Why is it that my to-do list gets longer instead of shorter? A big part of my to-do list is phone calls. Getting anything done by phone is almost impossible. I spend hours on hold. It is an active hold where I am pushing buttons and entering my social security number. They don’t always have the choice you are looking for on the press one, press two options, and it is rare to get an actual human. When you do get a human, they often transfer you to someone else. About half the time you are disconnected. There isn’t enough downtime on hold to do anything else. Since much of the to-do list is phone calls, how can I make more than one call at a time anyway?
You can go on a company website to solve your issue, but only if your issue is simple. You can pay a bill on-line, if the bill is correct. With medical bills, a correct bill is rare. Everyone wants a different type of password, remembering which password goes to which website is confusing. Letters, at least one capital letter, numbers, symbols, and different combinations of actual pictures make some websites so secure that you can’t get through. I often end up having to change my password every time I go into a website. Of course, hackers can get your social security number, your credit card number, and every other piece of information on the website, but I can’t find out how to get an on-line statement.
Most calls have to be made Monday through Friday during “normal business hours.” There just are not enough normal business hours to call everyone that needs to be called. The medical insurance is goofed up, I have already met the deductible but they keep wanting me to pay extra money anyway. My daughter’s financial aid says they paid in full for her college this year but the college still wants money from me. When I talk to the college they say not to worry, it will work out, and then they send me another bill. When I call again they explain about computer glitches but they never send me anything that says the bill has been paid.
The rest of the to-do list is moderate. Pay bills (not so easy when there isn’t much money coming in). Do laundry. Apply for work. Applying for work is all done on-line. After sending hundreds of resumes with hundreds of cover letters, all different depending on the job I am applying for, I am lucky to get one rejection because I am over qualified and I get no interviews.
One of the other to-do list items is to take my husband to doctor appointments and chemotherapy treatments. He could take himself, but he never asks the right questions. With cancer there is so much to know, and things change all the time, so I really need to be there. I also monitor his medicines and make sure he eats enough. Chemotherapy is tough on your system and eating goes from being a joy to being a chore.
So it is the phone calls that really take up the majority of time on my to-do list. Phone calls and trying to solve things on-line that a phone call could solve if you ever got someone. The more technology we have, the more time is wasted.