Perhaps my viewpoint has been colored by my finally catching Covid over Christmas weekend so that my first week of retirement was spent recovering. But it's amazing how much bureaucratic bullshit one has to wade through for any significant life change.

For example, health care. My health coverage was provided through Unilever, where I worked for the past 22 years. I had to sign up for Medicare A at 65, but postponed Medicare B and others until I actually retired. Medicare B coverage will cost me 165 bucks per month, withheld from my SSA check. This doesn't include prescription, dental or eyeglass coverage. That is a different alphabet option and costs extra. Now, there is another option, Medicare Advantage Plans that are issued by private insurers. The company that provided coverage for Unilever has several PPO Medicare Advantage plans that cost from 0 to 24 dollars per month and are actually better coverage than my employer provided benefits. For example the no cost to me plan includes prescription, eyeglasses, 1500 dollars a year towards dental, and free gym membership. No brainer, right? So what's the problem? This. I can't sign up with them until I have already received a Medicare B account. So I have to have the inferior and more expensive coverage for at least one month before I can switch. I have already spent multiple hours online, on the phone, and at the SSA office to get this far. Sadly, more to come.

However, that was a walk in the park compared to switching over my mobile phone from a corporate provided account to my own responsibility. My company phone is/was my only phone so it is imperative I keep the same number. I'm usually a procrastinator, but I started the process for this switch on December 14th so there would be no loss of service. That day I spent almost two and a half hours on the phone with three different CSAs at ATT. At the end of this, I was given a new account number and told the transfer would take place on or around 12/31/2022.

Yeah, right.

The first week in January, while still sick and thus even more easily irritated than normal, I went online to link my account with my ATT online profile. Didn't work. Error message that said, please call this number for assistance. So I did. No, I was told, no transfer had taken place. I needed to call the business accounts people and request one.

I did that already. On 12/14. I provided them with the request number I had been given. They said it would take another week. Okay, fine.

A week passes. It's Monday the 9th. I go online again and try to register my new account. I get the message that the account is suspended and please call. Reluctantly, I do so. Once again I am bounced around for over an hour before being told I need to go to an ATT store to complete the transfer. Fortunately, there is an ATT store less than two miles from my house and I am no longer Covid positive, so I do so. I'm there for almost 90 minutes. They tell me I should be all set. As I walk into my house, my phone service drops. It reads, SOS ONLY where the bars are normally displayed.

Well now I can't use the goddam phone, so I reluctantly use the live chat function via my laptop. After a ridiculous amount of back and forth, the tech tells me I have to go back to the store. This suggestion wasn't made until after the moron asked me why I don't simply call them on my landline. D'oh! Why didn't I fucking think of that!!

I go back to the store and they swap out the SIM card, complete a bunch of online forms on their iPad, and my service is restored. All good, right?

So today I go back online to sync my phone number with my ATT account so I can manage it online. Once again, I get the account deactivated or suspended message. Once again, I call the help number. This time I finally get a competent rep who addresses my issue and successfully completes the transfer of the account. Cost in time: another 90 minutes.

Obviously, everyone else I dealt with before the amazingly helpful lady today was either incompetent or didn't give a shit. Or both. It's a sad commentary when one is left feeling gratitude for someone who actually does her job.

Thus endeth my