Number please!

I hate getting a runaround. I hate when it happens on the phone even worse than when it happens in person. This afternoon I had to call the Provider for my dental benefits and I was ushered into the menu from hell.

"Please declare whether you are a provider of benefits or a member of **********?"

So I say "member." So far so good. I simply wanted to call to find out how to get a form that says my daughter is a full time student. The next prompt threw me.

"Please declare the purpose of your call. Say Benefits, pre-authorization for a procedure, claims, provider information... " As the voice is giving me options I am trying to guess which is the right option. I tried claims first and that was a dead end. Then I tried benefits and that was another rabbit hole. I went through the whole prompt system a third time and I was lost. I kept looking for the response where I could talk to a live person. It wasn't there. After fifteen minutes or running in circles I finally gave up and hit zero. Then the voice began talking to me in Spanish.

I know these voice mail services are supposed to save time and money but the only way I can figure that happens is that people give up and don't call again. As I put my ego aside and tried again, I thought about the fact that some of us feel like God does the same thing when it comes to our prayers. We pray and quite honestly it sometimes seems as if there isn't a live person on the other end of our prayer line. We go to church or sit quietly and nothing happens. It can be frustrating. But here is the truth.

God does hear our prayers. All you need to do is look back on your life and you will see. The prayers are not always answered exactly as you imagined, but the answers are there to see. God will never give you the runaround.

By the way I did get through to the insurance rep finally but I can't tell you how. I gave the woman all the information she needed and was ready to hang up when she informed me that I needed just one more detail. When I asked her if she had a direct line so I could get that info and get back to her, she apologized and told me I'd have to go through the maze again and any agent could handle it. Funny thing is that I said a little prayer And when I called back I got right through.

Thank you God. Now that's service.

Cal