Just Leave a Message

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor, currently, there are about 150,000,000 people working in the US economy or a 60% participation rate. In 2008, records indicated about 75% of those were employed in the Service Industry or roughly 3 out of 4 which mean approximately 112,500,000 Americans provide services.

Out of those Americans, let's make the assumption that 50% of them have to talk with other Americans on the phone which would be 56,250,000 and 50% of those individuals unfortunately end of leaving messages and that number would be 28,125,000 and for the sake of argument, let's assume that 50% of those messages get ignored, leaving us with 14,062,000 each year that actually do get answered.

Now, let's assume that out of those 14,062,000 messages that actually get answered, 50% of those answered messages are ignored on the other end or by the one who left the original message in the first place. This results in 7,031,250 replied or returned messages that are being ignored ANNUALLY.

If we have 22 working days a month and obviously there are 12 months in a calendar year (at least the last time I checked) we have a total of 264 working days each year.

If we correlate working days with ignored returned calls, we have 26,634 calls per day and since we work (or should be working) 8 hours a day, this result in 3,330 missed or ignored returned messages per hour.

But, let's be fair and share that equally with all our States so now the number is 67 calls per hour that have been return after the original message was left per State and if each State has approximately 10 major cities, then it is 6.7calls/city/state/hour that have been returned by the customer that are being ignored by people on the other end or those people who made the original call in the first place because they were missing some information or needed some clarification... because in the service industry means our employees are always processing something.

Boy... now that this is done and put on paper... I might as well share with you what has gotten me so “riled up” or as they say on the streets, “pissed off.”

Well, according to the LAW, when an American Citizen turns 65 years old they must apply for Medicare Parts A & B unless they have other insurance already and they they are only required to apply for Part A.

So, I applied for Medicare Part A as per the LAW because I had health insurance through my wife's place of employment. Now, she is planning to retire 2 years later, making me 67, if my math is correct, and as per the LAW, I applied for Medicare Part B. But, since my wife is still working, her employer has to provide information as to when I stopped receiving health insurance which I haven't actually stopped yet, because I want my Medicare Part B to overlap with my current coverage by 1 month.

Which is not a problem.... because I asked if I could do that... but, I still need that paper.

So, I got that paper and turned it in to our local SS office (and please don't confuse that with German SS during WWII) and like all pieces of paper, not only did it go to the wrong department and to the wrong people... even though the “right peoples” name was on the envelope written there by the right people herself... there were some questions...

Oh yes... with our American Government... there is always questions with our bureaucracy... and so, the madness (not to be confused with March Madness, although somewhat similar) began.

Weeks later and past the 6-8 weeks I was told that I would have to wait... I still had not gotten my Medicare Part B card nor the piece of paper indicating my card had been applied for... so, like any good American Citizen, I called my local SS office and actually got the same lady that I had talked with during my initial face-to-face meeting.

I mean what are the odds?

She checked into what was going on and came back after 30 minutes of me waiting listening to elevator music (which was not half bad actually) saying that a call had been made to my wife's employer asking for some clarification because right now, it looks like I had no insurance and therefore will be charged with the penalty for violating the LAW.

The penalty BTW is an additional 20% added on to your Medicare Part B costs every month for the rest of your life... and, that would make me feel like I had been wrongly incarcerated.

So, being as polite as I could be, I thanked this lady and very gently, but swiftly called my wife at work and was not going to take any “shit” from anybody telling me she was busy and would have to call me back.

Well... guess what... that is exactly what I had to do.

She finally called and I explained the situation to her and she hung up the phone and called the lady at the main office and after talking with her called me back.

All of this actually took less time that the amount of time I waited listening to elevator music (which wasn't half bad) waiting for the SS clerk (not to be confused again with Germany) to come back to the phone.

Well... guess what... the lady from the main office did in fact get the message that was left by the SS agent and actually returned the call the next day, leaving the EXACT information that was being requested on a voice mail relative to the phone number that had been left on her voice mail.

Well... guest what... nobody in our Government SS office had bothered or taken the time to check the messages that had been left...

Now... CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?

Well, I couldn't believe it either... so, guess what I did? Yup... I wrote it all down right “chere” in the hope of feeling better... and, guess what... I don't feel any better at all.