fringe benefits

nagpunta ako kaninang umaga sa INS office para magpa-biometrics capture. ang aga kong umalis, around 7:30am, kasi 9am yung appointment ko eh. ayokong ma-late, at natatakot akong ma-traffic since dadaan sa Tampa yung route ko.

true enough, natraffic nga ako. sabi sa gugel maps, 30 minutes lang ang travel but it took me an hour. buti na lang maaga ako umalis, kasi hinanap ko pa yung lugar. i got there with half an hour to spare.

pumasok na rin ako, kesa tumambay ako sa kotse. andami na agad taong naghihintay sa loob! at least 2 dozens siguro. so pumila na ko.

when it was my turn, binigyan ako ng papel na fi-fill-up-an. after i did that, the officer told me "you see that row of chairs in front, facing this way? have a seat there and wait to be called". so sunod naman ako.yung regular waiting area ay nakatalikod sa officer. so, nakaharap ako sa kanila! nakaka-conscious kasi halos lahat sila nakatingin sa akin. hehe! i smile at them when i meet their eyes, and most of them smiled back. =)

after around 8 minutes, lumapit sa akin yung nagte-take ng biometrics. ako na daw next. huwat?! hindi pa nga umiinit yung upuan ko eh. at andaming naghihintay dun sa regular waiting area. it must be my imagination, but i think those smiles faded. =P

in 5 minutes, nakapag-piano na ko (fingerprinting), they took a (surprisingly decent) pic of me, and got my signature. then i'm done. done?! that's it? 

they gave me a card to fill up, customer survey chuva. in fairness, i checked all the "Excellent" boxes. and left a very nice comment na i'm 8 months preggy and they accommodated me very well. that they made sure i didn't wait too long, and that the staff's very friendly. i even put a smiley face in there. hehe!

before i headed out the door, i walked back to the officer who told me to take that front row seat, and thanked him. he smiled back and wished me a good day.

good day indeed! ang sarap ng may fringe benefits like this. nakow, i might get used to this! *lol*