Another two milestones...

Hard to believe but I finally got my Social Security Number!!! Miracles do happen I guess! Needless to say it didn't happen as easily as it should. Having applied for it mid-June, I was told to expect it at the end of July, beginning of August. When I still hadn't gotten my Social Security Card by Monday I called them up. They sent it, they said, and maybe something was wrong with my mail delivery. Either way I had to go to the Social Security office again and apply for a replacement card. That I did yesterday and guess what... I already had a number assigned but apparently they made some sort of mistake with my Visa so that they had to do the whole damn thing again. Go figure, these things only ever happen to me, I swear! The card will take another month to be done, of course!
One way or another, I at least got my SSN so I can be on my company's payroll now (meaning I can finally GET PAID!) and... *drumroll please*... I can open a bank account!!!

Needless to say, that isn't as easy as it sounds either. Not only did they want to see my passport and my SSN, they also wanted to see a utility bill, rental agreement, basically something that showed that I lived where I lived. Bloody stupid idiots didn't mention that the first time around so I got there without proof of address yesterday and wasted my time. I went back today with my rental agreement and thankfully came across a MUCH nicer lady who was much more sympathetic to my situation. When I enquired about getting a credit card too, she said I needed proof of employment for the past three months. Thankfully it didn't make any difference that I had been employed by my company only for a month here, so they did count the past almost 5 years in the UK.
That was lucky. The asshole I talked to yesterday, Rob something or other, said it wouldn't be possible. He is the kinda guy who has gel in his hair, looks like a geek with his stupid glasses and puts on the kinda fake smile that makes you wanna smash his face right in. So anyway, I felt like showing him my middle finger when I walked past his office today but I didn't... no point in annoying him now - I can always smile sweetly at him later, letting him know exactly what kind of asshole I think he is. Being condescending is one of my best skills. After working with asshole team leader for the past year, I've got that down to a T :-)

So it looks like I'm really getting sorted now - tomorrow I'm getting my IKEA furniture delivered (I'm very much expecting something to be wrong with it cause let's face it, so far nothing's been straight forward) so that should be cool. And if the weather still holds I'll be off to the beach some more on Sunday. Not sure where but I shall write about it when I get back.

Oh yeah, and on the 23rd we're having a meeting with IBM to discuss their benefits and stuff like that, and me and other Visa people are meeting with them on the 24th to discuss our "special" circumstances. So next week will be an interesting one. Which is just as well cause work is simply boring at the moment. With the whole IBM thing going on, a lot of the projects we were working on have been put on hold for now until we know further so that leaves us with a lot less to do than we'd like. I'm hoping it'll all pick up soon or I'll die of boredom.

Stay tuned for more IKEA news tomorrow ;-)