The Foreign Service Journal, January 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY 2013 25 one receives the orders (or at least knows when and where one is going), the better. As many people know all too well, traveling with pets has become a nightmare. Some of the airlines we are obliged to use because of city pairs and Fly America provisions are the most egregious in applying a new fee schedule under which having the animal travel as accompanied baggage in the hold is almost as expensive as having it travel in cargo—which is the most costly category of all. It is true that employees can use a professional pet shipper to circumvent these limitations, since those companies are not required to comply with city-pair contracts or Fly America. But understandably, people want their pets with them and will go to great inconvenience and expense to bring them along, which can cause enormous stress and low morale. People also complain about the lack of flexibility in having access to goods in storage when they discover they have to stay in Washington much longer than anticipated. For example, a new employee might arrive in the winter for short-term training, only to learn that he or she will actually be at FSI through the summer. Such individuals would like to be able to put the winter clothes into storage and retrieve their summer ones, but this generally is not possible. Be Patient No matter how hard you try to make the transfer process go smoothly, remember that bureaucracies generally function slowly and imperfectly. Some parts of the Department of State function more efficiently than others. Some employees know a lot more than others, and some people care a great deal more than others. You can also expect to get different answers from different people to the same question. More often than not, replies to requests seem to be a function of the individual’s personality. People who are generous and helpful will try to use regulations to make things happen. People who are negative and uninter- ested will use regulations to prevent things from happening. Sometimes the mechanics function very well. At other times, one has to accept that they will not. If employees regale you with horror stories, be prepared to evaluate the source and to keep things in perspective. When, despite your best efforts, the system just is not func- tioning properly, ask yourself whether the many good things about the Foreign Service outweigh these sometimes unpleasant realities. I suspect most of us would readily choose the Foreign Service, frustrations and all. n