The postman rang our doorbell today, asking for someone to sign a receipt for a certified letter. I trust I'm not the only one who gets the shivers when certified letters knock on the door: it's rarely good news.
It appears I'm in trouble: when I moved from my house in Milano three years ago, something must have slipped through the cracks, and I didn't receive, or noticed, the final settlement for the gas bill. The gas company is now going after me, threatening litigation and other bad stuff if I don't get my act together and pay the whopping sum of 5.28EUR. They are generous enough to provide me with a two days to find the monies, then they will send the hitman or try to find a way to have me pay my dues.
So, let's see:
- According to the Italian Postal Service website, a certified letter costs 2.80EUR, plus 0.60EUR for the certified notice, so 3.40EUR total.
- The only way to pay the sum is by showing up at a post office. Nevermind the utter waste of time, the Italian Post will shave me 1EUR for letting me go through a painful queue and hand them my precious, hard-earned money. So much for e-commerce, credit cards and modern payment methods.
Am I the only one thinking there is something horribly wrong here?
I was once chased by Her Majesty’s Inland Revenue for £0.00 …
OK, you win.
Did you pay?
This is not horrible it’s simply Italian.
If you count the time an employ lost sending the letter the gas company spent more that what they get back from you.