If no one got visa approval emails on Monday....

everyone at the consulate was too tired and nursing injuries!

here's why:
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/05/walking-all-32-miles-of-manhattans-coastline.html

Everyone wondered about the group of people with British accents outfitted in matching hats and T-shirts. They worked, it turned out, at the British consulate.

"I suggested it would be a nice thing to do," said Danny Lopez, the British consul-general in New York. And so about two dozen members of his staff, along with recruited friends and family, had gotten up at "ridiculous o'clock" to represent their country. They also brought delicious ginger cookies that one staffer called "sustaining."

I thought this was cute. Also maybe something to put on the bucket list?

That was a fun read. It is a good idea for building relationships between co-workers. I did have to laugh reading about the British accents... and people discovering they work at the British Consulate. I have called the American Embassy five times while here (due to hubby's visa for going back to the States) and questions we have), and so far I have had four different Scottish accents. I guess in my little mind I thought there might have been an American accent somewhere at the US Embassy. 

Haha, I think that in most cases, the lower-level staff (like the ones answering phones) at embassies/consulates are from the country where it's located. The higher level staff tend to be from the home country. I actually think that most of the staff processing visas in the NY consulate are probably Americans--I saw  bunch of ads for visa processing staff for the British consulate on Craigslist awhile ago.

This is an interesting read about how staffing works at US embassies and consulates: http://www.gadling.com/2012/04/25/a-traveler-in-the-foreign-service-the-world-of-foreign-service/

Thanks for that! It does make sense to have locals doing so many of the jobs. I just never thought of it that way.