Helpful Phone Calls

"Did you know that you are required by law to have health insurance?  Do you need help obtaining health insurance under ObamaCare?  Press ONE to speak to a representative authorized to help you find affordable insurance.  Press TWO to be removed from this list."

Oh yippee.  You can bet I pushed all sorts of buttons and gave out all my credit card information, just as I did to those helpful people from the United States Computer Security Department who apparently were calling from our government offices in Bangalore.

Recently I've been dealing with stupid robo-dialing robots saying they have an important message for Elf or his parent.  Several times a day, some company I'd never heard of would call.  

A bill arrived from this company finally, explaining they were the billing agency working with the hospital we visited in November for Elf.  The bill was for the exact amount of a check I'd already received from the insurance company and so on.  So it was legit. 

I spoke with a representative about the inappropriateness of the excessive phone calls, particularly in light of the fact that I hadn't received the bill/explanation yet.  She was quite a lovely person and she did understand my exasperation.  I wound up spending I think about half an hour with her on the phone.

Do you know how she began working for this bill-collecting company?  She had breast cancer and they started hounding her.  She told them she would happily pay, if only she had a job.  And they gave her one.  That was four years ago and she is still happily employed.

I guess that phone conversation didn't go as I had planned it!