So, since living here in Switzerland, Fabio and I (well, mostly I) have adopted the saying, "The Swiss charge you to breathe their air." It's ridiculous. EVERYTHING costs money here, and it is just frustrating. Before continuing, you should know, the Swiss Franc is pretty much even with the dollar right now. Here are a few of the things that blew my mind:
1. Calls to any customer service cost about 1 CHF (Swiss Franc) a minute.
2. Garbage bags cost about 3 CHF each. You can only buy them at customer service counters at grocery stores or at city hall. AND there is a different bag for each canton (region), they're not exchangeable between cantons and the price differs depending on the canton. Weird.
3. It cost my friend 60 CHF to cancel her bank card because it was lost/stolen.
4. It cost us $100 each to move from Canton Luzern to Canton Zug. You have to "unregister" and then "register" every time you move cantons. Just imagine if you had to let the state know every time you moved states. You have to go wait in line at a state office, talk to someone behind a desk, give them a bunch of documents, then pay them money to either "unregister" or "register" you. You'd think you were moving to a new country. Sheesh.
5. You MUST have cable tv and you MUST pay for it, whether you have an actual TV or not.
6. You have to pay for shopping bags. They are about 2 CHF per bag. We just got those "green" bags you use over and over. We just have to remember to keep them with us at all times in case we have to make an impromptu visit to the store...which is about every day.
7. I know those of you who live in cities won't have much sympathy, but parking here is a beast. I'm glad we don't have a car, because the one week we rented one was a nightmare. We had to go move the car every 2 hours; either that, or go feed the meter every two hours (if you were so lucky to have exact change). That's if you actually found a spot. Fabio drove around for an hour once trying to find one. That was not a good night. Yikes.
8. Glasses of water at restaurants are about 3-4 CHF.
9. There are "fees" just to sit at a table at restaurants.
10. To use a grocery cart at the store, you must have a 2 CHF coin (the lowest bill here is a 10). The lucky thing is though, you get the coin back when you return the cart. How generous.
All in all, we really like Switzerland, but sometimes we feel like we're being sucked dry!!! A few things we must show gratitude for though:
1. Fabio's office has a gym we can use for free.
2. Fabio's office has a ton of movies we can borrow for free.
3. Fabio's office has bikes you can borrow for free.
4. Fabio's office buys him lunch every day.
5. Fabio's office gives him about 200 CHF clothing allowance a month. (No fair!)
6. Fabio's office has blackberries and laptops to borrow for when their employees travel.
7. Cheese and milk and bread are amazingly delicious and are affordable.
It's not all bad, but as you can see, thank goodness for Fabio's employers. They have been a bright spot in our dark realization of the high price of living here. I hope I'm not giving the impression that we're unhappy! We're not! We love Switzerland, but we continue to be stunned by the kind of money it takes to function here! But like my dad always says, "You get you pay for." If that's true, we are getting a VERY high quality life! :)
7 comments:
At lunch I was trying to find a side parking space so I didn't have to feed the meter $1.50 for a hour! Sheesh - that sounds like nothing compared to Swiss costs.
Good thing you didn't move there to SAVE money... hehe :P
Not that Syracuse is even in the same ballpark as Zug, BUT the business with paying to use a grocery cart is only done here for grocery stores on the lower end of the spectrum; only thing lower would be the Kleen Food Market on my corner.....
At the same time, Fabio's employers sound terrific! Way to go Fabio.
And thank you for the continuing education about all things Swiss. I'm loving it.
Aunt Beth
I remember thinking that too. But just remember, it's like that throughout Europe too, perhaps just a bit more pronounced in Switzerland. I remember the trash and recycling bags we had to buy at the store in Brugge and they weren't cheap. But totally... you get what you pay for. Some things might seem ridiculous but look at how much you're making too!
I knew there would be a down side eventually, but it still sounds pretty great for a newly married couple to have an exciting adventure. So sweet that Fabio's employer is so generous...If only some American employers would be so kind.
I had a dream that you guys were in last night! I was in Switzerland with my mom, my brother, and Dave and we were 2 1/2 hours away from Zug but it was so hard to get around and rent a car that the people told us we might as well not even bother trying to see you. In my dream, the Swiss internet was different and instead of typing 'www' you had to draw this intricate picture which was very hard. Also, the keyboards were different and Fabio was very mad when it wouldn't correctly type what he wanted to say. Weird!! :)
Thanks for the heads up on everything. Good thing is that we can get free water at your place, when we come to visit, and we can use your grocery bags. That will save us alot of money not having to make those purchaes. Just some of the perks you have to put up with to live in a fantasy land.
how about going to the bathroom in a public place? and by 'public place' i mean in a public bathroom in a public place. did you write that and i missed it? you're right, it's great that fabio's work is so generous! sweet!
Post a Comment