Another day at work and another tale to tell.
When you deal with insurance companies you are eventually
going to get some characters. This phone call did not disappoint. This customer
service representative even had ties to Maine.
From my cubicle at Maine Veterans' Homes, I called United Healthcare for help with a stubborn claim.
You can call them stubborn when it takes multiple phone calls and over a year
to have the insurance company FINALLY see where they’ve gone wrong and pay a
claim according to the guidelines associated with it. Stubborn little things. I
hate it when they hang around for longer than they’re supposed to...like black fly season.
As the call connected, I would have bet my last dollar I heard a New York
accent on the other end saying “Thank you for cawling You-neyed-ed Healthcare.
This is” for this instance we’ll call her ‘Rhonda’ “Rhonda. How are you doin’
today?” That last part sounded like a legit imitation of Joey Tribiani on
F*R*I*E*N*D*S.
I answered “Absolutely fabulous, Rhonda! How about you?”
“Oh, well, that is fabulous to hear! I’m doin’ alright! How
may I help you?”
I poured out my claim troubles to ‘Rhonda’ and she was ready
to help. While giving her all the information she would ever need and then some,
she went to work researching the phone calls I had previously made and dug into
the claim like the Golden Girls digging into their nightly cheesecake.
While she was scanning her system for information, I asked
her if she was working from home. She revealed that she had been working from
home since March and was glad she was. Living near Tampa, she felt safer
working from home. With Florida being one of the hotspots of the COVID-19
pandemic, she hadn’t been to the gym or the beach since the lockdowns had started. She was
really sad about it because in the beginning of the year (my guess it was probably
due to a New Year’s resolution) she wanted to get healthy so she started going
to the gym 4 to 5 times a week. In the 3 months prior to the pandemic, she had
lost 40 pounds and was so proud. Now, she was home with her teenage son and her cats
and searching for a treadmill to get back on track of her fitness regimen.
She also missed going to the beach and I told her I used to live
in Saint Petersburg for three years. I could hear her typing away as she said
she didn’t understand why everyone thinks Clearwater Beach is better than Saint
Pete Beach. I totally agreed with her. I used visit John’s Pass and visit the
Red Skelton store (which no longer exists).
The one thing I regretted not seeing in Florida when I lived
there was a rocket launch. I asked her if she watched the NASA Atlas V launch with
the Perseverance Rover aboard this morning. She said with living a few hours
away and starting work as early as she does she was unable to. I told her I had
signed up my son and myself on the names to go to Mars and we were on that
ship! She asked me if I had seen and I said yes. She then assumed I lived in
Florida. I said “No, ma’am, I live in Maine.”
That’s when the joy in her voice became full blown.
‘Rhonda’ jumped at the chance to say she loved Maine. She
grew up in Brooklyn (I KNEW IT!) and used to summer in Maine with her family. Coming
from the city to driving to rural Maine where her cousins lived in trailers
with acres of land with trees and streams was a complete shock to her. Hearing
her say that it was so QUIET in Maine made me think how lucky we are we have this kind of peace. She could see the stars and while she
was here it was her only time seeing fireflies. She looked forward to
visiting every summer. Autumn was quite another trip for her. Her family would
head north for the fall foliage and she remembered visiting the pumpkin patches
and drinking apple cider. It was her favorite time of year. If you have ever
heard of the Fresh Air Fund, the exuberance for Maine in her voice must be how those
children feel when they travel here to get away from inner city life for just a
few weeks. A few hours north and a completely different world. One that ‘Rhonda’
looks back on with fondness.
As we concluded our phone call with the claim being sent back to
be reprocessed with all the information I had given her she gave me my reference
number. Then the words I love to hear came through my headset:
“Thank you for cawling You-neyed-ed Healthcare. It was a
pleasure tawking with you, Sharon. I hope you stay safe and have a blessed day.”
You too, Rhonda. You too.
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