Barbara J. Hamby

sign-up for our email list

Service Ain’t Quite Dead Yet

Today I was dazzled and delighted by the courteous and prompt response I received from the company that will process our visas for the portion of the cruise that is in China. Of course, we are paying a fee for their assistance (probably required, since it doesn’t seem feasible to go to San Francisco or Washington, D.C. to apply for visas directly, if it’s even permitted). I had my questions on a list in front of me, as well as a copy of our itinerary. The latter was not required; as soon as I gave her our departure date and the name of our cruise line, she pulled up a visa packet for that specific trip.

Jacqueline answered all my questions patiently. She offered to send me the necessary forms by fax or email. I chose email and, by the time I walked back to my computer, the email with its attachments had arrived. I was astounded and sent her a thank-you. She can print it and show her bosses at Zierer Visa Service if she chooses. Good service is rare today, no matter how much you pay.  In fact, it’s been disappearing for a long time; I wrote a poem to that effect years ago. It seems to have fallen out of my computer. With any luck I may find a hard copy around here somewhere to restore it. Fortunately, most of my very old poems are not good enough for me to mourn their loss.