With some technical support, I can do this
Using online client tech is not really difficult; me and my various banks have got this figured out, and we have for several years now. In sharp contrast, our federal government has a system that seems to be a study in user frustration. It’s all about jumping through the hoops to prove your identity; as if someone wants to impersonate me and pay my tax bill. I get it, their programmers need a challenge or two, and when you have a postal system, and walk-in centres and modems, stirring madly will create a system for the eons. If you fail to use the system regularly, you can test the model all over again.
Anyhow, when I received a mailed-to-me paper cheque for a new benefits payment, I realized that the “direct deposit” model would be just lovely, going forward. I checked the help file (online), determined my bank account information (using another online help file) and then phoned the number provided on the government website. Give credit to the agent: when asking me if I realized I could just log in to their user system and handle these details, I feigned ignorance and proclaimed, “I do now!” The agent accepted my moment of attempted humour, and we carried on. Short version, my cheque will never be mailed to me again.
At some point over the last day or so, I seem to have bruised one of my Achilles tendons. Enough to turn walking around the house into a challenge, and to make sitting in a chair for very long into something painful (the foot resting on the floor, etc.) Please, make it stop! Let’s end the year on a note of unchallenged mobility.
