I think that most of you have heard my complaint that the weather in Italy right now? SUCKS! Ok, today it’s great and Saturday was nice too (hey I got my first sunburn, that means something right?). Frankly though, it’s almost freaking June and I am still getting laughed at for wearing flip flops and rained out of my adventures.
Maybe I’m over-reacting since in the last three days I’ve spent more good, sunny days than bad but it’s not funny anymore. I mean it’s really almost June, what shoes I am going to wear shouldn’t be the concern of my day. It should be more like what am I going to see today!
Anyway, all in all it was yet another great weekend Under the Tuscan… rainshine.
That said, I’ll have to say that I have fallen from my pedestal where I preach about the joy behind the inconveniences of living in Italy.
Bank of America has finally caught on that I am still abroad and blocked my debit card… honestly, it’s nice that they did that for me so that I can avoid people spending loads of Euro overseas without my permission. The problem? It’s me trying to spend the Euros!! This isn’t so bad since I FINALLY (after 4 months) received my first paycheck, so I would rather spend that money since I will have to get it in cash anyway. But don’t be fooled, it’s not so simple (little did I know). I headed to the bank this afternoon to be a big girl and speak Italian and handle something with no help, here’s the result:
I arrived and once I figured how to get inside the bank, literally it’s like being decompressed returning from space or something, I walked in and there was no line. Ok, so I approached the counter and the man began helping me. Then a woman sitting behind me said something along the lines of “excuse me, but what is your number?”. What? I quickly realized that, like everything else in Italy, you must grab a number and be called!! I apologized to the woman and the teller, both of whom were very nice and didn’t seem to mind at all and stepped back to get a number. I can’t appreciate nice people enough, I don’t know why some people have to be jerks when someone makes a mistake or is new in a place. All it took was a simple question and she was able to take her rightful turn, easy and no ones feelings are hurt.
Then it was my turn again and I asked a new teller if I can cash my check (or something like that, but she understood). She said okay, then ran all around the bank asking people questions in Italian. Finally, I was asked who issued my check and leave it to Berlitz not to put their own company name on their paycheck. I explained and they said okay again, then did some more running around. Finally she made a long explanation that I didn’t understand then simply told me that I need to bring my Tax Code to prove I was a resident.
There was one more hour before the bank closed so I ran home and gathered my information as well as the receipt for my Permesso (permit to stay) and some things from Berlitz (although again, they didn’t give me anything official stating I was working for them) and ran back to the bank. I arrived with 25 minutes to spare and no line. As my number was called, a woman who I assume was the manager called me aside and explained in broken English that the bank was not doing anymore transactions today. C’mon, 25 minutes and I have all the documents! Ugh. Another day penniless for me… or three because I don’t have free time again until Thursday. I am pretty sure they just didn’t want to deal with me anymore. I honestly don’t need them to speak in English, just simplify the Italian a little!! Better luck for Thursday, I hope.
Oh and, the BOA “toll-free” customer service, is not only NOT toll-free it’s not easy to use. So, that’s what I am spending the next 30 minutes doing. I hope I can soon get back to my attitude of easily dealing with the LITTLE inconveniences of living abroad. I’ll keep you posted.
