What It Takes to Get One Thing Done…

Mom retired from a prestigious university a number of states away from here with excellent benefits, and a pension. Because she lives in a different state than the one she retired in, her dental insurance company sends claim checks to her rather than the dentist. NO, this doesn’t make sense to me either… The dentist told me to look out for two checks. Only one arrived. The dental insurance company is still using mom’s mainland house address. The mail forwarding expired a few months ago. Here’s the drill:

• Call the insurance company only to discover they’re using the wrong address. Why this is when other folks, oh like the Social Security Administration, picked up the change automatically, I do not quite get. Can they change mom’s address? Nope. Only the university retirement office can. Security you know. I know.
• When they do get the address change, they will cancel the old check and reissue a new one. I’m sure that’ll involve another phone call on my part.
• Message tenant. Did he get a letter from mom’s dental insurance company? Haven’t heard back yet.
• Find the retirement office online, and call them. Realize, while listening to their outgoing message, this isn’t the right retirement office.
• Call the correct retirement office.
• Wait on hold.
• Wait on hold.
• Wait on hold.
• Talk to a nice gal who tells me I need to fax my DPOA ‘for review.’
• Ask her what my fax cover needs to include to get the ball rolling.
• Write this up and fax.
• Mis-dial the number.
• Try again.

So, with all of shuck and jive, I am still missing a $544.50 check, and have moved, maybe, a centimeter forward from where I started. I am going out to weed a patch of garden now. At least one can experience progress, real progress, in the same amount of time all the above took.