bureaucracy

I'm getting a little tired of not knowing where or if I'll be going into the PC, as nothing's official yet. My recruiter, who no longer works for PC, told me I wouldn't know anything definite until September at the earliest to November at the latest. No big deal. But I have a letter telling me I've been cleared by one office, while my online status is still on hold with that department. A few weeks ago I called a placement officer just to make sure that my file wasn't sitting unattended and she said she'd leave a note for the guy in charge of my program and he'd get back to me in 1-2 weeks. He never called. And it's nearly the end of September.

So I today I called a recruiter to see what s/he thought I should do--call Office A or Office B or just wait. Normally I wouldn't be this impatient with something like this, but if for whatever reason this doesn't work out, I'd like to apply for doctorate programs, so I don't spend another year of my life making Grande Non-Fat No-Whip White Mochas. Well, the recruiter (I never did get her name) basically chewed me out and didn't want to understand that I wasn't frustrated because I hadn't been placed/"invited"; rather, I wanted some confirmation that my file wasn't lost somewhere in the office mail room and was in process in some way. She kept telling me that I should use this as a lesson in patience and understand that I'll have fewer resources when I'm serving abroad. What does that even mean? She called my actions (in calling the placement officer) "infuriating" and kept asking me why I called that office and why I didn't call the other office. When I tried to explain myself, I was interrupting her: "How am I going to help you if you aren't listening to what I'm saying?" I wanted to ask her the same question: How are you going to help me if you're not listening to what I'm asking? I was frustrated to the point of tears, and I still don't know if I should be pro active in inquiring why I have a letter telling me one thing and my online application status saying another (isn't fixing problems/figuring out solutions part of what it takes to be a PCV?) or if I should just let everything happen as it will and trust that they know what's what (because patience is necessary for a PCV).

As for the recruiter, I'll take your advice and tweak it some. My conversation with you made me feel about two inches tall. I don't know that I've ever been treated so badly, rudely, and unprofessionally. So I will use our conversation to help toughen my skin a bit and prepare me for PC service.