Let's Predict the Disaster!

All right, so it’s time for another fun-filled round of Let’s Predict the Disaster! Without further ado, here’s today’s scenario:

My financial institution in the country beginning with the letter Q, an International bank, is implementing a change from ATM cards to debit cards. These debit cards have a chip in them, and are usable with a PIN for extra security. This is fine in itself, given that financial transactions seem to have a greater risk these days. In Western countries, a change in cards means that the new cards are sent by post to customers, who then destroy their old cards by cutting them up. No problem.

In the country that begins with Q, however, the banking system is supposedly built based on the Indian banking system, which is comparable to tellers sitting at desks with ledgers, writing each transaction by hand. Thus, the disaster begins:

There is a 1-month window in which existing ATM cards can be changed for the new debit cards, and after September the 30^th the old ATM cards will no longer be valid. 3 types of customers can go to their branch of account to change their cards; however, everyone else has to pitch up to a tiny card center located in the center of town, where there is no parking to be had because 4 or 5 banks decided to establish their main branches right next to one another in a single building but forgot to think about where people would park.

So, here are the disaster choices:

A. The exchange is occurring over Ramadan, a time of the year when not much gets done courtesy of reduced hours and the interchange of day and night, and the exchange timeframe is inclusive of a week-long Eid holiday.

B. The cards are undoubtedly not pre-printed, so this is when you pitch up to apply for your new debit card, NOT collect your card, meaning another trip downtown to collect them if and when they are prepared because they won’t post them and frankly who trusts the award-winning postal system anyway?

C. The cards have been pre-printed, but are sitting at Customs and cannot be cleared because the manager is not a customer of this financial institution so therefore has no personal gain or concern regarding this matter. He's tired from being up all night, every night, and is probably sleeping in his chair anyway.

D. Extra documentation is required to collect the cards, which was not reported in the advertisement so people could pre-plan before leaving work during their work hours, meaning another trip downtown.

E. The cards will not be prepared in time for the September 30^th cutoff, meaning there will be people without access to cash for at least a month while the problem is sorted.

F. The clerk in charge of deactivating ATM cards, who has been up all night every night for the last month gorging himself on food to make it through the day of fasting, misunderstood September 30^th to be September 1^st, shutting off access to cash for thousands of people. It will take 2 weeks to figure out the problem and sort it because the technicians, too, are napping before Iftar.

G. Any of these, or a combination of these, are highly, highly possible.

So which option do you choose? Did you choose G? G is the RIGHT ANSWER!!!

So how does one plan to make it around these disasters? Well, I'm thinking I had best go get some cash before pitching up to the Debit card center. I will also have a photocopy of my local ID in addition to the original, a photocopy of my passport page, and the original, and I will go as soon as possible.

Just another day in the life of an Expat.