Tomorrow is presidential election day in the US! (Cue the angst-ridden gnashing of teeth.) If you’re so worried about the results of the election that you are considering fleeing the country if your side doesn’t win, be sure to listen to Episode 557 Ready to Flee the US? first!
The takeaway: the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.
Countries like Italy, with its year-round sunshine, amazing food, and infamous “dolce far niente” lifestyle, can feel awfully tempting when things in your home country aren’t going your way. But is life really better over here?
Tiffany takes off the rose-colored glasses for a moment to rant about how stressful and frustrating Italian life has been for her lately. Just so you don’t quit your job and move to Italy and say we didn’t warn you!
Admittedly, this episode is a light-hearted take on what is in fact a serious subject that we may decide to tackle in its entirety in a future episode. Listen if you need a bit of distraction from all the political coverage this week.
You can listen right here, or find the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, and elsewhere.
Related Episodes:
Bittersweet Moment #84: Biden Wins!
Bittersweet Moment #83: Election Night 2020
Here are 5 key points from the episode:
- The hosts discuss the challenges of moving abroad, particularly to Italy, in response to election results, highlighting that every country has its own problems.
- Tiffany shares two recent frustrating experiences in Italy: a scooter accident involving complex insurance and legal issues, and a dishwasher repair appointment that went awry.
- They discuss the prevalence of minor scams and dishonest practices in Italy, emphasizing the importance of family networks for navigating daily life and avoiding being taken advantage of.
- The conversation touches on corruption in Italy, from street-level interactions to larger infrastructure issues, and how it affects daily life.
- The hosts remind listeners to maintain perspective during election times, emphasizing that there’s a beautiful world beyond politics and mentioning their upcoming Rome trip for listeners in October 2025.
Full Episode Transcript:
Katy
Hello, this is the Bittersweet Life. I’m Katy Sewall.
Tiffany
I’m Tiffany Parks.
Katy
Tiffany in Rome. Katy in Seattle. Very soon we’ll be playing you the episodes that we recorded during our Rome 2024, including our very special episode that marks the 10 year anniversary of this show, which was a show that we taped together in person and had a delightful time doing. And I can’t wait to air it. But because as we record this, as you are listening to it, maybe even after the fact, we are right around a major presidential election here in the United States and we didn’t want to bury our beautiful Rome trip in the madness and chaos that is a presidential election. So today instead, we’re going to talk about something a little bit more fun. Sort of fun? Yeah. A little bit about irritation perhaps. But one thing, Tiffany, I hear this all the time and people even text me for advice about this every time we have a major election coming up. People will write and say, you know, if this doesn’t go my way, I’m going to move abroad. Enough already. I’m moving abroad. I can’t take it anymore. If the person I want to win doesn’t win, I’m moving abroad. Do you think that that’s something I should do? And of course I’m like, you know, I don’t know. I mean, it’s a much bigger question. There’s so many questions that go into moving abroad that are not just whether or not the person you voted for wins. That said, I think that people have this notion that if they move abroad, everything will be hunky dory and beautiful. And one of the things that people always cite over here, Tiffany, I don’t know if you see these articles because you’re living in Italy, but every few months some article will come out somewhere that’s about how you can buy abandoned villa somewhere in Italy for a dollar or somewhere in a beautiful hillside town for a dollar. And granted, whether or not that’s true, whether I could buy an abandoned villa for a dollar, I cannot even imagine what it would take to bring that thing up to Italian Code financially. So it’s not just that you’re getting it for a dollar and you’re moving in. There are laws and rules and regulations about what needs to happen. But I do think it’s also, you know, it’s the same reason why we named this show the Bittersweet Life. People think of Italy as the dolce vita, you know, the good life. And we were like, well, you know, it’s a good life, but it’s not like it doesn’t have its problems. It’s not like it doesn’t have its bitter side, so to speak. It’s the bittersweet life, as is all of life. And you are saying to me, as we were starting out when we first got on this call before I pushed record, that, you know, there’s been a lot about Italy that’s been rubbing you the wrong way as of late this week.
Tiffany
This week. Particularly this week, yes.
Katy
So if you’re planning to move to Italy, depending on what happens in the presidential election or abroad in general, these might be some things to consider.
Tiffany
Yeah, Well, I mean, just to just on your point about the $1 villas, I know that that officiates, or is it $100? I don’t know, it’s very cheap. But I believe that in every one of those cases, you have to establish residence in that town and you have to live there for the vast majority. So you’re not like buying a villa and let’s say you have the money to renovate it and you want to turn it into a vacation, you know, rental place like that you’re going to rent out. That’s not allowed. Yeah, so that’s not what it is. They. These are towns that more than anything else, they need people to live in. There are towns that are disappearing and there’s not enough people living there and there’s not enough people working there. So they’re trying to get people to move to the city to live and work and put some money into the economy, the local economy. So it’s not exactly. It’s not just like, yeah, I’m just going to throw down a dollar and have. And have a place.
Katy
Well, curious, though. I mean, maybe you don’t know, are they making the same offer to a bunch of Italians in Rome? Like, are you going, hey, Tiffany, if you move to this remote hillside town where you don’t know anyone and where the economy is really suffering, but we can. You can get a house for €500. Are they offering it to people?
Tiffany
I think they want. I think they want Italians I think that’s their number one draw is Italians. I don’t even know if it’s open to foreigners, quite frankly, if they don’t have legal working papers. I’m not. I’m not sure how it works.
Katy
I don’t know.
Tiffany
But definitely they would. They would. They would. They would totally want Italians to do it. But, you know, they. Those places are in such terrible need of restoration, like you said. And like, I mean, how long would it even take? It’s not even about the money. It’s like, how many years? How many years? And that brings me sort of into what I wanted to kind of complain about today a little bit. So. So I had a couple of experiences this week that really threw in my face some of the unpleasant aspects of Italy. And before you get on my case and say, you know, how can you complain about this place that you went and chose to live in? Well, I’ve always said, I do think that expats are allowed to complain about where they live. Obviously, you don’t be a jerk about it, and you want to be humble and great. You know, I’m grateful. I’m very grateful that I live here, but I am a citizen and a resident, and I’ve lived here 20 years. I think that gives me the right to, you know, complain a little bit. We all complain about our home country.
Katy
You’ve lived there for 20 years. Some people listening have only been alive for 20 years.
Tiffany
Yeah, exactly. So there you go. Including me. I was born here, actually. No. So, anyways, not to be too down on Italy, but I’m kind of having a week. So it started on Monday. Last Monday, when I was parking my car. I was attempting to park my car on a very busy, crowded street. I was late for an appointment, and I was pulling in to a parking spot. Not a parallel parking spot, but like an angled parking spot. And there was a scooter, a big scooter, though, parked just past where I needed to park. And it was. It was kind of sticking out quite a ways into the space of the parking spot that I was going to go into. So I was. I was being very careful, and I was watching it like I was looking at the back of that thing. But you can’t see. I couldn’t see the bottom of it. I could see the top. I couldn’t see that over the back wheel jutted that plastic, you know, whatever the mud. I don’t know what that thing is called. It covers the back tire, right? It’s. It juts way out.
Katy
Fender, I think.
Tiffany
Maybe fender. Yeah, it juts way out on this particular scooter. And as I was pulling in, I mean, it must have been like a millimeter, you know? I mean, it was like. It’s like a millimeter. Not a millimeter, a centimeter. It was such a small amount that I touched it by, and I just saw it wobble and then crash to the ground. And I was just like, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? And then, of course, I got out of my car, and this woman who had been having coffee, like, literally right.
Katy
Right there, worst case scenario, by the way, if you knock over a person’s motorbike and they just happen to be sitting right across the street having a.
Tiffany
Cup, like, I was gonna. It’s not like I was gonna hit and run.
Katy
I know, but, like, to have the person actually, like, watch it happen, it’s just like.
Tiffany
Yeah, well, you know, it was. There was so much bad luck involved on so many levels because I wasn’t even supposed to park there. I usually park in a totally different spot when I go to this place, and it was all full, and so I had to park a little further on. There was a huge parking lot to the left across the street that I didn’t see. Claudia was like, why didn’t you park over there? I was like, I don’t, because I’m an idiot. And then. And then, of course, the fact that there happened to be this plastic thing that stuck way out. She happened to be parked a little bit too close to where I was going to park. She was slightly sticking out. And the thing. The worst part of all was this motorcycle, which motor. I mean, the price of a scooter, the price of a Motorino, as they call it in Italy, can vary so widely. You can get a cheap Motorino for, like 400, €500. Very, very basic. Like the little tiny one that doesn’t go fast enough to go on the highway. And then you can get, like, a really nice one. Which is what? This one was €4,500, and it was brand new. She said she had bought it 10 days ago. And you know what? She wasn’t lying. I could tell it was that new. It was so clean. It was so sparkly. It was just, like, pristine condition. So the reason I’m bringing this up is not just to complain about what happened to me, but specifically talking this over with Claudio afterwards. He said, why did you call me when this happened if I had come? Because basically, she was not parked legally. Is the. The moral of the story is she Was parked in a spot that’s not a parking spot. It’s where there were, like, trash can. There were trash bins. And you can’t park in front of the trash bins, even if you’re. You can fit. You’re not allowed to park there. So when you park illegally, if someone scratches your car, they are still to blame, but they’re only to blame. 50. You’re to blame the other 50.
Katy
Oh, okay.
Tiffany
Tiffany, the innocent foreigner doesn’t know these things. You know, I should know these things, but I don’t know these things. And she’s like, oh, if you’d called me and we’d taken the pictures and we’d call. If we’d called the traffic cops, then they would have made a signal. Signal. I don’t know how to say it. And you would have had to split. Like, half of it would have gone on your insurance, and half of it would have gone on her insurance. But she was so incredibly pissed off at me. And, I mean, I think it was beyond reason how she behaved. It was. She was just over the top. And I get it, you know, it’s your brand new Motorino and it crashes to the ground. But it’s like, it’s not like I like, hopped in my car and sped away. I was doing, you know, I’m there, I’m like, listen, I’m so sorry, but I’ll take whatever. I’ll make it right. You know, I’ll. Here’s my details. Here’s my, you know, here’s my license plate. Here’s my. Here’s my driver’s license. And she was just going off. And now I realize now that it’s a tactic that Italians have. They throw fits so that to basically intimidate you. It’s not just women on women and men on men. It’s women and men together. Like, some men are going to bully women or vice versa in a situation like this. Because if you can bully that person and you can intimidate that person, then they’re less likely to be like, hey, wait a second, you’re not parked right. And I actually did say that at a certain point because she was, you know, the. The back of her thing was sticking so far out. I said, you know, you’re not even parked well. Like, at first it was all super apologetic. And then eventually I was like, you know, you’re not even parked well. And she goes, with what courage you say that? You know, like, doesn’t translate very well. But she’s like, you even have the courage to say that after what you did, which then kind of chastised me. And I’m like, maybe, you know, am. Am I full of crap? I mean, is this not true? And then it turns out that she. So there’s two ways to park a scooter. There’s like a kickstand, which is like, if you need to, like, leave your bike for five seconds, you can put it on the kickstand, but it’s not really strong enough to hold it up. There’s this other sort of, like, you know, you’re shaking your head because, you know. Yeah, you’re nodding.
Katy
It’s like a stand. It’s more like a stand with, like two sides.
Tiffany
Yeah, yeah. And so she apparently hadn’t pulled it up onto the stand because she was just getting herself, you know, a coffee two meters away. And Claudia was like, if she had had it on the stand, it wouldn’t have fallen. It would have just slightly moved. He used to have the same exact scooter. Different, you know, an earlier version, but he used to have the same exact one. So, you know, I just. I feel like an idiot. I feel like I was kind of, you know, I mean, I was in the wrong to a certain extent. I did hit her bike. If I had been able to tell that there was not enough space, I shouldn’t have parked there. I do owe her something where my insurance does. But it’s so. It just really brought home when Claudia was saying these things. I mean, I was like, oh, well, she was really mad, but, you know, I guess I understand. And she’s like, no. He’s like, no, you don’t. No, no. She was acting like that because she wanted to intimidate you. And then, of course, here’s another whole aspect of this annoying Italian thing. She goes to her mechanic or whatever or the place she bought the thing, and she gets her quote as to how much it’s going to cost to replace this and this and this and this. And I mean, it wasn’t an accident in the sense that, like, I didn’t. We didn’t like, have a big smash up. The thing fell on its side. It was. It was stationary. And then it fell on its side and it was scratched up a little bit. The windshield particularly, and the little case on the back. But it was €1700 to get it back into condition. I mean, Claudia’s like, yeah, that’s not. I mean, the helmet holder thingy, that little case that goes on the back.
Katy
Little plastic case.
Tiffany
Plastic case. They were clothing. 590 Euros. For this, I mean, outrageous. Outrageous. Which again, I think is. I mean, it’s not just an Italian thing, you know, famously, all mechanics and body repair places gouge you. You can’t trust anybody. Sometimes I just so often I feel like I really can’t trust people here. I remember that having that feeling to a very, very much stronger degree when I was in India and I got. It started to make me feel paranoid. Everybody, everybody that I encounter is trying to swindle me, which probably wasn’t true, but that’s how it felt because I had so many occasions of being ripped off when I was in India and in Italy. It’s not as bad, but it’s still. It’s like if you aren’t used to it. And I mean, I look at me, I’ve been here 20 years, and I’m still not like, I still haven’t figured it out. And Claudio’s still like, oh, my God. Oh my God, people are just taking advantage of you. And then I had another occasion of this on Tuesday of last week. Different situation, but another really annoying Italianism, which is that our dishwasher hasn’t been working. And we called, you know, a technician who is specialized in that brand of dishwashers. Not the official place, because that was going to be impossible. They weren’t going to come for, like, forever. And it was too complicated. So we, you know, we found a place and it’s sort of like a central office. And then they have their guys in all different towns and they send them out. And so this guy was supposed to come, and he was supposed to come at 10:00. And so we organized our schedules so that we ideally would both be there for most of the time. So that was supposed to come at 10. And then. And then he calls and says, well, no, I’m going to come at 2. And so I’m like, okay, trying to figure out how, you know, am I going to be home at 2? And yes, okay, I’m going to be home. I really will be here. So I’ll have to have him do his homework in this other room. Okay, we’ll make it work. And so I thought, okay, he’s coming at 2. I go to the supermarket, I’m doing my grocery shopping, and Claudio calls me. He’s coming right now. He’s changed his schedule. He called and said he has to come now. He’s like, I’m on my way out the door to go to work. You have to come. You have to finish shopping and come right now. But you have to pick up my mom and bring her here on your way because you have to go pick up a Arelio, right? And I can’t leave this guy in my house alone. I have to have somebody there.
Katy
Yeah.
Tiffany
So I’m running, I’m running through the supermarket. I’m like throwing all this stuff in my car. There’s a huge line. I’m like, you know, my gosh, the guy’s going to be here. No one’s going to be home. I get through, pick up my mother in law. She, of course it’s lunchtime and you know, she’s usually like making the lunch and doing her, you know, Italian mother things and. But so she left, leaves all of that to come to my place. She comes over, I’m like, okay. We get there just in the nick of time. I call the guy because Claudia had sent me his number and he’s out there. He’s out by my, my front gate. I can see him from my balcony. So I’m trying to explain to him how to get in. And he’s kind of like, clearly. I don’t know if dumb is the right word or just like, I don’t know. I couldn’t figure him out. He was a little weird. I could tell right off the bat he was weird. And I was like, okay, you know, there’s two sets of buzzers. You got to go to the one on the left. And so of course he goes to the one on the right, but I couldn’t see that from where I was. And he’s looking for my name and looking for my name and he finds my sister in law with the same last name and buzzes her. I’m like, no, no, I said left. And it was just like comedy of errors. Finally he gets in and I’m like, okay, first door on the left, first building on the left, first door, second floor. Meanwhile, I’m putting my groceries away because he’s going to be coming into the kitchen and I don’t want to have all the food out, you know, so I’m like mad dash trying to put the groceries away. And I’m like, where is this dude? Because there’s another buzzer that he has to ring at my front door. So there’s the gate and then there’s the door. So I’m like, okay, I just go and I open my door of my apartment and I’m like, hello, Hello? You know, calling into the hallway. I can’t hear anything, can’t see anything. I call him, doesn’t answer. I call him again, doesn’t answer. I’m out on my balcony looking out, see if he’s out there. He’s not out there. My mother in law is like, I’ll go down and see if I can find him. In the meanwhile, the clock is ticking like I have to go pick up Aurelio from school. And so she goes down, she’s starting to look for him. I’m still calling him, he’s still not answering. She comes back up, she’s like, I went everywhere. There’s three buildings. And she’s like, I went all over the place. I couldn’t, couldn’t find him. I don’t know what happened to him. Finally he calls me and he’s like, oh, senora. Like, I walked up the stairs on the second floor and there were no doors. I mean, there was no door open. So I left.
Katy
He left. He just left.
Tiffany
He left. He just left. I start yelling at him, I’m like, listen, first you say 10:00, I organize my schedule for 10:00, then you say 2:00, then you say 12:00. I’m rushing. I got to, you know, basically what I just said to you, I said, you didn’t buzz the downstairs door. I didn’t know you’d come up. He’s like, well, the door was open. I just walked in. I’m like, well, you could have called me. You had my phone number. I had just called you. You have my phone number. How hard is it? My mother in law nailed it. She goes, oh, he doesn’t want to work. He doesn’t want to work. He didn’t feel like working. And I don’t want to pigeonhole Italians because they’re all different. And there are plenty of very hardworking Italians. But that’s a very common thing that you get is just sort of like, I don’t really want to do my job today or ever maybe, you know, And I mean, we, we talk about all the time the people who work in the bureaucratic offices who have incredible job security and are just like, whatever, you know.
Katy
Yeah, so what do you do? Do you like have to call that same company back or.
Tiffany
I, as soon as I had a second co. Because the. On the phone while I’m talking to him, he’s like, okay, senor, I’ll come back. I was like, you have to come back. He’s like, okay, I’ll come back. And he hung up the phone. And I was like, he’s not coming back. Like, which is worse. It’s like so now I’m out here on my balcony waiting for you. I can’t tell if you’re messing with me or if you’re actually coming back because he was such a weirdo. And as soon as it sank in that he wasn’t coming, I was like, thank God. Like, I don’t want that person in my house. I really don’t. Especially when Claudio’s not home. Because when you are a woman, and especially if you are a foreign woman and on the younger side, and I’m not going to say I’m like super young or anything, but I’m not like a wise and old, like I’ve been around a long time, buddy, and don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes kind of thing. I think I come across as being a bit younger than I actually am. Like I am the first type of person that people are going to try to scam. And it’s not scamming, it’s not like hardcore scamming. It’s little stuff. As Claudio put it, he’s like, okay, there’s this huge swath of people, maybe not a huge swath, but there’s this, you know, there’s this chunk of the population that are actually thieves and criminals and scam artists. But I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about the law abiding citizens who are scamming you also. And I mean, okay, this is not 100%, but it’s like they’re out there. And so like you gotta worry about the actual scammers who are gonna like break into your house, break into your car. You know, this kind of thing. We’re going to call you up on the phone and pretend to be your nephew. Has happened to my mother in law. I mean, scamming happens everywhere. So there’s the, there’s like the legit scamming and then there’s just like the day to day like the taxi driver who’s like, yeah, yeah, yeah, the extra bag is €2. When it’s actually like actually your first extra bag is free. You know, I mean, any number of things, any number.
Katy
So you feel like there’s a whole bunch of little tiny things you need to know so that you don’t get taken. I feel like this true anywhere, but. But yeah, if you’re in a foreign country, perhaps they’re harder to know.
Tiffany
I think Italy is for Europe anyway. Like I’m not going to talk globally here, but for Europe, I think Italy is one of the worst offenders for this. I really do And I think that the re.
Katy
I’ve.
Tiffany
I’ve come to this like, I had this like light bulb moment. I think that the reason the Italian family is such an important part of Italian culture, it’s. There’s so much value placed on family is because in this society, if you don’t have family, you are screwed. Because they are the people who are looking out for you and who are watching your back. And you watch their back and they watch your back. And when you need a plumber, you call your people. Okay, who has. Who knows a plumber who’s honest or you, you know, who knows a mechanic who’s not going to cheat me? You have people that you can rely on when you are out of your depth, you know, or when you’re in a situation, you know. And my father in law has done so many things for me. I grumble about it and I, and I. It annoys me that I rely on him sometimes. But the honest truth is that, you know, he knows how things work in ways that I don’t. And Claudio as well. And if I had called Claudio, like, I was so stressed out that morning, I didn’t want to call Claudio. I knew he would be upset. So I’m like, no, I’m not going to call him. If I had called him, things would have gone differently because he, he is savvy. And savvy is not a strong enough word. I don’t know if it’s furbo or what, but it’s like to know how things work and to not be vulnerable to someone trying to trick you.
Katy
It’s interesting because I was trying to think like, here in the US of course we have similar problems when you hire somebody to like help you out. And we have these checks and balances that are supposed to be like, there are such and such certified, they have different certifications, they have different organizations that. Consumer protection things that look over them and give them certifications. And yet I know that there are also companies that. There’s one. When we first moved in, where we were, the people who were moving out were like, you know, the one thing I would recommend is that you become a member of the homeowners club, which we are like.
Tiffany
The what?
Katy
The home? I think that’s what it’s called. I could be wrong in that, but I’m like the homeowners club. What is this like some sort of secret, you know, society like resort where we all hang out and be like, I finally was able to buy a house. Like. But no, it’s basically a Thing where you, you spend a certain amount of money a year and when you have repair work that needs to be done, you call them instead of trying to call around and figure out who knows anything, who has what certification. And they have all these people that they’ve already vetted. They act, I guess as the Italian family. They broker the deal. And then when the work is actually done and done to like a way that we think this is a good thing, they did a nice job, then we don’t pay the person who did the work. We pay the homeowners club and they pay the people who did the work. So they act as this buffer.
Tiffany
Does kind of sound like the Mafia.
Katy
It does a little bit like, like as you were.
Tiffany
But without the crime. Without the crime.
Katy
Right, but the high fees, of course. Right?
Tiffany
Yes. Yeah. Everything has a fee because you are.
Katy
Being extorted to a certain degree to get the insurance that this person’s going to actually do a good job, you know. Yeah. Rather than take the job and, and disappear, you know, or something like that.
Tiffany
No, it’s, it really is. And you know, we did an episode a long time ago called I think corruption and we talked about day to day Italian corruption. And it’s just the longer you live here, the more you, you see it, you recognize it in weird ways. Oh yeah. The streets are really crappy and every time there’s a huge rainfall, there’s all these holes in the street. What’s that about? And it’s like breaking my car because I just drove into a hole and now I have to go get my tires realigned or whatever. Well, it’s. Because who’s ever the, like the contractor, who’s. Who hires the contractor? I don’t know how it works, you know, for this city job of like repaving the streets, it’s like they are hiring someone who is not using the proper materials and they’re taking a cut of the city money. You know, they’re paying way less than they should and they’re also taking a cut and it’s not getting done as well. And you know, it’s that kind of stuff that you see, you know, and it’s. And Italian and Italians call it Mafioso, you know, even though it’s not technically the Mafia. It’s not like the Cosa Nostra crime family who is in charge of this, but it’s the same mentality.
Katy
Yeah. Skimming a little off the top.
Tiffany
Yeah. And not only do you make money as the, you know, the bureaucrat, the high ranking bureaucrat but your city is also getting a lower standard of service or of infrastructure. And, you know, that could be as innocuous as having a hole in the street and messing up your tires. Or it could be, you know, a bridge that collapses and people die.
Katy
So, you know, so before you flee the country based on what happens in the presidential election here in the United States this week, keep that in mind when a word of caution, a word of caution, like every country has problems. And I mean, and that’s the bigger question is every country has problems. What is your responsibility as a citizen of that country? Are you required to stay regardless of what happens and try to fix those problems and make the country better or not?
Tiffany
Well, I mean, I don’t think anyone’s required to stay.
Katy
Well, no, there’s not a. Yeah, that’s true. But, you know, should you stay? And I don’t think we’re going to get into that question today. I did want to point out one little thing before we go though that you told me that I was surprised about was this whole scooter incident. You turned it over to the insurance companies to deal with it, but you told me that you had to actually meet in person with this woman today. Yeah. To sign insurance papers together, which I thought was a surprising thing because here in the US you turn it over, the insurance companies, the insurance companies now become the intermediaries and they just duke it out together. Like, you never see that person again for the rest of time. You know, they go off and they live their merry lives, you know, and everything is taken care of. You never see that person again.
Tiffany
So I was, well, hopefully I won’t see her again.
Katy
But you did see her again because you had to sign paperwork.
Tiffany
After today, I mean, after today, I hope that I won’t. But here, how it works is there’s something called a chid, a g. It’s paperwork that you, you usually just have a copy of it in your car, like folded up with your insurance papers because sometimes, you know, when like a big accident happens, you fill it out on the spot. In this case, I didn’t know if I was going to have my insurance take care of it. If it had been a reasonable price, I probably would have paid out of pocket because my, up until, up until today, my car insurance, spotless. Never had, never had a payout, an insurance payout in my life.
Katy
But anyway, the record has been crushed.
Tiffany
It’s been smeared, it’s been, it’s been blemished. But what you do is you have this thing called the cheat. And you fill it out. You have to fill out. I don’t know how it works if both people are at fault. In this case, I was the only one at fault. I mean, technically, she was parked badly, but there was no proof of that, so I had to take all the responsibility. And you fill it out. One side of the paper is, let’s say, car one’s information, and the other side of the paper is Car 2’s information. And there’s all sorts of other stuff you put in your insurance information. It’s something that comes with your car. It’s an official document that’s. It’s the same for everybody. Everybody has the same piece of paper, and everybody has to fill it out the same way, but you both have to sign it. I mean, we could have filled it out there at this on the spot, but we didn’t, so we had to fill it out. And then you. You photocopy it, you sign each copy, and then our responsibility, since it’s being sent to our insurance agency, was to. To send it off to email it and, you know, start a claim. Now that that is done, and you have 72 hours after the accident to do that. So after that is done, you’re free to go.
Katy
Well, and how was it seeing her again?
Tiffany
It was fine. I mean, Claudio is a great buffer. Like, he’s. He’s a kind of person who. He knows how to deal with almost anybody in the sense that, like, he can have a conversation with a street person, the president. Like, he really is the type of person who knows how to deal with people of all different walks of life, I feel. And he’s also very good. And this. I do have to say, he kind of gets this from his father. It’s this Garbo, as they call it in Italian. It’s like politeness, but it’s. It’s more than that. It’s like, you know, how to behave in any situation. He just knows how to do that. And so, like, he knows how to talk to people. He knows how. He’s very disarming. And I’m. You know, I’m very quick to, like. I get my cackles up. Or is it my hackles? I don’t know my hackles up. I get my hackles up and my cackles if it’s Halloween time. But. But, you know, I get. I get defensive. I get on the defensive. And he’s just. He’s just very cool and collected. Yeah, in. In those types of situations. Now, if it’s a personal Situation extremely personal, that might be different. But if it’s not someone that he’s got any personal relationship to, he’s. He’s very good at keeping a cool head.
Katy
And I jokingly texted you cuz you were writing me while you were doing this paperwork with this woman. And I said, maybe she’ll end up being your best friend.
Tiffany
What do you think?
Katy
Possibilities.
Tiffany
Zero. Zero. No. Zero possibility of that.
Katy
I mean, if this was a film, that would have been a perfect meeting for like how you meet your new best friend.
Tiffany
Yeah, it would have been our meet. Cute. Exactly. No, but like, what would have happened is we would have realized. We would have gone out to dinner and it was like she was my brother’s new girlfriend or something.
Katy
And she also would have. She would have jokingly said, as the waiter sets the bill down, she would have said, well, you know, I was 50% at fault for parking illegally. So I’ll get this.
Tiffany
You know, in the Hallmark movie.
Katy
Yeah, let me get this. Yeah. All right, well, we should leave it there. Since we are having the presidential election this week, those of you in the United States, I just want to remind you that there is a lot more beautiful world out there, regardless of what happens. I know the politics have been like a vortex in time. This election feels like it’s been going on for a thousand years, if not longer, and has definitely aged us a thousand years or more. However, there is a beautiful world out there. There’s lots of exploring left to do. And if you must, you can always go outside and see what the birds are doing because you know what they don’t know about the election. Keep a perspective. Breathe. And whatever happens, we will get through this.
Tiffany
And you can always come to Italy with us next year.
Katy
That’s right. So set your calendars. We’re not making an official announcement yet, but we would guess that it will happen around October 5th to the 11th. Do a Rome trip next year. That’s our working dates. Right now. We don’t have anything settled, so we’re not making an official announcement yet. But you could write that on your calendar with a big, huge double circle around it and stay tuned to the show and we’ll let you know when we actually have tickets available. And we will leave it there. And until next time, this is the Bittersweet Life. I’m Katy Sewall.
Tiffany
I’m Tiffany Parks.
Katy
Join us again. Bye.
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