After our friend Jim Wilson joked about us having too much fun on our #guilleuxsinthalps adventure, I was reminded of the bias of social media to present an illusion of life. So inspired by some colleagues who share their #ifeellikeshit moments to balance their online postings of amazing moments of success, here is a post about when my less than stellar self has shown up in La Mazure.
La Banque Postale
I got a call from the bank. This call followed two in-person meetings, each which took a week to 10 days to schedule. You may be wondering what are you doing with a French bank that is taking so much work. Indeed, I am wondering as well given that I can’t remember the last time I actually stepped in an American bank. Actually Joy and I have been trying to conduct the financially complex transaction of opening a bank account!
That’s right. In order to apply to open a bank account, we have had to provide:
- Proof that I am living in France
- Proof that Joy is living in France
- Those proofs need to be signed by our land lord who lives in New Zealand
- Proof that our landlords own the house we are renting
- Official government photo identification for our landlords
- Official government photo identification for Joy and I
- Our American tax returns
- Proof of employment translated in French
At the first meeting, I learned that the documentation I provided was not sufficient because the proof of us living in La Mazure had been signed by our land lady but the electric bill she provided as proof they own the house is in her husband’s name (even though she has a hyphened last name with his last name being one of her two last names)
The second meeting I learned that Joy needed separate proof of living in the house we are renting (because you know, my wife might not be living with me when my whole family moves to another country and she is sitting next to me in the meeting).
Finally the phone call yesterday was to let me know that we could not open a bank account because our monthly paychecks are not going to be deposited in the account we want to open. At this point (actually if we are being honest here, I had already passed the frustration threshold at the past two meetings, and may have said something along the lines of “with this kind of bureaucracy, it’s no wonder France is struggling in international business”. I mentioned that both my mother currently and myself, as a kid, have had accounts at this bank and neither my mom currently because she is retired or me as a kid because, well, I was a kid, had monthly pay checks deposited in our accounts.
Somehow this did not convince her that she should change her decision, because as she told me, “her chief has rejected our application”. And there you have it! 8 weeks into our adventure we still don’t have a bank account, which means we cannot get a phone SIM card contract in our name to have a French phone! (Luckily our landlords have allowed us to join their phone plans).
Store fronts in Bourg St Maurice which hosted two stages of the Tour de France. Bourg is 20 minutes away from La Mazure and where we go for any shopping, weekly open air marché, and banking adventures. This is in low season. We are told don't even try to go on weekends during ski season!
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