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1. Embed this notice
   goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Thursday, 28-Mar-2024 02:41:11 JST goatsarah

   Trying to imagine the culture shock immigrants to the UK get when, for the first time, they encounter someone like an accountant asking for their electricity bill.

   Because, fellow Brits, I have to inform you that that's a bit weird.

   It is though.

   • Embed this notice
     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Thursday, 28-Mar-2024 05:08:25 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     • Ed Davies
     @edavies I mean, you don't NEED an ID card to solve this. In Portugal you can download a "here is this person and their details" certificate from the government's tax website.
   • Embed this notice
     Ed Davies (edavies@functional.cafe)'s status on Thursday, 28-Mar-2024 05:08:26 JST Ed Davies

     in reply to

     @goatsarah Yeah, there's a lot to be said for the lack of bureaucracy in the UK but the lack of common ID cards is questionable. They'd sure be convenient but, OTOH, the whole “papers please” attitude is not one we'd like many, including this, government to take too far.

     Meanwhile, in the US you get a “secret” password assigned at birth which you can't change [¹] and which you have to use with lots of different enterprises. And, somehow, people there don't think that's bonkers.

     [¹] Except under limited circumstances.

   • Embed this notice
     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Thursday, 28-Mar-2024 23:08:11 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     • Ozzy

     @karohemd My UK bank keeps asking me, “what’s online banking like in Portugal compared to ours?”, presumably expecting effusive praise about their app, and their face falls when I say, “it’s at least a decade ahead of anything you have”.

     So many Brits think they’re living in high tech utopia, when actually it’s backwards as hell in so many ways.

   • Embed this notice
     Ozzy (karohemd@dice.camp)'s status on Thursday, 28-Mar-2024 23:08:12 JST Ozzy

     in reply to

     @goatsarah So many culture shocks, especially with financial stuff.
     I arrived in '96 and the first thing my bank did after opening an account was to issue me a cheque book. The last time I'd seen a cheque in Germany was at least 10 years prior...
     Later that year I wanted to transfer money to someone (I can't remember the reason) so went to my bank and they told me that was only possible if they had an account with the same bank... Bank transfers had been the standard in Germany since the 60s.