proper documentation

A friend we're staying with suggested yesterday that the English are so good at depictions of dysptopian futures in books and movies like "1984," "Brave New World" and "Brazil" because of their daily experience with British bureaucracy.

After our experience trying to open a bank account, I would tend to agree. For the past two weeks, I've visited 4 different branches of Barclay's Bank and been told many different things about what type of account we're eligible for and exactly what documentation was needed. Some folks said we could get a cheque book, others that we couldn't. Some said we needed to wait until after we'd officially enrolled in school, others that we'd need a utility bill sent to our London address. On Thursday, Sergio was told he had the right information but that it needed to be on letterhead and I was told that I had all the correct documentation but that it needed to be printed on one piece of paper!!

Yesterday, a bank representative finally accepted our applications... requiring only two documents that had been in my possession since my arrival in the UK.

One doesn't want to generalize, but I think it's telling that the customer service representative who finally helped us and laid out the what we needed in a clear manner was a transplanted American. Sure, she had a plastered-on smile and a slightly overbearing manner, but she was informed, competent, and took responsibility for telling us what we needed to know.

Sigh.

Now we just have to wait for the applications to be approved. Keep your fingers crossed!!