cont...carte de sejour

So, this morning my French friend Monique came by and we took off for the office where I was instructed I could get the extension for my carte de sejour. We reached the place by subway in about 20 minutes and entered through the security check in. We felt lucky because there were only about 4 people waiting and a couple of employees taking care of us. When my number was called we went up to a desk where a woman looked at my card. Immediately, she pulled out a piece of paper and highlighted several numbers, my arrondissement and the actual place where I was to go for the extension...this wasn't it! So, off we went across the river to the 14th arrondissement. By then it was just after noon and guessing that most of the employees at the office would be at lunch we decided to have a bite to eat ourselves before going to the office. We chose an Italian place nearby since I could easily find something to eat vegetarian. I picked eggplant Parmesan after asking the waiter to verify there was no meat on it. After my salad the eggplant arrive and I lifted the cheese layer to discover a layer of ham...back to the kitchen it went and I ended up with a pizza margarita, no meat in sight! Monique and I got to the Prefecture's office around 1:45pm to find a mob of people waiting inside and only one attendant at a desk. I convinced Monique that I could manage on my own and to go home since it would likely be a long wait, as it indeed was. The reader board announcing the number of the next person to be served wasn't working so I had to really tune up my ears to understand who was getting called next. For those who don't know any French, the language doesn't have a particular word for numbers after 69 so they begin using a combination of numbers that add up to 70 (60+10=70, 60+11=71, 60+12=72, etc.). However, when you get to 80 it's even tougher because it becomes 4-20 (80), 4-20-10 (90), 4-20-15 (95), etc. Anyway, after 2 hours I finally got to see a person behind a desk who promptly informed me that because my carte de sejour was good through 25 May and I am not traveling outside the country until the 2 June I needed to come back after the 25 May!!! I asked, "I have to come back here and sit another couple of hours to get the paper I need?" Her responds was "mais oui" but of course....ah another day of French bureaucracy!