Hate

At the finish line of the Panama Marathon / Half Marathon

I just recently had my first incredibly frustrating "I HATE Panama" moment. Here's what happened: Our cooperativa keeps most of our cash in a larger bank so when someone wants to make a large withdrawal we have to go take it out first. Although this is definitely not part of my job I went to get the money out because the associate needed it in a hurry and our treasurer was busy. I arrived perspiring slightly from the normal 80° degree weather and was greeted by a fresh burst of air conditioning. I was immediately stopped by the security guard who told me I could not enter because I was wearing shorts. Panama in general is fairly formal and I usually wear pants when I have any official business to do but I'd never heard of not being able to enter a building because of my attire. Besides the sign out front said to avoid wearing shorts, sandals, etc, not that it was completely prohibited.

Me and my crew about to storm the bank

Slightly perturbed I explained that it was my first time coming to the bank but that I needed to make a withdrawal and would not be able to go home and put on pants. He got a teller to come meet me at the door who reiterated that I could not enter with shorts and motioned me to come outside. Standing outside the door now I gave him the deposit slip, my ID and he went back inside. To be honest it wasn't the hottest day so I stood patiently hoping he would return quickly with the cash. After a few minutes he came back saying he needed 2 signatures on the withdrawal slip even though the COOP treasurer had assured me that only one of the signatures on the account was necessary. I told him that and he went back in to see what he could do. Getting hotter and more annoyed now I considered asking if I could wait inside but decided to wait it out. When he came back outside again telling me there was nothing he could do because the manager wasn't there I really almost blew it. I told him I wanted to speak to whoever was in charge, and I wanted to wait inside because it was hot. He said I couldn't because I was wearing shorts but asked me if I wanted a cup of coffee, I said I didn't want any coffee I wanted to wait inside, that I was a client and wanted to speak to whoever was in charge. At this point he deferred to the security guard who is apparently his superior at the bank who said I couldn't come in. At this point I could feel the cool air tantalizing me from inside through the half open door and considered just going in, but I could tell by the security guards face the confrontation would have gotten physical.

Me and the boys about to pop bottles at the club

That was about the climax of the confrontation, the guy came back out without letting me speak to the manager saying I needed two signatures and I walked away cursing them in English. When I got back to town I let my COOP members know that I was pissed, that I would not be going back to that bank, and that the treasurer would have to deal with deposits and withdrawals from now on (as it should be). I suppose I should be glad that I've been here for over a year now and this is the first incident that got me truly angry. Also I'll be heading here (see below) in a few weeks so I guess I have plenty of things to be happy about.