My Favourite French Passtime...Admin

Hello All
I love it when a plan nearly comes together. 
Everything was cool we had all the papers we had all the ticks in all the right boxes we even had a room number so off I trotted to meet up with number one in Bordeaux to move his stuff into his new uni residence.
We make it to the office in Village one and yes over the first hurdle we have all the right papers. Slight stumble when we discover relevant person is in a meeting. I put on my best crestfallen face and the lovely woman behind reception says she will see if her colleague can do it for us seeing as we have come such a long way. I neglected to explain that a pasport was not actually necessary between the Dordogne and the Gironde.
We see the colleague. He checks the paperwork we hand over the cheque in anticipatiion of receiving a key. Ha ha ha. Big, nay moutainous wall in the way. The girl in the room will be there till next Thursday. Ok I thought the paperwork said the 18th but I decided a discussion was futile and who wants to annoy people who are doing things for you. However I can forsee problems next Thursday trying to collect a key the day before a holiday which is also the day before the weekend and the weekend before going back to school. Wish us luck.
The moral of the story is don't believe everything you read and the more inane the question the more necesary it is to ask it.
See you soon Helen