Fort Bragg Child & Youth Services (CYS), Another Possible Title: Why I Drink Vodka on Monday Night

I finally decided to get off my heathen behind and find a church to go to at Fort Bragg.  I've been here almost a year and never bothered, so I decided it was time.  We all know my kids never leave my side but I found a church with a nursery for Maisie to play and a little classroom for Gus to do activities.  This was kind of a big deal for me but I felt really comfortable at the church I found to do this.  And guess what?  Gus LOVED it!  He had so much fun with the other kids and told me about the songs they sang, and games they played.  I don't know what I was expecting but I thought he'd have a harder time.  As it turns out Maisie was the tough one.

So this lovely experience for Gus got me thinking that this boy would really love pre-school.  I've never really considered pre-school for him before but dang, that kid gets next to zero interaction with other kids when we're at Fort Bragg.  And he's a really social kid!  I looked up some pre-school information and found something that looked really good.

The website said "Register Now" and more information is available on their flyer.  (Don't fall for it, there actually wasn't any info on the flyer, just some fish and a phone number.)  I called the number first thing Monday morning.  Got a busy signal.  It took me about 45 minutes to get through, when I finally did I learned there were still many spots available for the 2 day/week pre-school class.  Score!!  All I then needed to do is get a copy of Gunnar's LES (pay stub, basically) and bring it in to their office and get Gus registered.  At this point I should have known it sounded too easy.

I won't bore you with the details, but it took me a good two hours to get a good copy of Gunnar's LES.  It has something to do with sharing passwords with your husband that is really far away.  But, I finally had it in hand, I loaded up the kids and headed over to the CYS office.  That place is a madhouse every time I've been there.  It's a disaster and I avoid it as much as possible.  Yesterday was no different.  I went up to the desk to sign in.  There were at least a dozen names above mine that had yet to be called, so I knew it was going to be a long wait.  The woman at the desk asked what I was registering for and I said the Part Day Pre-School program.  This is how that conversation went:

CYS Lady: "Ummm. No.  Sorry sweetie, it's full"
Me: "Are you sure?  I just called about two hours ago and spoke with a woman that said there are still available spots"
CYS Lady: "I don't know you you was talking to, but it's full"
Me: *furrowed brow*
CYS Lady: "Hold on...lemme check something"
Me: waiting waiting waiting
CYS Lady: typing typing typing
CYS Lady: "OK hold on, Imma check something else" 
CYS Lady:  gets up and leaves
Me: waiting waiting waiting
Me: waiting waiting waiting
CYS Lady: "Yeah sorry it's full"
Me: "I don't understand, it wasn't full two hours ago.  She told me to come in any time this week and it would be fine"
CYS Lady: "A lot can happen in two hours"
CYS Lady: "You can get on the wait list...if you want"
Me: "OK, I guess we can do that"
CYS Lady: "NEXT!"

I guess she was joking about the wait list part.  We left pretty frustrated.  Gus was disappointed for sure, I was just mad that every time I deal with them it's a mess.  Up to this point I've never had a positive experience with the folks in the CYS office which has led to me not involving my children in any of their programs.  I'm perhaps overly cautious about who is watching my kids but I find it really hard to trust people around here.

After we got home, I waited a few hours and called back, hoping to get on the wait list.  Here's how that conversation went:

Me: "Hi, I'd like to have my son put on the wait list for the Part Day Pre-School program"
Different CYS Lady: "Oh honey, that won't be necessary, we have plenty of spots open.  You just need to come down to the office and get him registered"

Really?!  Apparently the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing over there, or some such saying.  Eventually we did sort something out and Gus should be able to start pre-school next month.  He is super excited so I hope it actually works out.  I really hope the people running the pre-school have more of a clue than the people in charge of registration.  I don't have high hopes for that but we'll just have to see how it goes.