I received a letter in the mail yesterday from my American credit card company, Visa, where I have been a customer for over 30 years. The letter thanked me for my address change and yet was addressed to what they listed as my "old" address (which happens to be the correct one). The "new" address listed was some street address in North Dakota of which I have never even heard.
How did this come about? You may very well ask.
While in the States I called Visa in order to pay a bill by phone. This went great until they asked for my billing address. When I gave it, the computer program the girl helping me online was using rejected it, because I do not have the only kind of zip, or postal code, which it recognizes as such: five numbers, or five-dash-four. As I have so often experienced in dealing with American firms, their programs are set up ONLY FOR AMERICA, even though their customers (just how large is Visa?!) are scattered all over the globe.
The only thing I can figure is that in order to get my phone payment to work, the girl bypassed the program requirements by making a temporary address change long enough to get it to go through, and the letter was automatically generated as a result. But I can't know that, can I? Now I have to call the company again at my own expense from Austria to make sure that's what happened, and to make sure they have my actual proper address registered so I can continue to get my bills. Thank God for skype, is all I can say; otherwise this would cost me a bundle. As it is, the only cost is my time and patience.
Hello?? North DAKOTA??!
But it's not just Visa. It's been a snag almost any time I try to order online from the States, even from large, supposedly international companies. Many of these companies even have the word "international" in their names. This essentially seems to mean they want to sell their goods to people from other nations, but without accommodating those very customers.
Surely there are military people stationed all over the world who get their bills at a foreign address, although it is an American credit card? What's their solution-- or does the PX solve it for them? How hard can it be to find some computer geek who could change the program to reflect most of the rest of the known world? The same goes for telephone numbers: often, only an American one will do.
This means I have to essentially lie, claiming indirectly that I do live in the States and give my sister's address or telephone number to satisfy the inadequate system.
"International", now there's a word. There are others.
My European friends like to poke gentle fun at the names Americans give things: such as the "World Series" in baseball, which encompasses-- you guessed it-- North America. Last time I looked, that was hardly the world. It would be fitting to call such a thing, at the very most, the North American Series, though I admit that doesn't have much of a ring; and in the USA, a name must excite enthusiasm! A World Series in football, however-- and by that I mean what (only) Americans call "soccer"-- would and regularly does wipe Americans out.
For ten years I worked in tandem with a ministry which has "global" in its name. The idea was that it would have global impact, and it has indeed ministered in one way or another pretty much across the globe. But when, after many years' working with them, I assumed "global" also meant we should learn some cultural sensitivity and fit our US-style ministry to the cultures we were serving, suggesting ways we could do that, I was in for a rude awakening. Here "global" meant: we will do everything just as we do it in the US, thank you very much; we will just do it in other places.
To me, that simply doesn't reflect a global (or even international) philosophy.
I realize I have a certain point of view formed largely by having left my home culture 30 years ago, living in Austria and traveling extensively to other nations in the course of my work. And I can't expect people to have that same worldview who have either never left home, or left it only briefly for what my former husband used to call "American missions tourism": 7 to 10 days ministering in (granted) a foreign culture, but using your own language (with translators), within the context of a team from your own country, sleeping in posh Western-style hotels each night, all the time knowing you will return to your American creature comforts afterward. Don't get me wrong, these trips are great as far as they go and I'd recommend the experience to anyone, but that is "ministry", not "missions"!
However, I did erroneously think the opinion of someone who has had my experience might have carried more weight. *sigh*
It's easy to America-bash; from what's represented on TV and in the news, a European almost has to conclude it's a dark and dangerous place filled with either rapist/slashers and/or fat Walmart fast-food couch potatoes. That's another reason I need to go back and visit regularly, because (not denying the others exist) America is filled much more with lots and lots of friendly, normal "just folks" who only want a quiet life. And when there, these are the people you're most likely to encounter, because... they're everywhere. Not what you'd conclude from Hollywood, action shows or even TV sitcoms; just regular people living regular lives, most of them with relatively healthy values and blessed with a good dose of humor.
And even if I am overwhelmed by the 24/7 lifestyle, I admit it's very convenient. And though I'm admittedly allergic to TV-style religion, I'm not allergic to the people who attend churches which reflect that. And though I don't want to live there any more, I understand why people from all over the world have precisely that as their goal. I am, after all, American. And European. And a Kingdom citizen. And that's enough identity crisis for one post!
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