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For 7 1/2 years, I worked for a state funded children's health insurance. I mostly did eligibility, which means that I processed the applications and decided who was eligible, who got the lower-end medicaid version, and who was over income or denied for some other reason. The good thing is that I didn't have to deal with the applicants face to face. The bad thing is that I still had to deal with them via phone.
Now, when someone called in, they initially get answered by the main call center. If they ask for one of us in Eligibility, the call center was supposed to transfer them after making sure we were at our desk (or available to take a call) and tell us WHO they were transferring. The lazy call center reps would cold transfer them to us instead, so I would have a nice little surprise waiting for me.
One day, they cold transferred a very angry man who was upset because his child didn't qualify because he was over income for the program. And I'm not talking just a few dollars or so.... he was over income by about $6000/month. The guy was a doctor, earning 6 figures, with just his wife & one kid, but didn't have health insurance because he had his own practice. Don't remember what it was, probably something cosmetic or specialized. But of course, he couldn't afford to buy his kid private pay insurance because they had the house payment. And the vacation house payment. And the car payments for 4 luxury cars. And the boat payment. Yeah... so nice to see that you value all of that over your child's health.... great parenting there.
So he's yelling at me. And swearing at me. And wants to know my name. And I tell him my last name is "Smith" - because in my department, we ALL had the last name of Smith. That's what it said on the determination letters, and that's what I stand by. Even Mohammed was "Mohammed Smith." And Bela was "Bela Smith."
Not good enough for this guy... he's swearing at me, and I'm not allowed to hang up. Then he wants to know our address. Unfortunately, the company at that time had some stupid idea that if they ask for our physical address, we had to give it to them, instead of just the PO Box that all of the mail went to so that people wouldn't know our address. So... I give him our address.
And he decides to show up with a baseball bat.
Jackass is out in front screaming my name and waving the bat around. Decides to go upstairs to the office and they don't let him in the door (needs to be opened by someone at the desk... we all had magnetic keys to get in) and he doesn't like that. Paces back & forth for a while because he foams himself up enough into a rage that he starts to swing at the door with the bat.
At which time, the cops show up and take him away in a shiny set of handcuffs.
And two days later, we had a security guard on site.
(The security guard didn't end up staying long... he was trying to hit on all of us women, so he got replaced by a butch female. And then eventually they ended up getting rid of the security guard altogether, deciding we didn't need one. Yeah, smart decision. NOT.)
Now, when someone called in, they initially get answered by the main call center. If they ask for one of us in Eligibility, the call center was supposed to transfer them after making sure we were at our desk (or available to take a call) and tell us WHO they were transferring. The lazy call center reps would cold transfer them to us instead, so I would have a nice little surprise waiting for me.
One day, they cold transferred a very angry man who was upset because his child didn't qualify because he was over income for the program. And I'm not talking just a few dollars or so.... he was over income by about $6000/month. The guy was a doctor, earning 6 figures, with just his wife & one kid, but didn't have health insurance because he had his own practice. Don't remember what it was, probably something cosmetic or specialized. But of course, he couldn't afford to buy his kid private pay insurance because they had the house payment. And the vacation house payment. And the car payments for 4 luxury cars. And the boat payment. Yeah... so nice to see that you value all of that over your child's health.... great parenting there.
So he's yelling at me. And swearing at me. And wants to know my name. And I tell him my last name is "Smith" - because in my department, we ALL had the last name of Smith. That's what it said on the determination letters, and that's what I stand by. Even Mohammed was "Mohammed Smith." And Bela was "Bela Smith."
Not good enough for this guy... he's swearing at me, and I'm not allowed to hang up. Then he wants to know our address. Unfortunately, the company at that time had some stupid idea that if they ask for our physical address, we had to give it to them, instead of just the PO Box that all of the mail went to so that people wouldn't know our address. So... I give him our address.
And he decides to show up with a baseball bat.
Jackass is out in front screaming my name and waving the bat around. Decides to go upstairs to the office and they don't let him in the door (needs to be opened by someone at the desk... we all had magnetic keys to get in) and he doesn't like that. Paces back & forth for a while because he foams himself up enough into a rage that he starts to swing at the door with the bat.
At which time, the cops show up and take him away in a shiny set of handcuffs.
And two days later, we had a security guard on site.
(The security guard didn't end up staying long... he was trying to hit on all of us women, so he got replaced by a butch female. And then eventually they ended up getting rid of the security guard altogether, deciding we didn't need one. Yeah, smart decision. NOT.)
This doctor must specialize in Epic Failology!
Ok, end topic that will get me into trouble but yeah... priorities.
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