Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The OK Corral at Banistmo Bank

This is a bonus blog.  2 in one day.

I have been dreading going to the bank.  We have never done the most routine banking transactions, depositing and withdrawing.  I know, this sounds rudimentary, but you try it when you don't speak the language.

I sit down at the help desk and ask the girl (yes she really was a girl.  Don't get all politically correct on me, OK) for help and she says her first lie, "yes."  A big fat lie!

Most of people I have dealt with at the bank are great, but not this girl.  I think it was the hot pink lipstick on this shrimp the tipped me off that things were not going to go well.

I ask for a printed statement of both accounts.  She says, "you must use the computer on line."  I tell her they change the damn password at random and it doesn't work. She argues with me.

Finally, I tell I will pay her to do it.  Okay.  Then she asks if I am Yella.  No.  Now we go through Round Two.  Back and forth...back and forth...finally, I pull out a big enough hammer and she relents and takes all of 15 seconds to get the reports.

Round Three.

I ask for help with the withdrawal and deposit forms.  She points to the form table.  By now, the fighting lines have been drawn.

I snip, "how the hell can I tell which one is which when I don't speak Spanish?"  She responds with something I don't understand but I do understand...you get the picture.  She begrudgingly helps me with one slip but won't budge with the other one.

A draw at best.

I stand in the counter line to try the actual transactions.  A much nicer person,  without hot pink lipstick I might add, helps and...

I did it!  Victory!  Hallelujah!  Trumpets play, the heavens open up...

Not really, but that's what it felt like.

Like I said at the end of the last blog entry, the simplest of things mastered seems like such a major victory.


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