looking for a B I L L to pay

I really hate rudeness. I don't think there's any place for it- ever. Might just be one of my biggest pet peeves- why can't everyone just be nice? I'm a fan of direct communication and have no problem with directness... but, rude and condescending- no way. I've already complained about the Internet jerk we had to deal with earlier this month. Today, it was the English-speaking American at the VAT office here on base. I feel STRONGLY that anyone working in these offices dealing with people like us {who have just moved to this foreign country} should have to pass a customer-friendly test before ever being hired. Seriously, I'm sure they can see the shock and confusion in our faces all the way down the hallway- help us out. All we need is a little understanding. She would have failed my test.

Because we are living off base, we get to deal with paying our own utilities- which means dealing with  German companies and receiving coorespondence all in German. Each landlord has it set up differently- written out once you have a contract. In ours, we pay an estimated amount each month for electricity, gas and water. Thankfully, we are in a newer house and don't have to pay for oil. They read the meters, then estimate our monthly usage based on what the previous renters used. At the end of the cycle, they let you know what you've gone over {and owe} or under and pay you back. I could only hope we'd be lucky enough to overestimate our monthly payments and get the difference refunded. Pretty sure- that's not going to happen. Easy enough, not much of a difference from utilitiy bills in the states. Here's where the difference comes in to play. Germans pay a tax on everything- about 19%. That's a lot of money in tax. Makes a 7% sales tax in Kansas seem like nothing and no sales tax in Alaska heavenly. {Oh no... did I just use Alaska and heavenly in the same sentence?} Here, being an American working on the base, we get a break and can use a VAT {Value Added Tax} relief form at places that accept it to waive the tax. There is a Utility Tax Avoidance program set up, but the rules vary among utillity companies. For our electric and water, the VAT office deals directly with the companies- we just have to take our first bills in and they process it- whatever it is that they do, I still haven't figured it out. 

In our house for two months now, we finally received what looked like an electric bill. We haven't paid a dime yet for any utilities and are a bit worried since we know it's adding up. Today, I went on base to figure out where the bills are so we can pay. Isn't that crazy... having to look for a bill? Jim's dealt with them twice already, I was trying to relieve some of the burden so we could cross this off our never-ending to-do list. We were told when we arrived that many here don't pay enough monthly, then end up with a huge bill {thousands of dollars} at the end of the year {or their time here} which causes huge problems.

Back to my rude encounter... I handed her the pile of papers we had received and told her I thought there was a bill in it. She waded through it, pulled out the bill, highlighted a few things then handed it back to me. She said something about August, then our money would be paid the 15th of each month. Done. What just happened? I asked, "Would you please repeat what you just said about August?" thinking maybe she would be reminded that I'm still new and haven't really figured it out. The end of the year {reconciliation} is in August- got it. I was ready to leave, but once again asked her if I was good to go... the payment would come out. "No," she said with quite flippantly "you still have to do that." I wanted to ask her what in the world she did to help me but, I held back as difficult as it was. Come to find out, I still had to go to the bank and set up the direct withdrawl myself. Right then and there, I should have known to be finished with her but... no, I had to ask another question. Did she think 170 Euro a month {about $231 USD} was low/high/average to pay for electric. After telling her there were six in our family, I volunteered that we keep the heat pretty low- somewhere between 1 & 2 on the dial. Oh, that was it. I was officially stupid now {along with taking up her time} and she let me know. We were talking electric not gas. Lights not heat. I know that and knew it- just got them confused for a split second as I have with just about everything here!

Oh well, now to figure our propane bill and wait for a water bill. The office on base doesn't have a contract with our propane company, so we're on our own. We have a contract that we even signed... not knowing what it all says. Probably not the smartest thing to have done. To us, it's pretty much all small print... no clue what's in it. They could be taking our first-born son for all we know. Now, we just have to figure out how to pay them. We knew our garbage was added to the top of our rent, but for some reason we were still waiting for that bill until Rosa showed up about a week ago to let us know we hadn't paid it yet. Oops... made that change to our monthly rent {set up on direct payment} adding in the garbage- an additional $40 USD per month just for collection. What a headache. I'm headed in tomorrow to see if the man who did the newcomer orientation will help me out. I'm sure he'll remember me- the one crying just having to state my name and how long we are stationed here. I just looked up his email address and see his title is: Cultural Adaptation Liaison Officer. He's German but speaks very clear English- I'm pretty sure he's exactly who I need to help me figure this out. {I'll try to hold back the tears this time.} Hopefully, this is another one of those areas that we'll laugh about later. This learning curve is about killing me.