Knightsbridge

So I had quite the adventure trying to get my bank account set up today.

The company from which I'm renting my room, LondonUp!, was supposed to help me set up a bank account at Barclays - which would have been convenient, there's a Barclay's branch right outside my tube stop and obviously its a huge bank with branches just about everywhere. Unfortunately, however, their pace in doing this has been glacially slow and it got to the point at which I simply could not wait any longer. And by "I simply could not wait any longer" I don't mean that I was simply oi waiting this long (though I was), I mean that I physically ran out of cash and did not have any way of obtaining food or tube tickets without a bank account (Banks here require that you have an account before they will change traveler's checks into pounds and my US debit cards simply aren't working). Indeed, my dinner last night was half-stale snack mix that I had purchased just before getting on the airplane in San Francisco on Saturday.

So yeah, I needed a bank account.

I showed up at my local Barclay's at 10a.m. with a very clear, simple plan for the day: I would get an account at Barclays, then go to a store and buy an Oyster card, then go down to campus to have lunch someplace downtown and either study LSAT or just hang out in the computer room at the library (possibly both) and investigate train/airplane fares to Paris, then at 5:00 or so I would head over to the Empire Casino to watch the £10k HU event at the World Series of Poker Europe.

Things did not go so smoothly.

First, the teller at Barclay's told me that if I wanted to open an account, I would have to go to the Knightsbridge branch. Why? I have no idea. Given my money troubles this posed a serious problem for me, particularly after she informed me that they could not change a traveler's check unless I had an account (again, I have no idea why...they simply rape you on the exchange rate, seems like they'd want to change as much money as possible...). Thankfully, she did tell me that the post office a ways down the street would change traveler's checks and so, after a nice 5 minute walk and 20 minute wait in line, I had converted $50 into £29.24 and was on my way back to the tube and the Knightsbridge Barclays.

Side note: Any time anyone is yammering on about how government services should be privatized because the private sector is sooo much better and more efficient, please just point them to the UK Post Office and then tell them to stfu. The UK Post Office is a completely private organization (As far as I can tell...its possible that they receive subsidies of some sort, not that subsidies disqualify a business from calling itself "private" lol) and is apparently no more efficient than any USPS office I've been to, and on top of that they don't even pick up mail from each house (again, that's as far as I can tell. They definitely do not pick up mail from my house or any other in my neighborhood). So yeah, less service for a higher price. Well done, private sector.

I arrived in Knightsbridge after about 30 minutes in the tube system, at least 10 of which was spent walking between lines on transfers. I was immediately struck by the Burberry store directly across the street from the tube exit; first, by its sheer size (it was the size of the average Sears in the US) and second by the enourmous posters papering its windows...none of which featured Emma Watson!!! wtf kind of rigged bullshit is this? oi Burberry.

Anyhow, the Barclay's branch turned out to be a fair ways down the street just past Harrod's (more on Harrod's later). I walked into the office (ultramodern, very nice) and told the woman at the desk that I'd been told to come here to set up a student account and asked who I might speak to about that. In return, I received a long spiel in the most incomprehensible accent I have ever encountered. I believe she told me that they could not be able to accept any more accounts until November, but this makes no sense, so really who knows what she said? The general gist, though, was that I would not be able to open an account with them. Ugh.

I spent the next hour walking up and down the main drag of Knightsbridge looking for a big bank with which I could open an account. I got into a meeting with someone at HSBC and it seemed I might be able to open an account there, but when he discovered I would be leaving the UK in December, he said there was nothing he could do and sent me on my way. Eventually, around noon, I found a Lloyd's TBC and made an appointment to come back and talk to their account services guy at 2.

I spent the bulk of the intervening time in Harrod's. For anyone who has not heard of it or who hasn't been there, let me just say that this place is AMAZING. Absolutely positively the most fascinating store I've ever been to. In fact, I will say that everyone should put a visit to Harrod's on their bucket list. Do not die without having been there. It's that incredible. I'd describe everything I saw there, but I'd have to go on for pages. Its just phenomenal. Go sometime.

Unfortunately, the food at Harrod's - much like the clothing and electronics and furniture and everything else you could possibly need or want - is much too expensive for my budget, so I ducked out after an hour and a half or so and ran to the Starbuck's across the street for lunch and LSAT studying.

My appointment at Lloyd's did not start off particularly well. First, I wound up waiting around in the lobby for the guy I was supposed to be meeting for a solid half hour...I'm learning that punctuality isn't the most important thing in this country. Next, there was a moment of panic after the account services guy, Mohammed, discovered that I would be leaving the UK in December and, like his counterpart at HSBC, left the room to ask a superior if he could offer me an account. I was already devising plans to head back to Strand where I'd hopefully find a bank more used to short-term students when he came back and told me that everything was OK and I could open an account there. As it turned out, Mohammed was an excellent accounts rep, very knowledgeable, very thorough, very concerned with making sure that I was satisfied with what he was saying and informed about all of my options. Great customer service experience. Before too long, I had opened my account and was out of the office purchasing my new cell phone! The whole ordeal took several hours and untold more hours off the back end of my life from the stress of it all, but in the end I have an account, I have a phone and I am happy. Throw in my time at Harrod's and this has been quite a good day indeed.

And now, I'm off to the Empire! Hopefully they allow railers, that would suck really hard if they didn't. Actually, I think I'll see if I can check that online before I get there.

Cheers!
Tom

edit: ugh, it seems they do allow railers (or at least I don't see anything saying that they don't) but they do have a dress code which I don't think I quite meet right now and I don't really want to go back to my room, change, and then head back out. Oh well, I'll go watch when the Main Event starts up.