>“Lo siento Señor, pero no está facturada todavía.”
Chileans are creatures of rules and procedures. A bill has to be paid after the computer system emits a piece of paper assigning an amount due to you, which is in turn hand delivered by private courier to your home. But you may not pay the bill early. And if you try to pay it early, you are likely to get the response noted above. Plus you will likely cause confusion and distress to the Chilean clerk who will not understand why you would ever want to pay a bill a day or two early. Paying late they understand; but not early!
In fact, if you try to pay early, the clerk will be befuddled or mystified. They will not even be able to tell you what the amount due will be tomorrow (if tomorrow is facturación day) so that you can write a check and leave it with your wife to pay. No such luck. The amount due is a mystery to them. And remember in Chile all bills have to be paid by going to a bill pay center or the business that generated the bill, unless you happen to have an online service through your checking account (but, unfortunately, something less than 100% of bills can be paid online).
So if you catch yourself going into a place to pay early, that is to say before you get a bill, remember what I told you in this blog entry. Then grin and bear it, walk away and be amused. It is so much more healthy to keep yourself amused than to get irritated. And you probably needed something else to put on your to do list for tomorrow anyway!
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