/* My Journey to the Cloud */ http://vasia.posterous.com Random thoughts, notes I keep, things I've heard, people I've met. posterous.com Fri, 30 Sep 2011 06:20:00 -0700 Sorry, I can't accept your Greek ID! http://vasia.posterous.com/sorry-i-cant-accept-this-id http://vasia.posterous.com/sorry-i-cant-accept-this-id

Well well!

It's already been two months I'm in Sweden and a bit more than a month studying and living in Stockholm. A lot of interesting things have happened so far and I've been always in the middle of something preventing me from posting here. But today I found myself in a situation I'd like to share.

 

It's the end of the month and I rushed this morning to pay my rent on time. I asked my neighbour where she pays hers and found out that I could pay at an exchange office near my place. So, I went there and when it was my turn I gave the invoice to the employee. I asked to pay with my credit card and she asked to see my ID *. So, I gave her my Greek ID and she started looking at it, making several weird faces while trying to understand what was written on it. Then she turned at me and said:

- I'm sorry, I cannot accept this. Don't you have a passport?

Well, I do, but I didn't have it with me at the moment. I tried to explain to her that this is an EU ID and that it is valid, but she wouldn't listen. What really stroke me as odd though, was the fact that I was in a *bank* and I was trying to *pay* and the bank was *refusing my money*. I mean, it's a payment, who cares if it's me paying it or someone else? That's really the first time in my life I come across such a situation. Anyway, I got quite pissed off and went to a tobacco place next door where I payed without any problem (apart from the fact that I had to pay in cash).

 

I don't blame the girl at the exchange office for not accepting my ID. In fact, I don't even know if she had the right to do so or not. In the beginning I got really angry but I quickly realised that I do understand her. The truth is that Greek IDs are really awful. Mostly written in greek with some fields written also in latin. Easily confuses anyone. And to think that actually my ID is quite new, as I had to issue it again just last year, after losing my wallet in Barcelona.

My previous ID had all the fields -- wait for it -- handwritten!

I've never had any serious problems with my Greek ID inside Europe before (leaving UK airports apart). Usually people are just surprised by the looks of it but recognise it and accept it. They might ask where to find the date of birth or issue date but up to that.

 

The sad thing is that none of this would have happened if I had my Swedish Personal Number already. But I don't and I applied for it more than a month ago. There, at the tax office I had a similar story to share which I found funny at the moment. Not having this number not only creates problems like the one I've just described but also prevents me from opening a bank account here and therefore receiving my salary! So, apart from not being able to pay and I can't get paid either!

I don't know why it takes so long to issue this number and to be honest I am quite disappointed by the Swedish public sector bureaucracy. When visiting the tax office I couldn't but compare my experience to the one I had in Barcelona last year for the same purpose. Yes, I admit that the queue was much longer and that I had to wait for hours, then sent to another office, then pay some fee and then come back and wait in the queue again, but at least my Spanish Personal Number was issued the same day!

 

I'm just hoping I get the Swedish Number soon and not having any more similar adventures :)

 

Cheers,

V.

(note: my credit card is PIN protected and I am never asked for ID whenever I perform transactions with it)

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