and then there's Canada

thanks a million sheila. i mean it.

sheila is the personal banking assistant at the chemong and wolsely branch of the royal bank (of canada) in peterborough, and i just got off the phone with her. she just made it onto my christmas card list.

not only did she call me by name, answer my questions, give me the advice i needed, and give me the direct line to the branch so that next time i call i can bypass the "if you need to change your address, press one"-bullshit, but she also made me feel like i had just gotten a warm hug from Canada. my mom said thank you in person the next time she was into the bank. sheila was thrilled.

and then there's barclay's:

in a shocking turn of events, since i last posted about my issues with banking in the UK, having just tried for a second time to get online banking capabilities, i have received a letter from simon (whom i'm pretty sure doesn't exist) at barclay's bank saying that i must hold an accout with barclay's to gain access to said account online. it is exactly the same letter i got the first time i tried to get online banking. i'd like to meet the people requesting access to an imaginary bank account.
it's all taken on quite a humourous quality, really. but then again, it's 11 pm and i'm just leaving my desk to go home for the night.