La Voz de Galicia – June 25, 2021 →
I took the receipt and saw that I had to pay the tax in person, that there was no way of doing it at the ATM or via transfer because the official document needed the bank’s seal. I came into the bank’s office during that moment of the day when it is still allowed for humans to interact with other humans, and I went to take a number at a small machine that informed me that there were seven people ahead of me.
I sat and stared: looking at the people who waited, looking at the screen that announced turns, looking at the sole person who was serving the public…After fifteen minutes, I realized that the numbers on the screen remained the same despite the fact that some people had already gone up to the counter. The woman who was next to me asked me if I was ahead of or after her, and I told her «You go ahead first.» But ten minutes later, during which the screen did not change but other people went ahead, I responded without being asked: «Those must be the people who selected the option of being notified via phone without having to wait at the office.» And there we waited, looking at the screen, awaiting our turn.
After forty minutes, I asked whether there was someone else who could wait on those of us waiting for our number to come up. And the man, without even looking up, responded «the screen is not working; come up when you see the counter open.»
I finally reached the counter, and when I turned in the receipt, the man informed me that these oficial invoices were giving him problems, but that I could pay it at the bank next door. So I left bank X to go to bank Z, where they told me that I had to return the next day because the window of time where humans manage the invoices of other humans had already closed…Must it be this way (?).
