Bureaucracy blitz

Today was the day, too much paperwork had been put off for too long, so I made a morning of it, a Bureaucracy Blitz.

First stop, the Ufficio Entrate (which means where the money enters never to be seen again). I picked up a number and double checked all I had to do with the Information Man.

Next stop, the tabacchi to get three marche da bollo for each of the three copies of a rental contract to register for my MIL.

Then, onward to the bank, to pay 2% of rent income for the upcoming year with the appropriate form dutifully completed.

Finally back to the Ufficio Entrate to fill out a registering form while waiting only 10 minutes (you remember the number I had picked up earlier). I held my breath as the woman behind the desk carefully reviewed the contract, asked for my marche da bollo (without looking up like a surgeon to a nurse during an operation), typed a bunch of stuff into a computer and handed the lot back, “go to the desk over there to have it stamped”. Whew! Three stamping machine blasts later, I was free. Not that bad.

Next stop the Ufficio Permessi to pick up a permit for the car. Another number and a short newspaper read before entering. My husband had given me his Carta d’Identità with a delega that morning, but the delega was not complete, “who are these people?” she asked, “there is no date and place of birth on the delega...” But then she slyly passed me a white sheet of paper and a pen, “I’ll just go over there to get the file while you see if you can find your husband in the waiting room to do another delega.” So I prepared a proper one with my husband’s signature. She returned, took the delega, check our respective Carta d’Identità and handed over the car permit.

So, it wasn’t a bad Bureaucracy Blitz day after all!

If you are wondering about why you always have to dictate your place and date of birth, think about our use of middle names – they serve the same purpose of significantly reducing the possibility of mix ups between two people with the same first and last name.

A domani,
E