Monday 17 August 2009

Something has to change in Greece ....

This morning I had to go to the local tax office to get a piece of paper as proof that I had a tax number in this country. This tax number you need for everything in Greece from the cradle to the grave. Although on this occasion I cannot complain about the queues or the behaviour of the civil servants, one thing did cross my mind this morning - the number of people I engaged in obtaining what is a relatively simple piece of paper.
When entering I enquired and was told to fill in a form - which I did after being directed to another office where two clerks helped me fill in the form. Having filled this in I had then to change offices, buildings and even streets(!) to have one of their colleagues put a protocol number at the top of the form. In the meantime I had to run and photocopy my passport - althoug they had a photocopying machine in the office! I then returned to the original lady who then redirected me to the other two I had also met earlier in order to leave the office some 30 minutes later with a simple form saying I had a tax number in Greece.

No comments:

Post a Comment