Some people don’t like to make phone calls, and some do; some are brief, and some will keep you on the line for an hour – or more. But what is up with the new trend of voice mail?

I know you’re thinking, “New? VM has been around forever!” Yes, it has; and while it was sometimes used to screen callers, or to answer if someone was out of the office or away from home, now it appears to be an extremely annoying tool which is highly overused.

What are the odds that, every single time you call a particular person, he is “away from” his desk or “with a client”? For example, this morning I left a message for someone, and six hours later still hadn’t heard back – the receptionist said she was “a very busy person”. Well. Sure, that explains it. Since when is someone unable to return a call during the same business day? Is this person THAT important? THAT busy? I doubt it.

I’ve worked in offices; I know there is often plenty of downtime. Some people, sure, work straight through their eight hours with nary a break – but those are usually the ones who call you back.

There are a number of places I occasionally call where they obviously use their voicemail to simply answer the phone. You know, the ones that ask you to press this number for that option, ad finitum, until finally the person you’re trying to reach has recorded the inevitable: “I’m sorry, I’m away from my desk” or whatever.

So, if they’re always “away” when you call, what exactly are they DOING?? How can someone have a desk, but never use it? Maybe they don’t know HOW to pick up the phone and say, “Hello”? Maybe they don’t know how to push buttons to call someone back? How the heck did they get their job in the first place?

I used to laugh at job application questions when they asked if one could “operate” a multi-line phone or a calculator. Well, duh, right? Apparently not; must be a lot of really stupid people in the world who eventually get hired somewhere.

Today I’m going to rant about insurance in general and health insurance in particular. As many are aware, I have a few things going on right now that seem to be kicking me in the rear-end. Receiving a letter from our health insurance company yesterday, regarding an audit, did not improve things at all.

You may have ascertained that I am not a fan of health insurance companies. The reason is that they have many, many loopholes to avoid paying on a claim, yet take the money of hardworking Americans in order to…pay millions to the head honchos, of course!

I can go to a reputable clinic staffed by an excellent physician, and pay $40 for a walk-in appointment; I can now, under this health plan, go to another physician, after waiting weeks or months for an appointment, and pay only $15. Same results, but I don’t have to actually be dying in order to see the first one very quickly. Oh, and for the privilege of paying that $15, I also pay about $500 per month. Let’s see, that comes to, for my family of five, assuming we each go to a doctor twice a year – $6150. Or $400. Gosh, can we say “rip-off”??

What about “big” things? I’d wager that the average person has NO “big things” on an annual basis; in fact, last year my husband had a procedure that, without insurance, would have cost us about $3000. He won’t be having that this year, of course, so you see where I’m coming from, right?

Sure, there’s the possibility, but really – that’s what the health insurance industry counts on. Not to mention we hear, all the time, about health care horror stories, but rarely about the relationship between fees charged and actual cost.

My latest gripe is this letter we received yesterday: the company wants “proof” that all dependents are eligible to be insured. Um, let’s see, you’ve been insuring us for three years or more, and NOW you want “proof”?

So they want a copy of our marriage certificate; fine, that was twelve years ago and I don’t know anyone who carries a copy of that around with them – but I do, thankfully. Of course, we could have divorced, they didn’t ask about that. Besides, they also asked for a copy of our tax return. Again, same point.

And they want the kids’ birth certificates. Fortunately, I found all of them too – but in this state it can take two months to receive a copy, so what happens to those who DON’T have them? Especially since the deadline is in 30 days?

Basically, I had to take an hour out of my day to find and copy and prepare to mail all this ridiculous documentation. Some of which, like my daughter’s proof of college attendance, they already had; of course, it took three faxes to take care of that back in January.

But here’s the real kicker: they said to black out our SSNs, etc., even thought they ALREADY HAVE THIS information. Huh?

Okay, it’s an audit – how about WE request an audit on the cost of healthcare? On the cost of their insurance? How about someone tell us just how much is the company’s “share” of this cost? How about we question why the head honcho of THIS company, who makes several million annually, has HIS insurance premiums fully paid by that company?

No wonder the country’s falling apart.