banks

there has been chaos at work, poor communcations, angry emails, tattle-telling, which i am guilty of, has created a slew of emails raining on my mailbox.
i went to cash my traveler's check. mother's idea, i have not had more difficulty wiht the stupid thing in any other country. apparently, there is only one bank in all of moscow--sberbank--that does this. i have found this out the hard way, stopping by 4 banks to be turned away and sent somewhere else. i waited in line outside a door that conceals a window--#8--where the girl takes care of money operations. she, first, spent 5 minutes staring at it and comparing it to the one they issue. since mine was issues by my bank--chase--it has a cahse logo on it, whcih apparently confuses people, making them think the check is fraud. then, she took my passport adn for hte next 20 minutes entered information. my passport number, my address, my registration number, my height and my shoe size are now permamently circulating somewhere in russia, in triplicate. because this was taking long, an angry old man kept opening the door and asking what was taking so long? that's exactly what i wanted to know, and i told him he'd better settle this with the bank girl adn not me. he seemed unsatisfied. finally, i paid my bank fee in rubles (coming up 5 cents short, which i tried to pawn on the girl) adn got my crisp american dollars.
on the way to the bank i found a starbucks. i know this sounds incredibly american of me, but i want to go in, just for a field trip. i like walking into starbucks's's in other countries to compare. like in europe, the sizes are 4 ounces smaller, so that your tall is only 8 ounces, not 12. names are also differnet adn it's always funny to try to figure out what the hell they think a macchiato is. i ahve also discovered that the elevator in my building is shoddy. you get in on the first floor, push the floor button, and the doors close. only sometimes, nothing happens, adn after a second of complete panic, they reopen. the floor button remains lit so you have to press it again (and sometimes again) adn hope to get the damn thing finally moves. the entire elevator is really a box, about 3 by 3 feet and four adults that really really like each other can potentially fit into it. luggage and small children? forget it.
i am waiting for an alleged team meating. i am also, supposedly, having 3 interviews today, i'm not sure when, i'm not sure how,i'm not sure when i need to get up and go. these details i found out just now, from an email sent to someone else from someone else. and then people complain that i complain of poor communicaiton :(