One of the things we do in the Foreign Service is taking care of people visiting from Washington. It may just be someone on Temporary Duty to help out in times of personnel shortages, or someone for a conference. Or, and this happens a lot, we take care of VIPs from Washington. Whether it's the Undersecretary for Management or a Congressional Delegation (known as a CODEL) or even a visit from staffers on the hill (known as a STAFFDEL), we do our best to provide them with the best service possible so they can get their work done.
We have a visit like that this week. Can't say much about it, but it'll be in the news. We've just got to make sure we do everything right and keep everyone happy. As my boss told me earlier this year when we hosted a large conference, "As long as everyone leaves here upright and above room temperature, you'll have done a good job." Smart guy that.
Everyone in the Consulate and Embassy chips in on visits. Even if it's a small visit, we have people always concerned about security, communications, hotels, transportation and numerous other issues. Needless to say, most of that falls onto me, the Management officer.
This time we've got a few other issues that we're dealing with. Lovely English Lass is now the Community Liaison Officer at the Consulate, and will be involved in planning this as well. (Trying to set up trips for people not involved in the visit, etc.) Anyways, during the visit is the first day that Lovely Little Girl starts her new school. Crazy, right? The school expects LEL and I to come and talk to the parents and explain to them a bit about Autism, and answer any questions about LLG and the Autism Spectrum. Smack in the middle of the visit. The school is 45 minutes away from the Consulate. That is going to be a busy day with a lot of driving.
Another issue is the fact that my assistant just went on Maternity leave on Friday. We just hired her 4 months ago. (To be fair, she's been a fantastic assistant, and I would hire her again.) My HR assistant asked me after we hired her if I'd noticed she was pregnant. My response: "Unless I actually see the baby coming out, I don't assume a woman is pregnant until she tells me. It keeps me from getting punched."
This will be a fun visit to handle. Lots of things to do, but we're ready. The Local Staff are ready to help out, and really they do a lot of work. Many of you who are not a part of the State Department probably don't realize that most of our staffing in Embassies and Consulates oversees is by Local Staff members. LEL was actually a local staff member in London, which is how we met.
One last story about visits, and I'll stop. My first assignment was in Suriname. We had a visit from at that time Commander in Chief of SOUTHCOM Peter Pace. (He went on to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.) I was late to the reception at the Ambassador's residence because I was dealing with money that had to be safely locked away. As I walked up, the Ambassador introduces me like this: "General, this is Jay Parker. He's been in charge of logistics for your trip." Me: "Sir, how have you enjoyed your stay?" General (with grim look on his face): "You ought to be ashamed of yourself. I've never been more embarrassed in my life." Me: (Horrified Look on his face). General (big grin on his face): "Son, take it easy! I'm just kidding!" Me: "Sir, I fully believe Ambassadors and Generals should not have senses of humor."
Any of my foreign service friends out there have a good story about a visit?
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