Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Dealing with Bureaucracies (Or how to maintain high blood pressure)

I had such a fun day yesterday (not!). In an effort to raise my blood pressure, I dealt with several bureaucracies simultaneously.

First, I had to deal with my car. It would not start on Sunday, nor again yesterday after several tries. I called AAA and they said a tow truck would be here with in an hour. Fine, I can deal with that. An hour later they called and said he would be another 20 minutes. Half an hour later, he showed up and said 'my truck is too big to get your car out of the driveway. I'm not pushing it by hand. I'll call in and they will send another smaller truck.' He said it would be about 25-30 minutes. He also told me that he thought it sounded like my timing belt. half an hour later I called AAA again for an update and after 15 minutes on hold, I was told it would be another 45 minutes. 15 minutes later, they called back and said the driver was out front. Driver number 2 pushed the car out of the driveway by hand and towed it to the garage. The mechanic got it started in 5 minutes and said it was only flooded. This saga took three hours to resolve. My blood pressure was just ducky.

In the meantime, I called the doctors office to reschedule. I was told that the doctor's schedule had changed and she wasn't available the day my appointment was originally scheduled. It hadn't been rescheduled right away as the scheduling person was waiting to see if a week which had been frozen on the doctor's calendar in May would open up. I don't know why they didn't tell me this on Friday. Now I have an appointment with the physician's assistant on the exact same time and date as my original doctor appointment. At least I will have the physical I am due for and I can get in to see the doctor later if they find anything (which we will just assume they won't).

Also, because i really wanted to punish myself (and I was stuck here), I decided it was time to straighten out some stock certificates I have. I have shares with one company but two accounts in two batches because one set was a gift from my grandfather and the other shares I purchased later on. And the accounts are in my married name. I sent in the paperwork a few weeks ago to start this but they sent it back and said I need to send in the certificates. I have no idea where the certificates are so I wanted to find information online. Of course, their website froze on me. Then I called, but the wrong number, so after being on hold for 10 minutes I was given the right number. They told me they will send me the new certificate and then I have to send it back to them with the form they have already sent back to me. Then the name change can be done. Also, their website requires Internet Explorer not Firefox (they could have put this on their website).

In the meantime of all these phone calls and fun interactions, the physical therapy people called to reschedule my initial consult, I talked to friends and family members, and the phone just kept ringing. This was all before 1130am. I really needed a walk and it was 45 degrees out. Then I went to work (and the phone rang all afternoon).

Today I hope will be less stressful but I do have a big list of things to do today. Return overdue library books, go to the gym, see my therapist, follow up on the job that called me last week (and never returned my other call), laundry, buy milk, vacuum the living room, make calls for volunteer work, and go to work. I think thats it but I am sure my tiny brain has allowed me to forget something important. Oh, and its going to snow so I will be driving around all day on crappy roads. Joy of joys!

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