Why I Pay Bills face to face

I had a tongue lashing from back home because I have an agent (my daughter) paying my bills there for me. She told me to start doing this myself now that I have internet.  She does not know what happens here even when you have internet. She is an accomplished businesswoman and mother and techno wizard.  Her mother is not. When I lived there I would take my shekels from the bank and go to another bank and pay my credit card bill. I liked the tactile experience of knowing that I had spent money, and now owed it to the nice person who had let me use credit until a certain date.  I paid everything like that. I got a piece of paper that was stamped with my payment, I went home and filed it away until the file got too big.  Daughter does not do this. She has set up online this, online that and dances through the motions of paying without batting an eye. It gave me apoplexy watching her do it.

My attitude is perfect for this part of the world. Everyone uses money, very few establishments take credit cards, and those who do are rare if they have the technology for the new 'chip' cards.  Wow, I even know about these!

Anyway, today I attempted to pay my university program online. What a nightmare.  I finally tracked down a person from the university and they are trying to figure out what happened.  I got the message that I had paid successfully, but then the screen went white and refused to move ahead to the receipt page I was promised.  What are the consequences of this?  I cannot access my program. I cannot access my classes.  I cannot access anything.  Imagine this if I was trying to do something from here to over in Canada?  At least I was able to track down a human here. But a completely different time zone - in fact a different day, means I would only reach automated systems, and the nightmare would grow.

Now I am getting behind at school. If you know me, then you know that bothers me.  I was so looking forward to starting my first assignment tonight. All ready and raring to go and I cannot get in. It's not like I was registered in a PhD in computer sciences.  Thank your lucky stars for that, people.