And I thought USCIS was a pain...

Until I tried to wire my in-China fees using Western Union!

Marc and I spent two hours yesterday standing at our local Giant Food's service desk, trying to wire money to China. The poor guy at the desk tried his best, but the higher ups at Western Union sure made it hard. We were sent home twice for "documentation" including our social security cards (which we had to fax to the unknown agent!), passports, and adoption papers. This despite my phone call to WU two days ago asking EXACTLY what I would need to bring with me (and it didn't include my social security card or passport or adoption papers...) In the end, despite everything, we were denied services. Their reason? They think we are being scammed by our adoption agency! Never mind that we faxed them our Travel Approval from the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs), approving our adoption, telling us to come get our son! I'm still wondering what the social security card was necessary for if they thought we were being scammed by our agency. I guess maybe they thought we were terrorists or something first, then after they ruled that out they went for their next best option to deny us: Protect the poor idiot consumer who can't think for himself.

If my identity is stolen, I will know where to start looking...

I was so FURIOUS. Afterwards, I called and complained and got some woman who kept asking me questions like, "Have you ever actually MET someone from your adoption agency?" (Uh... they are on the West Coast, and we are on the East Coast, so the answer is NO...) and "Have you ever called Directory Assistance to see if your agency is listed?" (Uhhh..yes, in fact I did that at the Giant so I could give your agent their phone number so you could verify that A) they really are an adoption agency and B) we are their clients, but the Western Union agent wasn't interested in calling them. Not their job.