Nightmare Scenario ... Dog Eats Owner's Passport A Week Before His Wedding In Italy
UPI -- A Boston man whose dog ate his passport just over a week before his planned wedding in Italy said he was given an emergency appointment at the Boston Passport Agency.
Donato Frattaroli and his fiancee, Magda Mazri, went to Boston City Hall on Thursday to fill out their intention of marriage forms ahead of their planned Aug. 31 wedding in Italy.
They arrived home hours later to discover their dog, Chickie, aka Chicken Cutlet, had chewed up Frattaroli's passport, with just over a week remaining until their flight on Friday.
"Our extremely cute 1.5-year-old golden retriever decided that maybe she doesn't want us to go away to get married, so she hopped up on the counter and decided my passport was a nice new toy to play with," Frattaroli told the Boston Herald.
Frattaroli and Mazri contacted the offices of Rep. Stephen Lynch and Sen. Ed Markey for help. They said both replied quickly, saying they were happy to help expedite the process.
Frattaroli was originally told the earliest he could get a passport appointment would be Thursday in Atlanta, less than one day before his flight to Italy departs, but he said Monday morning that he was able to secure an emergency appointment with the Boston Passport Office.
"The most important day of my life is coming up, I've got to make sure I'm there for it. It's almost like the 'dog ate my homework' excuse but with slightly bigger ramifications," he said.
He said he expected to leave his Monday appointment with a new passport.
Frattaroli confirmed on Facebook the situation was "all worked out."
The old excuse of my dog ate my homework became a reality for this poor slob in Boston when came back to his house to find his dog treating his passport like a ham sandwich. I'm very happy this worked out for this guy in the end and he ended up heading to the Old Country for his wedding. Ultimately the story here isn't how it worked out, my spin zone is imagining the world where it didn't and what this guy would have done to fix the situation.
I envisioned a world where this guy had to show up to the office with ripped up pieces of his passport after sifting through piles of dog shit to prove he wasn't lying. A scene right out of Marley and Me.
The other thing that hit me was that in situations like this we have to have a compassion department in this country. There should be a separate department within the Passport office that has a real person on the other end (I despise automated systems) and takes situations like this and has the authority to make a call to work things out for people who haven't done anything wrong and just got dealt a shit hand (pun intended). I get all the security clearances and safety etc but there has to be a workaround that they can get the guy a passport so he can get married. Now some ground rules… 1- you only get to use your emergency lifeline in any department like this once a year. If this guy a month from now mistakenly shreds $3000 in an envelope he thought was an old electric bill he don't get to call the Treasury office and get it back. One and Done folks. The other rule 2- If you turn out to be lying …ever on any of these calls, or make your emergency something that isn't a big deal. Example- you misplaced a phone charger and you are heading away for the weekend … JAIL.
Ultimately I'm glad it worked out for this guy, who seems like a good guy. I do think the common sense or compassion department would work across the country.