Vive la difference...........
Somebody must have had a word with the folks at the Phuket immigration office, because they were polite, accommodating and couldn't do enough for me, which is totally the opposite to what I have experienced in the past.
A couple of the grumpy ones whom I recall from past days, were no longer there, and those Thai I/Os who had taken their place were politeness personified!! Yippee!
And to give the current "crew" credit, even though there were upwards of 35 people in the queue, with some of these people having completely blank pieces of paper and needing the I/O to fill them out for them, and some argumentative farangs, one Indian guy in particular who must have been here a long time because his Thai language skill was exemplary, the I/O's just kept on working and being as polite as they could – – I really couldn't believe it, such a change from my previous experiences.
Even though the I/O's were working diligently to try and deal with the long queue of people, it was tough going and things became a little chaotic at times with so many people trying to cram in the office and others being turned away because they had jumped the queue and so on.......but I got my turn and as had always been the case in the past, my paperwork was "in good working order" and I was asked to come back the next day for the passport......which I did. The whole exercise at the I/O took about two and a half hours.
On my visit the next day, there were around 50 people waiting to get re-entry permits and I don't remember ever seeing that many people before, waiting in that room, so I gleefully drove back to Patong.