Working Authorization

Well, it was two weeks ago now. I decided to go check up on my file at the Prefecture in hopes that it was close to finished. It was a Thursday afternoon and I arrived at the Prefecture around 2pm with the usual 50 people waiting (99% Arab and Algerian and 1% white). There are 3 windows that you can approach and for some bizarre reason everyone goes to the first window nearest the door. This is good for me since I am beginning to know well the queue at the Prefecture. I immediately headed to the 2nd window where the line was much shorter. After waiting about 30 minutes I reached the window. I asked the man behind the window in my best French if he could tell me what stage my file is at and if it would be finished before the end of the month because my job is dependent on me receiving this authorization before the end of the month. He took my passport typed in the some numbers on the computer and nothing came up so he told me that it had not been started yet. In fact, he told me that they were 7 weeks behind and still working on cases filed in December. So I left the Prefecture thinking I am screwed!!! I will not receive my papers in time and I will have to tell the company who has been waiting for 3 months now that I will not be able to work for them. AHHHHH!!!
I immediately went home and told Valerie about the predicament. She said she would try to call the Prefecture and get some info. I told her we should go back in person tomorrow so she could talk to them. I knew that she would ask better questions than me since I am still in the infancy of the French language. We decided that the best thing to do was to try and get the Prefecture to write some kind of letter stating that my file was in the process so I could give the company some notice. We knew this was a long shot but at the time our only shot.
The next morning she contacted the Prefecture. They told her that they were behind on processing files so she asked about the possibility of a letter stating the file was in the process. They said there was nothing they could do. She also asked about the possibility of speeding up the process and they told her that she would need to speak to the Chef de Service (boss). He apparently, has all the control.
So, back to the Prefecture we went. At the Prefecture we talked to the same guy and he said to Valerie the exact same thing he said to me. However, Valerie threw out the name of the Chef de Service and he said you can go upstairs to talk to him but, unfortunately, he is on vacation. But Of Course..........!!!! Anyway, he said we could at least talk to the underlings to see if they could help.
We have been to the Prefecture several times stating the same case and not once have we been told about an upstairs. Upstairs we went. Once upstairs we took a number and sat for another 30 minutes. When we were called we went into a small room where a lady sat. Valerie quickly explained our case to the lady. The lady then said let me go find your file and see what the situation is. As she left with my passport in hand she passed by another lady in the office and said, hey he is from the US. The other lady said really? She immediately got up and came over the window to tell us about her recent trip to Florida and how much she loved it!! She even told us that she was taking Country Western dancing and preceded to show us her cowboy boots. Needless, to say we were both laughing.
The lady who was helping us came back with NOOO file in hand and said she couldn't find my file. She asked, "Did you mail it in?" We said, "No, we turned it in downstairs." She was actually dumbfounded. She turned to the other lady and said my file was actually lost in the transition from downstairs to upstairs. Valerie and I turned to each other and once again that dreaded feeling washed over me. So the lady asked if we could fill out a file right now. We said we could however, we didn't have all the documents required. Then she asked what documents do you have so we gave her everything we could produce. Luckily it was most of the documents required aside from 3 passport photos and a proof of living together. Valerie said to the lady that we could comeback Monday. Per typical of the French she would be on vacation so she said no, we will complete this today. She told me to go downstairs and make some passport photos and then come right back up to her. Within 10 minutes I returned and within another 10 minutes Valerie and I were walking out of the Prefecture with the Working Authorization in hand.
Fricken Crazy!!! France is truly about speaking to the right person. If you come one day and get the wrong person just return another day and hope to speak with the right person.