Spanish bankers ... nyuck, nyuck, nyuck!

Galicians are not the folks Saint Paul sent an Epistle to. They are the dumb -- fill in your favorite ethnic slur here --of the Spanish-speaking world. Saint Paul was writing to folks in Turkey. Galicians aren't exactly renouned for being the sharpest tools in the Iberian shed. Their neighbors, those sharp businessmen, the Basques, claim the Galicians are a bunch of Irish fishermen who washed up on the Bay of Biscay after getting drunk. Santander-Serfin S.A.... one of the larger banks in Mexico, isn't QUITE a Galician bank ( Santander is actually in Cantabria) but its management and staff might as well be. Our regular bill quite clearly told us to make the check out to SANDANDER, S.A. write the account number on the front of the check and deposit the check on 6 January 2005. SO... today being 6 January 2005, we made a check out to SANDANDER, S.A. , wrote the account number on the front and... This is one of the larger banking institutions in Latin America, and in the world. You'd think SOMEONE might have noticed that when they sent out their bills they'd be changing their name on 1 January... and might have communicated that information to the accounts receivable people... or, at least kept accounts open in the Santander, S.A. name... or something half-way intelligent? So, despite what the bill says, the bank can't accept a loan payment to itself. It costs money to write a check, not to mention the hassle of standing in line while you wait for the next available teller to finish her siesta. No wonder people hate the banks. Even the ones run by gringos are really run by...

Galician Bankers "We can't help it... we're morons!"