Rant #2,878: Stumblin' In

Happy Wednesday!
 
If you read yesterday’s blog entry, you know that I am in a bit of a scuffle related to my son’s health insurance, and no, the problem is not yet resolved.
 
After several calls, I finally got through to my doctor’s billing office, who told me that they were planning on calling me at 11:30 a.m. after telling me that they would either contact me by close of business on Monday or by 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
 
And then, for my building displeasure with them, they presented me with the most idiotic explanation of this problem, that made as much sense as the problem itself.
 
I still don’t understand if we are OK or if we have some type of problem with my son’s Medicare account, and the double talking that I received as an explanation leads me to believe that I still don’t know where we stand with this … and they told me it could take several weeks to eradicate the problem … the usual “don’t call us, we’ll call you” explanation so that they could get off the phone with me.

So I then called the doctor's office, where I received a message that the office did not open until 9 a.m. ... but it was past 10 a.m. when I called. 

An alternate number was given, I called that, and the response was "this account has not set up a voice mailbox yet, Goodbye."

I recalled the doctor's office throughout the day, but I received the same response.

Just think if I had a real medical emergency to deal with!
 
I don’t know if you feel the same way that I do, but since the pandemic began more than two years ago, people have gotten either more stupid than they already were, or perhaps we on the other end have gotten smarter.
 
And it doesn’t matter who you are dealing with, whether it is the person at the drive-up fast food window or a doctor’s office … I just feel that people are not working at their maximum brain efficiency anymore … as if they were doing that before we got hit with this thing.
 
But now, it is even worse.
 
Yes, we have heard the so-called virus “experts” tell us about “brain fog” after getting COVID, but like anything else related to this virus, they say they go by “the science,” but I don’t believe a word of it.
 
It is just an excuse to explain—and worse, to justify—total incompetency by many people as you deal with them as they are supposedly doing the jobs that they get paid for.
 
I have said many, many times that I can’t be that much smarter than the people I am dealing with ,,, but perhaps I am.
 
And this latest conundrum that I find myself in once again justifies my thought that people have become very lazy at what they do and do not give it their all.
 
That is not everyone, of course, but I have found a certain segment of the population—many young people from their late teens to their late 30s—seem to have permanent brain fog, and honestly, I don’t think it has anything to do with COVID-19.
 
On the one end of it, I cannot tell you how many times I have used the drive-up window at a local fast-food establishment during these past few months and have received either a partial order or a completely wrong order.

And I cannot tell you how many times I have paid for my order and have either received the wrong change back or have been sent on my way without my drinks, both of which I quickly bring to their attention.
 
On the other end, I cannot tell you how many governmental entities I have spoken to during the past two years, and other supposedly responsible and professional entities—including doctors’ offices—where I need a real answer and received nothing more than a lackadaisical response.
 
And I see through these responses pretty quickly, as I did yesterday, but since my hands are tied, there really isn’t much I can do about it.
 
But because of COVID, the level on the ladder has gone down, and I mean way down, related to professionalism, and while I expect those entities I am dealing with to act the way they should, I have found that the existence of the virus allows them to justify—either outwardly or with invisibility—a lower standard of performance.
 
It is a terrible thing to say, and believe me, it is not everyone who acts as if they are in a constant fog related to their work,
 
But I have found enough evidence during the past two-plus years to ascertain in my own mind that I am often dealing with completely incompetent people … and as you know if you are a regular reader of this blog that a few times, I have had to resort to “I will get a lawyer and sue you” before I got some peoples’ attention to the matter at hand.
 
When I was working full time, there was no room for this type of behavior.
 
I did my job to the fullest, rarely kept people hanging—and if I did, I would tell them that I would get back to them with an answer ASAP, and I did just that—and I kept up the professionalism even as the company I worked for was crumbling down around me.
 
I don’t see such a commitment today, and believe me, it hurts me to say that, but it is true.
 
In fact, I have spoken to others about this, and they agree with me, the standard of professionalism is not what it once was before the pandemic hit.
 
And that is sad, in particular when you are looking for sensible, real and understandable answers to questions related to your health.
 
I have never heard of a virus that can make you dumber and lazier when you get it and recover from it, but the coronavirus evidently can do that … but funny, I don’t believe that for one moment.
 
What the virus has done is to justify laziness, and no, I don’t think that is a valid symptom of this malady, no way, no how.