Paying the Gas Bill

Even though Mexico has been hit by inflation like the rest of the world, and even though Mexico City is more expensive than most of the country, the cost of living here is more affordable than back in Ohio (which is not an especially expensive state).

Case in point, my gas bill for January...

 

That's 155 pesos, not dollars.  It comes to about nine dollars in U.S. currency.  Back in Ohio, in the depths of winter, I would be paying well over one hundred dollars on my gas bill.  Even in the summer when the furnace isn't running, my bill would be more than that.

While that bill was very easy on the budget, paying that measly nine dollars was a bit of a pain.  The gas company's account is with BBVA, formerly Bancomer, Mexico's largest bank.  I took the bill and the exact change to the BBVA branch just a couple blocks away at the World Trade Center.  When you enter, you are given a number, and you sit down and wait your turn.  There is a screen which tells you which teller to go to, and it also tells you which numbers will be served next.  There were probably a dozen people who were already waiting their turn, and it seemed that everyone at the tellers' windows were doing major transactions that took forever.  I sat there for about twenty minutes, and my number had still not appeared on the screen.  When somebody (who must have been "special") was led to a window out of turn, I got up, threw my number in the trash, and left.  

I went next door to Scotiabank.  I figured I might have to pay a small commission, but it was better than waiting forever.  You don't take a number there, and there is never a line of more than one or two people.  I went immediately up to the teller.  He told me that I couldn't pay the bill there.  I had to go to BBVA.  I asked him if I could pay it at OXXO.  OXXO is a chain of convenience stores, and most utility bills can be paid there for a small commission.  He said, "Probably."  

So I went to the nearest OXXO.  It seems as if there's an OXXO on every block, so it was a quick trip to the nearest one.  The clerk looked at the bill, and said that they don't accept payment from that gas company.  

I was not going to go back to the same branch of BBVA.  So I went across Insurgentes Avenue to a different branch.  I got my number at the door, and I noticed that there were not many people waiting.  I barely had a chance to sit down when my number came up on the screen.  Finally, after nearly an hour of wandering from one place to another, my bill was paid.  Now I know which BBVA branch to go to when I need to pay the gas bill.