# I received my FM3 today!



## conorkilleen (Apr 28, 2010)

For those of you that have been following my journey over the last 6 months I just wanted to let you know that I am now LEGAL! well...to work and pay taxes here anyway. We entered on the 15th of March and after some small issues with my daughters FMM, we finally have our No Immigrant (FM3)cards. It was a painless because we had an immigration attorney here in MTY help us with the process. I think if I had to do it myself it may have been a little different.

Life has been good over the last 3 weeks. Food is good, fresh, and inexpensive. Learned quick about the "cash society" and adapted. Bank Of America has a no fee ATM agreement with Santander and guess what, there is one about 3 blocks from my house. 

On the downside I have learned that Monterrey is not a very service oriented city. I must say that a good portion of the customer service that works here has either an ego problem or a don't give a cr#p attitude. We signed up for Cablevison internet/cable/telephone service on the 18th of March. They said they would install in 15 days. We had to call them to find out that they would install on April 1st. Hooray! Well they never showed up and didn't give an explanation why. So they told us that they would install yesterday..well they guy came, pulled into the driveway, looked at me, then pulled out and sped off down the street? We called the office to ask what the heck was going on and then they proceeded to tell us that we live too high up on the hill to install cable....well why didn't the guy get out of his car and tell us that? He looked right at me standing in the doorway. We had to go down to the local Cablevision office and cancel the contract and get our installation deposit back...then they said they would not give me the money back we paid up front for the installation. Well, I did not agree out and asked for the manager. Once he saw the ****** that could speak better Spanish than the customer service lady, he agreed to give me my money back in 30 days...its "policy" he said. "But the lady at the window said we lost out on the installation deposit and could not get it back?". He said he did not have an explanation for that either. Maybe she thought that you could not read Spanish because it says right there in the contract about canceling service before installation was complete. I think she wanted to take advantage of a ****** and keep the 450 pesos. Unbelievable. Went to Telmex today and they will set us up with phone, Dish, and internet in 5 days from today.

I have 4 other stories just like that but I won't go into detail. Must just be Monterrey because I know Mexico City is not like that.

Anyway, I'm holding my own and keeping my cool in situations like the above. 24 Ice Cold (bien muerta) Victorias in the fridge and cabrito on the grill (200 pesos total)


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

conorkilleen said:


> For those of you that have been following my journey over the last 6 months I just wanted to let you know that I am now LEGAL! well...to work and pay taxes here anyway. We entered on the 15th of March and after some small issues with my daughters FMM, we finally have our No Immigrant (FM3)cards. It was a painless because we had an immigration attorney here in MTY help us with the process. I think if I had to do it myself it may have been a little different.
> 
> Life has been good over the last 3 weeks. Food is good, fresh, and inexpensive. Learned quick about the "cash society" and adapted. Bank Of America has a no fee ATM agreement with Santander and guess what, there is one about 3 blocks from my house.
> 
> ...


Congratulations. I had just the opposite experience with Megacable. Showed up on time, very clean installation. But I guess it depends on the local office and probably the individual who comes to do the installation.


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## latacharita (Apr 8, 2011)

Congrats on the receipt of your FM3! Glad to hear it went smoothly. As for customer service--haha, yes that's often how it is. My daughter works overseas in different countries from time to time and it's the same story there as well. And I'm sure customer service varies a lot even inside each country, from region to region. So I guess what I mean is that customer service is really not very standardized like it usually is in the US. 

The installer for our Direct TV was a nice kid, but not only did he need to borrow our ladder but also our tools. The company usually does not provide them with tools and often they don't provide transportation for them either, so when he finished the installation my husband gave him a ride back into town. Also, we usually offer workers a little snack to go, like a banana and a soda.

And for peace of mind, don't forget to be present (in the same room) when somebody is in your home--for 2 reasons--1) often they really could use an extra hand to help out, and 2) to protect what you own from possible sticky fingers. When we're anticipating a service person (or anyone we don't know) to be inside our house or in our garden, we make sure to store things out of sight--cell phones, purses, laptops, cameras, binoculars, iPods, etc. It's always a good idea to have these things safely stowed out of view, inside closets or cabinets. My husband also says a clean organized home indicates that the homeowner knows exactly where his/her valuable items are and therefore can notice more quickly if something goes missing, and that a thief is more likely to pocket something when the home is messy and unorganized because they figure it could be days before the homeowner ever wakes up to the fact that something was taken. It's not paranoia, it's just common sense.


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## conorkilleen (Apr 28, 2010)

latacharita said:


> The installer for our Direct TV was a nice kid, but not only did he need to borrow our ladder but also our tools. The company usually does not provide them with tools and often they don't provide transportation for them either, so when he finished the installation my husband gave him a ride back into town. Also, we usually offer workers a little snack to go, like a banana and a soda.
> 
> And for peace of mind, don't forget to be present (in the same room) when somebody is in your home--for 2 reasons--1) often they really could use an extra hand to help out, and 2) to protect what you own from possible sticky fingers. When we're anticipating a service person (or anyone we don't know) to be inside our house or in our garden, we make sure to store things out of sight--cell phones, purses, laptops, cameras, binoculars, iPods, etc. It's always a good idea to have these things safely stowed out of view, inside closets or cabinets. My husband also says a clean organized home indicates that the homeowner knows exactly where his/her valuable items are and therefore can notice more quickly if something goes missing, and that a thief is more likely to pocket something when the home is messy and unorganized because they figure it could be days before the homeowner ever wakes up to the fact that something was taken. It's not paranoia, it's just common sense.


HA! Yeah. Exactly. I know in the US, Dish Network contracts out all of their installation labor to private installers. They always come with their own truck/van and a plethora of tools. I expect it to be a tad different here. We shall see.

Cablevision is just not a well run company in this area. I have heard that from a few dozen locals when I told them my story. Live and Learn.

As for the house in order...oh yes. I have OCD when it comes to my house cleanliness and the order it needs to be in. When the guy last week came to fix the Jacuzzi I watched him like a hawk even though everything was put away and out of site. I always keep the door closed to my home office as well. He may have felt weird about me following him around, but I wanted to make sure he was working and not snooping (I'm sure they don't see allot of Gabachos here and could be curious about what I have) . He turned out to be a nice guy but I think that its good practice to be on the defensive always when you are in a new environment.


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## latacharita (Apr 8, 2011)

You are starting off on the right track (to have watched him carefully). To not do so would be folly. And closing the door to your office was very smart. These are things anyone anywhere in the world should do when someone they don't know is inside their home; it doesn't just apply to developing nations. 

My husband grew up in this country--this is his nation, his people; he knows the way things work here and he understands what the culture of poverty does to people. And more simply put, petty thievery is viewed differently here, unfortunately. I used to get upset and impatient because we had to run around making sure things were tucked out of sight every time someone had to come inside the house or garden to repair or check on something. I finally realized that's just the way things are and I should calm down, roll along, and learn to accept it. Why was I fighting something that was never going to change? And even if the worker seems to be a good, well-behaved person, that doesn't really mean much, right? It's nice if they're nice, but we still don't know them and they're still not our friend. 

Living always on the defensive is the key, as you mentioned. In addition, learning how to do just that---be defensive of ourselves and what we own---and yet be polite, courteous, well-mannered, and gracious at the same time--these are things that will make living here the happy and beautiful experience that we had been hoping for.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

latacharita said:


> ....
> And even if the worker seems to be a good, well-behaved person, that doesn't really mean much, right? It's nice if they're nice, but we still don't know them and they're still not our friend.
> ...


I agree that anywhere in the world people should be careful with strangers, but I have to disagree with above quote that seems to imply you can never trust anybody. That has not been my experience. I have a woman who cleans my house occasionally. She has a key to it and I trust her completely. She came highly recommended and has never done anything to shake my confidence in her. When I was renting, I lived in an apartment above my landlords who had a large family. I never even locked my apartment when I lived there. The only problem I ever had was one time one of the kids drank some orange juice from my refrigerator.


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## latacharita (Apr 8, 2011)

Sounds like you have had some very beautiful experiences regarding trust. I suppose there are some instances when a certain degree of trust can be reached, perhaps an inner gut feeling that says it's okay to let down one's guard. You are right--- this can definitely happen, and I'm glad it has happened for you. These experiences are very enriching, and make life even more beautiful.


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## ronb172 (Mar 16, 2011)

Conorkilleen, how long did it take to get your visa?


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## carlb (Feb 11, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> I agree that anywhere in the world people should be careful with strangers, but I have to disagree with above quote that seems to imply you can never trust anybody. That has not been my experience. I have a woman who cleans my house occasionally. She has a key to it and I trust her completely. She came highly recommended and has never done anything to shake my confidence in her. When I was renting, I lived in an apartment above my landlords who had a large family. I never even locked my apartment when I lived there. The only problem I ever had was one time one of the kids drank some orange juice from my refrigerator.


To me, the problem wouldn't have been the drinking of some orange juice, it would have been the fact that they came into your apartment, maybe to see if there was anything worth stealing, but got scared off before they could.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

carlb said:


> To me, the problem wouldn't have been the drinking of some orange juice, it would have been the fact that they came into your apartment, maybe to see if there was anything worth stealing, but got scared off before they could.


No the kid was in the apartment cleaning. It was part of the rental agreement that the landlord keep it clean, and it was usually the older girls who did the cleaning. When I mentioned it to the father, the mother brought the girl up to my apartment to apologize and it was very emotional and uncomfortable scene for me and the girl and her mother. I mainly mentioned it to the father because he was in the business of renting rooms and apartments and I thought he would want to know for the sake of his business. He did, but they took it very seriously and the girl was in tears when she came to apologize.


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## tjfjrabm (Dec 5, 2009)

conorkilleen said:


> For those of you that have been following my journey over the last 6 months I just wanted to let you know that I am now LEGAL! well...to work and pay taxes here anyway. We entered on the 15th of March and after some small issues with my daughters FMM, we finally have our No Immigrant (FM3)cards. It was a painless because we had an immigration attorney here in MTY help us with the process. I think if I had to do it myself it may have been a little different.
> 
> Life has been good over the last 3 weeks. Food is good, fresh, and inexpensive. Learned quick about the "cash society" and adapted. Bank Of America has a no fee ATM agreement with Santander and guess what, there is one about 3 blocks from my house.
> 
> ...


as a new york city guy who moved to aguascalientes, aguascalientes mexico i think that it has taken me over one year to understand the mindset of the culture. 
most people here honor one another and are not so forward in conversation nor how they present their opinions. i really had to pull back on my expressions, and just listen. love this country and the people. i've learned a lot about others thinking patterns and culture. lived in usa, europe, asia and other continents but am the most content here knowing the respect the people show to one another if not feeling negative energy from another. hope i helped. tom


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