Welcome to Poland: Banking Made Simple

But of course, Warsaw isn’t all fun and games. Sometimes the simplest of transactions here involve a great deal of red tape that make a westerner’s mind boggle. Case in point: a couple of weeks ago I went to a major bank in downtown Warsaw to purchase a money order, which one would think would be a fairly straightforward transaction. Well, think again. Basically, here’s the trajectory of the fiscal folly that ensued.

First of all, I had to fill out this form (in Polish of course) indicating the name of the payee, my name, and of course, the amount. I had to present the form, along with my passport, to a teller at a specially designated counter within the bank. After the teller reviewed the completed form, I was given a print-out which I had to present to another teller, to whom I paid the amount (U.S. dollars for the money order, and the money order fee in Polish szloty). Once this was done, I was given another print-out, a receipt, which indicated that I had paid the required fees. I now had to go back to the first teller I’d dealt with, and present this form showing I’d paid. Now I was told that the money order would be ready in a couple of hours and that I should return at a certain time (4pm in my case) to pick it up, as someone in authority had to review and authorize the issuing of said money order. I was given another piece of paper that I would have to present, along with my passport or other acceptable form of identification, in order to pick up my money order once it was ready.

Well, I returned the next morning just after 9am, opening time, and collected my money order and went straight to the post office in order to mail it. But first I had to take a number, even though there wasn’t anyone in line at the post office. Welcome to Poland.