I can say officially that the year has started off great! Let me tell you why. Today at lunch, i went to the bank. Now i haven’t chronicled my adventures with the bank (Fortis Banque for the curious cats among us). It has been an experiment in torture. Until today. It’s been so excruciating, in fact, that i can’t write about. I can’t even think about it without getting knots in my stomach and my knuckles clenching and the tendonitis in my right hand flaring up like a thread of fire. No kidding. It’s been that bad.
But on monday i managed to get my bank card, a mere 5 months since i first requested it. Anyway, now that i could get to my money i went to deposit some checks in another branch at lunch today. Miraculously all the words came to me, the tellers pleasantly fulfilled my requests, even helping me fill out the deposit slip which i had never done before. And then the really great part: Next to me i notice a man struggling with another teller. I stood quietly for a moment, listening. The guy was American. He wanted to withdraw money. He hadn’t a bank card yet and this was not the branch where he opened his account. I knew instantly he was SOL. He did not. He couldn’t understand the teller, and the teller could only vaguely understand him. But i understood. Oh lawd, did i understand. I turned to him and explained the situation. His face lit up at my perfect command of english and my wealth of knowledge about french personal banking. In fact i really don’t know much, but i do know about this bank card thing. Do i ever. I explained to him how he’d have to go back the branch where he opened the account, ask for a bank card, sign a bunch of papers and pray for it to arrive before another change in currency. At the original branch he may even be able to withdraw money if the planets are aligned just so. He thanked me profusely and went off on his aggravated way. And then, get this, the bank teller smiled at me and thanked me. She smiled and thanked me. She actually smiled and then thanked me! Wow. I was practically skipping back to work. And i am *so* not kidding.
New Angeles Monthly, June 2008
Weekend America, March 30, 2008
Los Angeles Times, March 13, 2008
Los Angeles Times, March 6, 2008
Nil by Mouth is written by Neille Ilel. Neille is a writer, reporter and user interface specialist in Los Angeles. If you think that's a lot, she's also got a host of meandering sidelines including improv comedy, tennis, cooking, drawing and thinking about learning to play the guitar.
Nil is her given name. It's a long story.
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