Typing too fast caused me to spell asinine "asininie" in my original post title. What an ass I am. What a week. In kindergarten my daughter's class had a "letter of the week" to teach them the alphabet. This week in my world the letter would be "A" for absurd. Asinine. Arsehole. Aghast. And on and on...
Bright and early Monday morning I took the kids to a new dentist. We left the house at 7:15 AM. AM. AM. In the middle of a thunderstorm. Lightening struck the garage as we were backing out. The kids and I looked at one another. Peyton suggested we run back in the house and forget about the dentist. I should have taken his advice.
Once we arrived at the dentist I began filling out paperwork. The tech came and got Peyton. I gave the front desk the papers and my insurance card. Waited 15 minutes. Then they called me up and said they didn't accept my insurance. Said they had never been paid a "dime" from my type of Blue Cross Blue Shield. WTF? Actually, they said they weren't a "preferred" provider like it was something they were really sorry about but I would have to pay the entire bill. I decided not to send Paige back and she THREW A FIT. In the middle of the waiting room. Threw a fit like a toddler. She started bawling, ran to the corner, yelled "MEAN MOMMY!" at me and promptly became all snotty and red/psycho faced.
People were staring. I felt like screaming too. I tried to diffuse the situation and said "Wow. I have never seen anyone be upset because they COULDN'T see the dentist." This pissed her off even more. She started screaming louder. I took her outside and tried to explain money and insurance and absurd preferred provider policies. Then I tossed that idea and told her I was very sorry but we would have to find another dentist for her and she could still get a toy. I ended up paying $200 that morning. I left there feeling ignorant and stupid for not checking if they were a preferred provider. I always check. Then I remembered when we got that insurance I checked dentists and there were over 10 pages and 200 dentists. There are tons of dentists in our area that take our insurance. Suddenly I realize when I made the appointment they asked me what type of insurance I had. They knew before I even set foot in the door! Absurd!
Later on that day I had to call the cable company to have them activate an outlet. I also have a non-working cable box and asked if they could have the tech bring a new one when he came to activate the outlet. The lady said "No ma'am. That would be a repair call, not a installation call. I can get someone there between the hours of
8am and 7pm to bring another box."
I said "But they only have to activate an outlet, not install one and there is nothing to repair, I need a new box in that room."
She replied "Sorry. They only carry a certain number of boxes on their trucks."
I gritted my teeth and said forget about it. I told her I would drive the 45 minutes to their freaking office to replace it. Asinine.
On a roll in the land of absurd I decided to call the phone company which provides our internet service.
After being on hold approximately half a day and saying my phone number 20 times, pushing various digits to be sent around the automated system, and repeatedly saying I would like ENGLISH not Spanish instructions I finally got a real live person on the phone.
"How can I help you?" he asked.
"I am having problems with my wireless internet. It only works when plugged directly into the computer. And that isn't wireless. You know?"
Phone company guy says "Oh, it must be your router and we don't work on that equipment because it doesn't belong to us."
"But, your company sent me the router."
"We can't work on it but I can send you to another department to help you!"
I sit on hold for another half a day. A perky girl answers and assures me she can help with all my router problems.
Then she says "Now, we have two different plans. One time and monthly. Which would you like?"
Huh? "What do you mean?" I asked her.
"Well, it will be a one time fee of $129 or you can pay a monthly fee of $30."
"Forget about it. I will figure out something else."
Finally, the week has ended with the insurance company. This weeks blue prize for asinine. A few months ago I resigned from my job and we got new insurance. Both are Blue Cross Blue Shield but different plans. This week I received a letter from the insurance company asking how my "other" insurance was going to pay for a recent doctor visit. I called BCBS and told them I didn't have "other" insurance.
The guy said "You don't have Empire Blue?"
I explained to him that was through my previous employer. He told me all claims would continue to be rejected until I could prove I DIDN'T have other insurance. I explained I had a letter from the company stating the ending date of my insurance. He said "No, that won't work. We need something from BCBS."
I said "But you are BCBS." At this point I knew it was ridiculous to argue with a guy from the insurance company.
It would be like arguing with the IRS.He ended with "We will need something from the insurance company. You have to show us you don't have another insurance."
Feeling my teeth grinding down to bits I hung up the phone and began digging for the corporate number of the company I used to work for.
My wireless internet is still not working, the broken cable box is currently sitting in my car for probably another 6 months, I have scheduled Paige to go to a dentist who takes our insurance which doesn't pay a "dime", and am currently waiting for a letter from BCBS stating I no longer have insurance with them. When I receive it I will send it to another branch of BCBS so they can pay their portion of my claim.
Here's to the letter A. Also for the word "alcohol."
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