The indignity of bills

Every month the bills start trickling into the mailbox. First the Communali charges - heat, water, garbage etc. Then the phone. Followed by internet - and now, on a more sporadic schedule - the electric bill. All of these bills, are in theory to be paid by the 20th of the month. Unlike in the states, where you can pay by phone, automatic deposit, or the really ancient method of check - here you pretty much have to do it with cash.*

You can pay at any bank - but you get charged for it - sometimes as much as $5. If you don't want to pay for paying your bills you have to go to the Oshadni Bank or the Post Office. Sounds easy enough - but consider this.
1) Everyone has to pay their bills at this time and in the same way
2)No one wants to pay for paying their bills - its bad enough having to pay them
3) The same establishments also distribute all the pension and social help payments which come out at the same time as the bills. = Big lines of pensioners wanting money.

All of these factors equall HUGE lines. In order to pay our bills - it normally takes 5 tries. Just popping in and out of various banks in order to see how long the line is. If the line is longer that 10 - 15 people - I figure it is better to try another time or day. Sometimes though you just have to bite the bullet and stand in line.

A Note on Lines
Lines are never as long as they look. Normally theu are longer. People come, stand in line for a few minutes until someone comes behind them - then they ask them if they are going to stand in line and if they say yes - they leave and will later return to the line after doing whatever it is they do.

By the time you get to the front of the line - you and the people around you have been waiting about an hour. The front of the line is where all the arguments break out. Grannies pushing their way to the front, workers complaining that they are missing their lunch, or that clients are waiting - people yelling at others for cutting etc. Lets face it - they probably weren't in the best of moods when they started standing in line - and an hour of standing, pushing, shoving etc just doesn't help matters.

Back to the bills . . .
After a particuarly disheartening bill paying experience this summer - I tried to start finding ways that it wouldn't repeat itsself. (translation - Alister had to pay the next month). A friend told us really - you can wait and pay every 2 months for communalni. This sounded like a good solution because the elctric seems to becoming every two months anyway and alister found a way to pay the other bills online. (Leave it to an internet provider to create a way for you to pay online). So this month was the test - the elecric bill came and I gathered up the last two months of communalni uslugia bills and started circeling the oshadni banks. After three days - I took the plunge and entered the line.

3 people from the front - and a granny four people behind me cuts to the front of the line and starts asking people to let her in. The whole line is outraged and everyone is telling the she isn't right in what she is doing and she is indignatley saying that she is still in her place (four people behind me) even though she obviously has her money out and is trying to weasle in infront of everyone.

Finally I get to the window (1 hour and 15 minutes) (the granny is sulking on the other side of the window). I give the clerk my bills and she gives them back to me.

Blah blah blah - And I figure out that there is a problem and I can't pay them.
What's the problem?
Blah Blah Red ink blah only black or blue.
Well how am I supposed to pay my bill?
Get a new bill
Where am I supposed to get a new bill?
The same place you got that one
This one comes in my mail every month - So I wait till next month and pay three at one time?
The lady behind me - who was probably just trying to get me out of the way so she could pay her bills - asked if I could write over the bills in black. No - the clerk wouldn't accept that either. Could she white them out and then write on it. No, the clerk wouldn't accept that either.
I've stood here more than an hour, there is no way for me to get another bill, and you're saying there is no way for me to pay.
Yes.
Look, the lady behind me says, go home and white everything out -then make a photocopy and pay again.

Translation - I have to spend another hour or more standing in line after I figure out a way to make the bills payable.

Another incredibly disheartening bill paying experience. Here's hoping the internet revolution will eventually exceed to our communalni and electric bills.

*Recently, digital boxes have appeared around the city that extend the ways you pay bills - but not all bills are covered by it. For example, communalni and electric - at least for our building can only be paid at the Oshadni bank.