To the Post Office and Health Care Insurance

"Round About" 5 x 7 Oil on Gessobord

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This painting called "Round About" is how I felt on Wednesday dealing with some of our finest institutions, the Postal System (USPS) and health care insurance (UHC).

My crazy Wednesday really started on Tuesday night. I had just microwaved a nice bowl of Amy's steel cut oatmeal for a light dinner. Amy's is not cheap! As I was pulling the saran bag out of the microwave, the bowl of oatmeal slid out of the bag and landed upside down on the floor, in the corner by the lazy susan cupboard. Yes, my floor was clean and I scooped it up.

On Wednesday morning, I called my local hair salon franchise and got my hairdresser Kim on the phone...I thought. She did say her name was Kimberly and couldn't find my name in the computer, but said come on down, I've got time for you right now. So I travel the block to my hair salon and find out I made an appointment at the salon another two miles down the road. (Fortunately, this "round about" turned out to be a good thing, I got a really good haircut from my new Kimberly.)

I was feeling really good until I stopped at Walgreens to find out which nasal spray for B-12 deficiency would be the cheapest. (I have pernicious anemia and my body doesn't process B-12 in my stomach lining as most folks do...I know, too much information.) I have been receiving B-12 injections for the last 10 years and the FDA just shut down the only US manufacturer of B-12 injection serum (I'd love to know why the FDA shut it down!) So it's one of two nasal sprays or massive doses of B-12 supplements. The pharmacist couldn't give me any information on price of the nasal sprays until I have a prescription, the doctor won't give me a prescription until I decided which nasal spray I want (round about!)

So home to call my health insurance company to see if they could help me. I pushed all the right buttons and said all the right things and about 2 minutes into the call I got caught in a round about! "Please say your group ID number leaving out any alpha characters"....sounds easy right? Especially when you don't have any alpha characters in your group ID. I speak distinctly into the phone and get the next message "Do you have any alpha characters in your group ID?"....didn't they just tell me to leave them out? And then, "Please press * to return to the main menu" After about 3 rounds of this little routine, my home phone rings....

It's my sister-in-law (hi!) who has so wonderfully supported my artwork by purchasing enough paintings to fill her entire kitchen...but I love her for it. After greetings and a few questions, I realize the painting she just received in the mail (USPS) is the wrong painting, and her painting has traveled somewhere else. I had labeled the envelopes carefully last Sunday and took them to the Office Depot shipping station where they proceeded to put the wrong label on the wrong envelope. Yi-yi-yi.......

I try to contact the post office through the internet and by phone receiving the same treatment as the health insurance call. About two minutes into the call I'm so frustrated I have to hang up. I think this "round about" or unending loop strategy is some sort of conspiracy to cut down on their work load. You get so frustrated you just have to give up.

My saga hasn't finished yet....but by now (about two minutes into reading this blog post) you are frustrated and just want to hang up! Press * to return to the main menu!