surrounded by idiocy.
Credit card statement arrived in an unsealed envelope. Looking at what I had been sent, it contained the full card number, a list of purchases, credit limit, and a whole bunch of other interesting things that any would be identity thief would no doubt find useful. Bizarre thing is I was pretty sure I'd disabled paper billing. (I get more than enough paper to recycle already). Called the card provider, who seemed to take a "meh, whatever" attitude. Cancelled the card. It's not like I used it much anyway.

Noticed my .uk bank card was expiring next month, and wondered why I hadn't been sent a new one. Tried to call them. Got an automated message telling me I couldn't call that number, and to call 611. Called 611. Apparently, for reasons I can't fathom, AT&T don't normally allow enabling dialling of international numbers until past 90 days into the contract. Complained that this was some kind of bullshit. Turns out that to get international _dialling_ (note, not roaming), I had to go through some ridiculous "interview process", where I was asked a series of dumb questions. "Are you this guy" "did you ever live here" "did you ever have a loan for $RANDOMAMOUNT with $PROVIDER". The best was the lead in to this process, where the guy (reading from a script) read out "Once initiated, this process must be completed, or you will be automatically disallowed to enable this feature". After going through this for a while, I was finally told that I had "passed the test" and I would be 'allowed' to make international calls. Thanks AT&T, you're so kind.

Finally got the ability to dial international numbers, and called the bank. Navigated my way around its "press 1 for despair" type menu system, and eventually got through to someone. Who then hung up on me. Called back and got through to a different scouser, who promised they wouldn't hang up on me, and after much rigmarole, managed to sort out that situation too.

Fun day.