Visiting the unemployment agency AMS

AMS is one of the many Amts (state agencies). A wise Austrian once explained to me that "on the happy fun scale of 1 - 10, where 10 is being a space tourist and 1 is visiting marine boot camp, visiting any Amt (state agency) rates about a -5."  It is in fact a way of saving the state money by hoping people will just stay away instead ;)

Here's how not to visit your local AMS office:

1. Visit the wrong Amt.
   
   I admit I should have looked it up first. I went to the same office I went to last time when I was unemployed for a month 6 years ago. So I get there and there are approximately eleventy billion people waiting in front of me. The lines are so long, you have to take a ticket. (you'll understand the emphasis here later)
   
   Remove sunglasses, insert fork. One hilarious woman came in after me and asked if I thought she'd need to buy a parking ticket, or if the 10 minutes grace period would be enough. :-D
   
   After the length of a bible, my turn is up! Woo! First things first - name and address.   Wait - you live in Andritz? Sorry, you're at the wrong Amt! Argh. OK, thank you.
   
2. Visit the right Amt, but do it wrong...
   
   By taking a ticket like at the other Amt. Awesome, there's almost nobody in line! I get right in. I sit down and the agent asks for my form. Slightly confused, I explain I just arrived. Agent informs me that you're not allowed to just take a ticket, you have to get a form from the information desk!  OOOOOOhhhkay.
   
   Goto front desk, there was only about 6 people waiting - great! Clerk 1 hands me a form to fill out. I realize the form makes no sense (it asked me to describe job offerings that I'd want to apply for). I fill out about half and go back to desk and get the other clerk. Clerk 2 looks at it and asks me in an annoyed tone why on earth would I fill out that form. I point accusingly at Clerk 1, who hurriedly leans over and says she just gave me any old form to fill out to keep me busy because it was soooo stressful having 6 people waiting in line! >:-x (that's me swearing on the inside) I was proud of the fact that I managed to stay polite since I actually need something from these people.
   
   Let's skip to the part where I fill out the correct form and get an appointment to see my assigned Betreuer (agent assigned to my case).
3. Talk to your assigned Betreuer, who is not actually the correct Betreuer.
   
   Betreuer asks standard personal information questions. Wait - you have university degrees? You're at the wrong Betreuer! .... loooossssing willlll to liiiivvvveeee.....
   
   But I'll consider naming my first-born after this guy because he was at least able to set me up a meeting with the partner group who reviews business plans and decides if you are allowed to enter the Gründerprogramm "business start-up program". He even wished me lots of luck to boot.
   
   Yeeeesss! Q'apla!

So here's hoping things go better for you on your next visit. Or maybe you just decided never to quit your job, lol.

But things are now officially rolling! Wednesday is the big day where I get to hand in my business plan for review. Woo! Wish me luck!