Banks are terrible. Their terribleness can only be found when trying to do anything, and I mean anything, out of the ordinary. Banks are perfect for the kinds of people who never want to do anything, accept random charges, and don't question service or customer satisfaction. As you most probably all know... I am not one of those people.

So I tried to apply for a credit card this week at the bank that I was "assigned" to, Lloyds TSB. I sat down with my accounts manager, and told him that I wanted to apply for a credit card. He smiled, clicked away on his PC, and returned the result (that I was almost expecting) of, "Sorry, but you don't have any credit history here in the UK. That won't really be possible."

Oh, so the cellphone contract that I've had since I got here, as well as the rental agreement that I have signed, as well as the council tax that I pay every month, and not to forget the telephone account that is also under my name... No credit history you say? He goes on further to tell me about how their systems "reset, and re-assess" customers credit every couple months, and that this would be happening near the end of August. "You could wait till then and only then we'd be able to tell you if it was possible or not."

"So, even if I threaten you with closing my account with you over this, and so many other problems that I've had with your service so far, would you be able to make a plan, other than dangling a date in the not-so-near future in front of me?"

"Apologies, Sir, but we're unable to do that sort of thing."

"Oh, I'm sorry as well. Where do I get the forms to close off my bank accounts with you?"

"On the desk over there by inquiries. The lady there will help you."

"Thanks then, I'll go and do that."

"I'm so sorry we were unable to help you today."

No you're not. If you were then we wouldn't be having this discussion. I didn't say that because I, these days, have decided to stay calm in situations like that. Rather than blurt off anger and frustrations at people who are not worth your time, you just give them exactly that... nothing, because they are not worth your time. And neither is that bank. Lloyds TSB is not worth my time. It's not going to have any of my salary any longer, and it's no longer going to house my savings account for me. It will become null and void, to me, as of the end of this month. We must *not* stand around for terrible services. We must stand up for ourselves. We must demand the service that we deserve and we must accept no less than that.

So we have a friend over at HSBC (another bank over here in the UK) and he's already tried to make me change over to them before, and this heralded in the prime oppurtunity to do just that. Not only did I get a brand spanking new account, with overdraft, within a couple of minutes. I also was given a credit card with them, no questions asked, and the most pleasant service over the phone, as well as in my meeting with Przemyslaw (He's a Polish friend of ours... you say it like "Shem-ick"). I am confident that they will provide me with the service I deserve. And, even better, and one of the reasons I was keen to move to them, is they have "counterless" branches. The branch I went into today, right in the center of Edinburgh (just 200m from where I work) is a completely counterless branch. All machines. No tellers or strange "bank" people looking at you behind thick plated glass. Just machines lined up all along the walls. You just walk up to one of them and navigate through the touch screens to do whatever you need to. You can do every single thing that you would usually need from a teller, through one of the terminals. How cool is that? What makes it even better is that because they're just terminals, there are tons of them... there are never queues really, and there are people floating around to help you out should you need anything that is a particularly strange request.

It's all good. It's geek banking heaven, really.

Jen and I are off to London town for the weekend... Leaving on Friday evening and coming back on Sunday evening. Going to go see, amongst others, Muppet (Gavin), Face (Tam) and Eyes (Brezzler). Going to be awesome!

It's hump-day-wednesday, and it's almost over!