Not quite... - by Theo

Ok, so I thought I'd sorted out getting the Spanish unemployment benefit (see previous post) on Friday, but no. Of course not. In Spain it's never that simple.

I got a call from the INEM office yesterday to inform me that they couldn't pay me my benefit because our bank, Lloyds Spain, wasn't in the system. Huh? I phoned the bank and, after checking, they called me back to say yes, it's true, for some reason they aren't in the system to receive payments from the INEM office. Bizarre! I received my paternity benefit money there no problem, but that's another department.

Anyway, so I ran across the road, set up an account at Caja Madrid - blissfully straightforward - then headed back to the INEM office and did a sly bit of queue jumping and, as they say here, ya esta. So far there have been no further phonecalls, so fingers crossed that's sorted now.