Well, now that things locally have calmed down with regard to Covid, it is time to start tackling things once again that have been sitting on the sidelines.
One of those things was arranging to get some straggling bills paid automatically.
With each paper bill comes a receipt that one has to truck down to either a bank or to the post office, which is also a bank here in Italy. "Banco Posta." The upside of using the post office as a bank is that they are literally everywhere. The downside is that their website pretty much stinks. It has a habit of "going down" frequently, that is.
And, online banking here is not quite the same as in the US. It is a bit more convoluted, not intuitive and therefore more difficult to maneuver. Want to add a payee for a one time only payment? You have to go to "transfers." ???? Want to add a payee for recurrent payments to be made automatically? NO can do. Nope. No way.
To accomplish that feat, you have to go in person to the post office. You must have a little document that also comes with each bill. This document asks for bank information, address, etc. It asks for this information more than once, which I don't understand. Regardless, I filled out two of these little buggers, one for the infrequent water bill and another for the once a month internet bill.
I have had unpleasant experiences in the past trying to get this mysterious and complicated task done. That is because there is a mysteriously unpleasant person at the post office and this person is the one in charge of activating automatic debits from accounts.
This time I came with back-up...my Italian teacher. Off we went to the post office, fully expecting to encounter Oscar the Grouch and somehow muddle through. I am not quite sure how it happened or why, but we were directed to go to a clerk instead.
That nice lady was nervous, the post office director was standing over her shoulder. She said, "I've never done this before." Well, of course you haven't done it before...it isn't YOUR JOB!!! Oscar G. was in his private office doing nothing with no one.
She took my little documents, my passport, my codice fiscale (the Italian social security number) my Permesso di Soggiorno and my "citizen ID" card. I wondered if I needed to pump my fist in case they wanted blood. She tapped away at the computer and finally asked me to insert my bank card into the thingamajig and something printed out. All was returned to me, including the little documents, and then she said that it would all goes to you-know-who.....Mr. Grouch himself! Should we wait? No....all done. Arrivederci. Ok.....not sure what happened, but it happened. We were done.
Forty-five minutes later my phone rang. "Pronto." She spoke rapidly and all I understood was "Mi capsici?" which means "Do you understand me?" Hahahaha. No. I do not understand. Oy vey. So, she spoke more slowly and the gist was that I had to come back on Monday and 10 am. Why was yet another mystery. I texted my teacher who said it was no problem for her to be there.
I got up early. Since retiring, I am NOT a morning person. I loathe getting up early. Got up, fed the clowns (7 cats) and suddenly it was time to go, without having had tea and feeling rather grouchy myself. It's also very hot. The good news was that in the morning it was cloudy, so at the very least, the blistering sun was not shining down. Nevertheless, I had worked up a nice sweat when I got there and the line was out the door. Not a surprise on a Monday morning. People here, as everywhere else, can get their noses WAY out of whack if it appears you are trying to jump the line. So, I kept repeating to everyone that I had an appointment. Luckily, they believed me. Perhaps the envelope I held containing every piece of documentation and identification I possess persuaded them.
Aaaaannnnddd, there he was. Good old Oscar. I stood at his doorway and he looked at me with no expression whatsoever. He didn't say a word. So, I repeated yet again that I had an appointment and with his eyes he motioned me to the chair.
There used to be a regular desk in here, but now there is smaller, round desk and, of course, there is a plexiglass barrier due to the pandemic. However, the smaller, round desk with the barrier makes it impossible to put anything down. I had to start finding my documents, codice, passport and ID's in my lap. Didn't I do all this on Friday? Why, yes!! Yes, I did!!! But here I was, being asked to produce everything all over again. Deja vu, anyone??
My teacher arrived, so I knew he couldn't pull too much nonsense with her around.
So, yes, he took everything once again that I had given the nice lady before. After typing and printing and typing some more, he handed everything back. I put it all away because no one wants to lose their passport or an Italian identity card. Then he asked for my codice and ID card again. Alright, I'm freaking fuming now, none of this is easy in my damned lap. You KNOW it all fell to the floor, don't you?? Finally, I have to sign on the little computer screen that is impossible to see because the recessed lights in the ceiling shine directly on to the screen. Alrighty then!!! Is it done?
Well, the water bill was done. Supposedly. Hopefully. We'll find out at some later date. And the internet? "Oh, we can't do that." But WHY??? Some code is wrong, some code on the little document provided by the internet company itself is wrong and does not work, too bad, so sad.
My teacher pressed a bit more and he actually tried to enter the information. Nothing. Did he call the internet company to get a correct code? Don't be silly. We were done. Toodles.
I asked my teacher what had we accomplished on Friday? She said, "We accomplished having him accomplish it today." Except it's still only half done.
To be continued......sometime......I don't know when, it's a mystery.
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