to follow simple instructions and to have a go-by form to help make an almost identical copy of. How am I supposed to NOT be frustrated after waiting this long?

Anyway, I did not want to inconvenience them again so I tried to fill the rest myself since they were closed by then and I really wanted to drive to Austin to get them Apostilled and couriered today. But here’s a humorous tidbit: What task is impossible for an Architect to achieve? (note: I’m not registered yet so I can’t call myself one). The answer is….doctor handwriting! You know the scribbles I’m referring to, right? It’s doctor code :) Architects are known for their unique style of handwriting, so I wasn’t able to match the doctor’s “font”, regardless of how hard I tried. Which means they look tampered with and after some good advice from Cathy Harris, I decided to do it the right way and have them redone the third time. Hence the title of this post!

One thing that also falls under this title is the new requirement for the house description. First I did a report (see previous post) and later we found out they were not going to accept it. Then I called the County Appraisal District office and they said they couldn’t notarize or certify a property record, but they could stamp it. I got it in the mail and found out it’s not going to work either, so on the third try, I managed to speak to someone who knew their job (hurray!), asked me to drive to their office and within minutes, left with two certified copies with a nice embossed stamp. Nothing says “official” as an embossed emblem! In this case, three times was a charm.

So the doctor’s office told me they would have it ready by this afternoon, which meant there was no way I could Apostille today. And now we wait…

UPDATE: The forms are done! Had them faxed to me and they look fine. Cathy gets the final word, but I think that means 3 times is a charm!! Lori is on her way to pick them up and get back to work. She’s very busy due to Inventory right now. I always seem to be busy, although today was a gloomy day for the fact that we laid off 11 employees from our office. Sadly, seems like the magic number is 10% (cuts) in this economy. On the bright side, Monday I’m off to Austin!