Welcome to Africa

This is Spain in summer: hot, really wonderfully hot! And complicated ... only in summer it really compensates. When it's cold, there is no charm what so ever to it, nor an excuse.

Well, here in Spain "we" claim to have "the best banks in the world". Problem is, they don't work!

I have tried to deposit some money on my account yesterday, and after having been in a queue for over 30 minutes, in a bank which has received a "european award of excellence", I was so happy to be able to read this over and over again until it was my turn. Then eventually I got there, a very friendly lady was at the counter (which is not very common, at least in this part of the country), I handed over the money as do basically every month, she punched in the data and ... all of a sudden she asked me my name. I almost told her that I am married already, but didn't. So she asked me my ID ... that was when I knew it was an "official question". I told her my ID number. And then she went on about my name ... asked me how to spell it. There was something strange in the air ... our monthly ritual has been deritualized. She then asked for all the data again, shook her head slightly, and said that there seems to be something wrong with the system, asking me to come back later. So I went back an hour later, had another 30 minutes in a queue of one of the best banks in the world, and after being attended by the same friendly woman, we reached the same point. She asked me to call the "technical department", which cost me money and time ... to find out, that everything is fine with the account. I asked them whether there has been a change in the policies, they said "no". So I went back to the office of one of the best banks in the world. This time it only took me 15 minutes to be attended, by this ever friendly lady. I told her, what I had been told. She tried again with the same result, asking me to try again later or tomorrow ... as the best banks in the world are only open to the public until 14:30. That's what I call service!

So I called the technical department once more, and told them what had happened. This time (a woman) said that the system had been updated and it could be due to that, so she asked me to try again the next day.

Guess what I did first thing this morning?

... yes ... "the best banks in the world", where it is impossible to deposit cash! Today it took me 45 minutes in the queue, because in front of me there was a woman who was trying to deposit a cheque. Her problem was that her agency had been closed due to some sort of crisis that is hitting other banks all over the world, excempting the best ones, and now she has been told that her bank account did not exist. She then explained that her account did exist, but due to the shutting down of her old agency something must have changed and the bank may not have told her. Well, the end of the story was that this good woman has not been able to deposit a cheque on her own bank account. I felt an immediate sympathy for someone I would usually have not looked at with much of it. So she has been sent home with her cheque and has been asked to come back later (this sounded familiar to me). Then it was another woman's turn and then I was allowed to try again.

Well, same story again. "The system does not allow me to do anything." (But it was not the friendly woman of the day before, but this one told me that they have been with problems for cash deposits for some time.) So I called the "miraculous" technical department of the awarded bank to tell them that once again it had been impossible to deposit cash money onto my account. So I once more have been told that everything was OK with the account and that I could deposit the money. So I told them, that exactly that was the reason for my phone calls: I could NOT make a deposit on my own account with this very bank! I have been asked to go there again and to try again.

So I swallowed all my anger, waited an hour, and went back into my little hell, waited another 30 minutes in the excitig queue and finally it was my turn again. ... there she was, the friendly lady of yesterday. She recognized me and sent an "I'm so sorry smile". So there we were to try again. at the third attempt she said: "Ah, let me just try this ..." then she started punching in something, looked up and smiled at me. Then she asked "How much did you want to put in?" (In that moment her face turned into a "bank-face" to me ... she had lost all her charm and sympatghy and became just another bloody part of this corrupt and rotten system.) I told her the amount and ... then she changed again and said: "do you know what it was? ... They have changed the system. Now you have to put in the two surnames, (in Spain everybody has two surames) so I filled in the second surname with Xs and it worked ... just for you to know the next time."

So, there I stood, had put my money to the bank, feeling like a fool. I asked myself, why I had made such an effort of satisfying a bloody bank who does not give a damn for me as long as I am a client of theirs. Once I threaten to go they will start caring, but why should I want to change the bank if it's going to be the same story just with some names changed?

If these are supposed to be the best banks in the world, I don't want to know what banks in other underdeveloped countries may be like!

Spain is closer to Africa than to Brussels, that is a fact, is perfectly clear and can be confirmed on a daily basis.