Pumpkin's rant of the day: Passports

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Recently, I applied for passports for myself and Mini. No problem with mine other than the inconvenience of having to go for an interview and trying to find to local (23 miles away) passport office). I had a letter back regarding Mini's application which said something along the lines that they couldn't scan it properly and I had to fill in another one, and send it along with new photos (even though there was nothing wrong with the photos). So, after inconveniencing the friend who had counter-signed, which was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing to get things done, I sent off the new application. I then had messages saying the passport was on its way. It turned up today with the original photo I'd sent. So now I'm annoyed ans confused. I'm confused as to why they asked me to re-do the application when it clearly wasn't necessary. I'm annoyed more for the friend who counter-signed because I know he doesn't like doing it, and it turns out he actually didn't need to do it all a second time. Apart from wanting to go abroad, I had decided to get passports for ID. It's surprising hiw difficult it is to do anything without a passport. It used to be that you could use a driving license OR a passport but now, even if you have a driving license, you still need a shed-load of supporting documents to prove your existence. I need a passport to prove I can work in this country - that would be the country I've never been out of and, therefore, have never needesd a passport. Anyway, I'm glad we now have them. As much of a pain as it has been in getting them, there are far worse things, and it will surely save a lot of hassle in future. Have you ever had such an experience? Being asked to do things that turned out to be entirely unnecessary? Or had problems getting jobs or services because you've not had one document?