Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Grammar was fine as usual, then I went to Citibank to cash my reimbursement check..well I tried to cash it. Needless to say, it didn´t work out so well. I went in the security-laden doors and stood in line until I finally presented my check and in extremely broken Spanish I requested to exchange it in cash. (Why wasn´t I brainstorming what I would say while I was in line??) She picked it up and by her face I could immediately tell there were problems. She asked if I had an account there and when I said no she yelled across the bank to her boss to ask what she should do in this situation. He yelled back before it dawned on them to use the inter-office phone system.. duh. So they talked for 2 whole minutes about this situation in the fastest Spanish I´ve ever heard then when she hung up she looked at me and asked if everything was clear. Riiiiight.. Obviously I was confused and so to dumb it down for me she basically told me to take a hike because they couldn´t cash it. The guy behind me in line had been observing the whole thing and seeing that I was struggling, he politely asked if I had someone in Spain I trusted to cash it into their account then give me the cash. I not so politely responded that it was clearly made out to ME and that was absolutely impossible, duh. Problem 1 - The check was issued to me by Citibank, not Iberia. Why can´t they cash it? That´s ridiculous. Problem 2 - Why wouldn´t they offer to set up a temporary account for me then I could just cancel it? Even if I lost a few bucks opening it, I would still get my money which is the real issue here. Problem 3 - If I take it back to the US there´s a chance they won´t accept it since it´s a foreign check in a foreign language and there´s not even a place to endorse it! Problem 4 - If I do get things worked out and Mom and Dad take it home with them, the exchange rate, mark-up, and fees from Euros to Dollars back to Euros could very well screw me over. Problem 5 - At one point, I was guaranteed to get €350 from Iberia and even though I explicitly stated that I would like my receipts returned, neither one happened. Problem 6 (and possibly the worst of all) - When leaving the bank, I got trapped in the stupid entryway that was on some sort of lockdown. I felt like a rat in an experiment - I just looked around helplessly in this big glass case waiting for someone to rescue me. Ugh. Not a great start to what I thought would be an awesome, money-filled day.
I´m really far behind on updating my blogs so these are the random thoughts I didn´t write about:
- I found a place near Corté Inglés that makes mini napolitanas (chocolate-filled croissants). SO cute and delicious!
- I was really grouchy after that stupid bank fiasco that I went to this cute little plaza by the cathedral and chilled out for a bit. It is filled with palm trees, flowers, and lots of cafés. So pretty!
- Had a soccer game, sort of. Long story short - we got creamed. I don´t like to lose..
- Got to Skype with Mandy, Mom, and Roberta! :)
- Julia was jabbering about some of the girls she´s had stay with her in the past and she was trying to tell me the names of the ones who were from Iowa. I know who was here for the last 2-3 semesters but she didn´t understand that I probably wouldn´t know anyone older than that. She whipped out some pictures and who did I see? Abbey Tolander! Well, Maxwell now. Julia was so excited that I knew her, she was from my same town, and that I was good friends with her brother. I tried to explain how we´re loosely related but I think "my brother in law´s cousin´s wife" got a little lost in translation. Also, she told me how her family came to visit when she was here - aka she´s met Austin! What a coincidence...
