Boomer Walter White, of Breaking Bad, may have set back the image of Boomers as being harmless by decades.

And it may have reached all the way to Costa Rica.

Today, I had to sign a twenty page document asserting that I was not a money launderer!

If you listen carefully you can hear the sounds of Gringos freaking out all over Costa Rica. The english language news sites are started reporting Monday that by Friday (tomorrow), ALL foreigners had to update their information with the bank or risk their accounts being frozen.

December is a bad month to do ANY bank business in Costa Rica. There is a car tax due – payable in the bank, among other places; the Ticos get Christmas bonuses, so they either are depositing it in the bank, or withdrawing more to do Christmas Shopping. So in addition to the regular business, this adds up to some long lines.

So adding a bunch of Geezer Gringos to the lines freaking out because they don’t want their accounts frozen and it’s pretty hectic.

But apparently the story is entirely bogus. A person at the bank and a lawyer’s assistant told me so.

However, it is standard operating procedure at the bank we do business with (BCR, Banco de Costa Rica) to update EVERY customers account every year. And it has to be done in person.  At the other large bank, they reportedly (Gringo word-of-mouth) allow the info to be updated online.

I grabbed my briefcase and headed to the bank ready to wallpaper the place with all the official documents I could muster.

I took my place (#23 on the wait list) at 9:47 a.m. At 12:04 p.m. I had my data updated.  This includes a run to the lawyer’s office for a quick consult.

I had to show:

• a utility bill with my home address on it. Our home is in a corporation for liability purposes.
• a document showing that I was authorized to act on behalf of the corporation.
• a source of my income: in my case, the most recent Social Security cost-of-living-increase letter.

Johnny, the teller who was helping me typed and typed and printed and copied and printed and copied until we had a stack of twenty pages. He shoved a few pages at me to sign, and I was out the door.

If we had money in a corporation account, there are additional documents that require a CPA to authenticate the source of the money.

So, to Walter White and the other corrupt boomer geezers, thanks a lot. It’s not like I had anything better to do today, but I don’t like not knowing just exactly for sure what really truly is going on.

No, wait… that’s pretty much all the time.

Never mind.