Patience Taxed and Rewarded

On Wednesday we decided to make attempt number SIX to pay the road tax. We were low on cash and needed to use the ATM, and we had some errands to run, so we could justify making the trip to Choma.

It was 10:15 when we arrived at the bank. Our plan was for me to get cash at the ATM while David went inside and paid the tax. David waited in line for 15 minutes to get up to the window under the sign "Road tax payments accepted 10:00 - 12:30 only." The clerk behind the glass window informed him that the one person in the entire bank who could accept road tax payments "stepped out." David asked when she would return and the clerk said, "I don't know."

When he returned to the car with this news, I told him we had probably already spent more trying to pay the tax than the fine for non-payment would cost. We decided we would just continue to stop by when we were in the area, but we would not make any more special trips.

Meanwhile, I had found that the ATM was not working. The security guard said it was being repaired and to try again tomorrow. This bank has the only ATM in town. The next one is another two hours up the road toward Lusaka. It was shaping up to be another patience-inducing day in Zambia.

We ran errands and did some shopping. At 12:15 we drove by the bank on our way out of town. "One more try," David said. As we pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a line at the ATM—it was working again. I told him I would get cash while he attempted to pay the tax. We both emerged triumphantly 25 minutes later. David had paid the tax and I had cash!

The single damper on our joy is that the bank only had tax forms for one quarter. We have to start this all over again in July.