dlenski.......

1. Yes, depending on the exact day that you went, it could have been done in as little as 4 days, generally less than 2 weeks.
2. DoS employees at heart are NOT hard workers, they are barely 9-5'ers and when dealing with the public they often are 2 day a weekers. So yes you were suckered. However having to spend 20 minutes getting through security is standard in many places and not a good excuse.
3. That special envelope would have cost you five minutes at any Canadian Post office, and has been noted above, there are a half dozen reasons that you could have used to insist that you could come and get it at the Consulate when done.
To answer your last question, if you have read through this thread you would have seen a pattern of US missions abroad trying to reduce foot traffic at their facilities, what is convenient for them is not what is convenient for you, and unfortunately you fell for it.

mordakky

1) No one on this entire thread has said that you need to stay in a country for 2 months, nor even one month, many of us have reported that one can get it back within a week at times, so you should be fine with a month.
2) No you cannot.