I.D. card saga: episode III

No, it's not the Revenge of the Sith. (muhhhihhiiih...are you proud of us, Peter?) It's only mom's 3rd visit to the police station. Suffice it to say, it's not going to be the last one.

SO! Per Fulbright coordinator's advice, mom decided to proceed with her American Passport. With a printed copy of a Bulgarian newspaper where it is specifically stated that Fulbrighters are exempt from Bulgarian residence tax, and all the documents, she entered the station full of confidence. Naive little thing. First, they send her to pay the fee (apparently Fulbrighters are exempt from taxes, but not from fees). The cashier decides to take a 15 minute break so the watchdog shoos mom and Vasco away (employee whose only job seems to be exactly that). 15 minutes later, he lets them in. The 10 leva fee ends up being 13 leva with taxes (again, apparently these are a different type of taxes). Ok. With receipt in hand, mom goes back to the not-so-nice lady who doesn't speak English (or maybe she does, but hides it well. Did anyone say something about the French?). It's finally time to go through the list.

New application form for U.S. citizens? Check.
Contract translation? Check.
Passport copies? Check.
Printout of Fulbright agreement on tax exemption? Check.
Landlord's affidavit? Check.

Oops. The affidavit is for a person who is identified by a GREEK passport. No, that won't do. They need a new affidavit, notarized of course. And no, it's not enough that mom is standing right there with both U.S. and Greek passports and it's clear that it's the one and the same person. Nope.

Have I mentioned how stupid humans are? Well, just in case, let me reiterate: Miserable two-legged beings who, having lost their sensitivity to intense smells, invented bureaucracy to fill the gap. It's just pathetic.

To be continued...