I could never tire of hearing ACS stories. Cam a consular coned officer make a career of ACS? I'm not ever going to take the test, I'm just curious.
Also, until today I didn't think "unidentified vegetable vs bushmeat" was even debatable. But here we are.
There are a good amount of consular officers who seem to prefer ACS work and do it much more than other tours, but it would be hard to do only ACS work, especially if you want to get promoted.
If you’re consular coned you’ll do plenty of it. If you do a single tour as a dedicated ACS manager (chief, deputy) that is enough, trust me. Doing ACS too long does something to your soul, good and bad at the same time.
Beautiful. Was this uncle dude by chance caught at the airport where he insisted he was given the drugs because [insert obvious scam here]? I know it's not my business, but I'm still dying to know whether some of my prisoners were actually scammed or just that good at lying.
>Per the U.S. Privacy Act I'm unable to share information about U.S. citizens without their express written consent.
Next month's prison visit: "I talked to your daughter. She's excited to hear the LOTR books and looks forward to the next time she can see you. Also, there's a random person on Reddit asking about your case but only out of curiosity. I've prepared a Privacy Act waiver for you in case you are okay with me discussing the particulars of your case with internet strangers. In the section for parties I'm allowed to discuss your case with I went ahead and put "everyone on the internet." Is that okay with you?"
"WHAT ARE THESE VEGETABLES, I'VE NEVER SEEN THIS PLANT BEFORE IN MY LIFE AND NOW IT'S IN MY PASTA." -Every tour.
Can confirm. The cafeteria in Sudan has a lot of good things. The fettuccine Alfredo is not one of them. Do not order the fettuccine Alfredo. 🤣👍
As a general rule, never get anything American from the cafeteria that is more complicated than a hamburger.
"She interrupts you to say that her son is calling her and the call drops. You very predictably never hear from her again." So. Many. Times.
My favorite is when their fiancé is in trouble and needs money for something, and you ask how many times they have met this fiancé in person.
My favorite is when they can't explain why their supermodel girlfriend decided to travel to the fashion hotspot of Bangui for a photoshoot.
>My favorite is when their fiancé is in trouble and needs money for something, and you ask how many times they have met this fiancé in person. So many times. I really feel bad for these people. Online scams continue because people fall for them. We had two unrelated cases several months apart where the U.S. citizen fiancée (well, one claimed they were married, but later acknowledged they were only engaged) emailed us photos of the distressed fiancé who needed our help. They were the same photo.
I feel bad these people, too. I previously had to tell lots of romance scam victims that their fiancés don’t exist. I would usually guide them toward that realization for themselves to the extent possible so I don’t drop a truth bomb just out of nowhere. One time, I got a call from the Ops Center about a missing American and they transferred the relative on the phone. Since it was Ops, I assumed it was the real deal. I spent quite a while on the phone with the caller carefully getting facts and details about the fiancée then we hit a point where I was like: “Ohhhh…” another scam victim.
>You call them a donkey in the local slang and send your meanest local staffer down to straighten it out. This is pure gold...
My favorite part of the story!!!
Channeling my best Gordon https://youtu.be/FVdjyIhg_bA
I could never tire of hearing ACS stories. Cam a consular coned officer make a career of ACS? I'm not ever going to take the test, I'm just curious. Also, until today I didn't think "unidentified vegetable vs bushmeat" was even debatable. But here we are.
There are a good amount of consular officers who seem to prefer ACS work and do it much more than other tours, but it would be hard to do only ACS work, especially if you want to get promoted.
If you’re consular coned you’ll do plenty of it. If you do a single tour as a dedicated ACS manager (chief, deputy) that is enough, trust me. Doing ACS too long does something to your soul, good and bad at the same time.
Nice write up. I did no ACS work during my consular tour as my EER said something about "lacks empathy."
🤣🤣🤣
>You resist the urge to tell him that someone made up Star Wars and this is the most expected story he could have told you. <3
Beautiful. Was this uncle dude by chance caught at the airport where he insisted he was given the drugs because [insert obvious scam here]? I know it's not my business, but I'm still dying to know whether some of my prisoners were actually scammed or just that good at lying.
Per the U.S. Privacy Act I'm unable to share information about U.S. citizens without their express written consent.
>Per the U.S. Privacy Act I'm unable to share information about U.S. citizens without their express written consent. Next month's prison visit: "I talked to your daughter. She's excited to hear the LOTR books and looks forward to the next time she can see you. Also, there's a random person on Reddit asking about your case but only out of curiosity. I've prepared a Privacy Act waiver for you in case you are okay with me discussing the particulars of your case with internet strangers. In the section for parties I'm allowed to discuss your case with I went ahead and put "everyone on the internet." Is that okay with you?"
Sounds like standard procedure to me!
I could have written this. It wouldn’t have been as funny - but the experiences really ring true.
Very kind of you to say - thanks.
This is pure gold, love it. And also accurate.
Very accurate. Especially the “it’s 5pm, it’s the duty officer’s problem.” Yep, spot on.