France as a crapshoot

So i finally got a cell phone on thursday - but of course, like
everything in france - there was some administrative bs to overcome
before it could happen. This time, my phone was blocked, so i had to go
to another place to have the phone unblocked. We tried to get internet,
but instead of taking a credit card, France Telecom demanded access to
our bank accounts - french ones, no less. It seems you can't do
anything in France without a bank account - and, usually, you can't do
it anyway. The weekend trip to Nice will be essential - a real
vacation, as opposed to getting beat up by the "La bureaucratie" that
the french are famous for.