irrational feelings with positive endings

well where to begin this time.

i have been meaning to update everyday for the last week now, but everyday i have had to go to the bank and deal with the joys of finances in a language i barely grasp (when it comes to financial terms at least) and apres that my body was so filled with rage that i thought it would be in everyone's best interest if i avoided my blog. BUT after almost half a month of arguing with them i finally got my way, paid off what i owed them and convinced them to remove all the extra fees and unnecessary charges they had applied. however, i have STILL yet to receive the reimbursements that THEY have owed ME since november... oh how i wish i could charge them interest as easily as they charge me.

top four ridiculous things the joke of a bank, BNP, have told me:
1. "sorry, we're a bank, we can't accept payment by credit card or cheques, only by cash." (shouldn't a bank be able to receive money in any form, isn't that the point of a bank, to deal with money in various ways??)
2. "if you can make it in on monday, i will take care of everything for you and remove all of the charges" (oh geez, thanks bitch, nice to find out when i showed up that the bank is CLOSED every monday, fuck you and your family)
3. "oh, you want to deposit your cash? sorry, its 13h30, we only accept deposits until 12 noon, even though we're open from 9h-18h." (what exactly do they do at the bank for six hours if they aren't processing the reimbursements they owe me NOR are they accepting deposits?)
4. teller: "you want to pay off everything in your account to the penny?"
me: "oui"
teller: "but that's not possible, if your account is zero the bank will think you want to close it and we will automatically close it"
me: "what! why?"
teller: "why not?"
me: "that is NOT a real response"
teller: "oui"
(this is seriously the stupidity i have to deal with when i go to the bank. so needless to say i paid off my account + 1centime. so that i can continue to have a "functioning" account)

anyway, now that i no longer owe them anything i can joyfully go in everyday demanding why they haven't processed the money they owe me (even though everytime i ask "someone is on holiday and it will be done by the end of the month") and continue to piss them off as much as they pissed me off. oh how i love the french administration services :)

SPEAKING of french bureaucracy, i also had the pleasure of going back to the prefecture this week to find out why, after 5 months of waiting, i have still yet to receive my carte de sejour. when i went in december, before christmas break, they explained that there was "un petit problem" but it wasn't serious, (although they failed to contact me and mention that i had to return to the prefecture to sign a few things to apply again) but now that i had returned i should receive this infamous card within two months time. i explained that in a month my visa would expire, but apparently that's okay and as a canadian citizen i can chill here for three months as a "tourist". fine. well now that my three months is coming to an end and i'm on the verge of becoming vraiment illegal, i decided it was time for another visit. upon arrival, i had the pleasure of waiting in an overheated, body odor induced room, for a good hour or so. once i finally made it to the front of the line the pleasent lady informed me that my card is in fact ready! and it has been waiting there for almost a month now. HOWEVER, she can not give it to me, as i haven't passed my medical exam yet. i explain as kindly as possible that this is because they haven't sent me my appointment yet, and this is what i am waiting on. at this point, she did what all french associations do. shrugged her shoulders and gave me a pathetic, "meh, not my problem. ofii deals with that. you'll have to go to their office and deal with them".
so march on over to the ofii office, where they are closed for the hour and a half lunch break. wait, wait and wait some more. to finally find out that they haven't sent me my appointment because they have no idea who i am, they have zero records of me and this is all "very bizarre". i'm about to completely lose it, so they explain to me not to fret, head home and they will contact me soon with more information. i give them a strong warning that they have two weeks to contact me or else i will be back feeling even more irrational.
i think i have finally managed to express my sheer anger to the french though, because about 2 hours after leaving the office i received a call from the ofii office explaining that the prefecture had forgotten to send my file along, and they were sending it now and ofii would have it in a week and would call me with the date of my medical exam. (marvelous isn't it? how they just conveniently forget to pass things on? no wonder nothing ever gets done in this country!)
THANKFULLY, i received a phone call this evening, letting me know that my medical exam is scheduled for next tuesday. so as long as i don't manage to aquire tuberculosis in the next week, i should (finally) officially be legal in this country! WOOHOO!

i believe that is all for my irrational feelings for this week. and i feel like this rage filled post is long enough. and that, although i have had a great week aside from all this i think i should end this post here and start a new with the glorious details of my last week! i promise the prochaine post will be much more contente :)

until next time, gros bise