Organising That Health-check
Posted: Sat 24 February, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Health, House Purchase 1 Comment »So yes, the healthcheck that finally happened on Friday was an utter nightmare to organise.
It started off with being told that I needed to sort one out, and that the insurance company had engaged a third party who would contact me to organise an appointment at my convenience.
Yeah, right. What actually happened was that the company called me up and said “We’ve made an appointment for one of our nurses to come and see you at home on Tuesday at 4pm”. Which is hardly at my convenience. So I called them back and told them so.
Them : “But why don’t you want an appointment at home on Tuesday at 4pm? We’ve made all the arrangements”
Me : “Because I’m not going to be at home at that time. I’ll be at work. If your company is willing to pay me to take half a day off work to come and see you, I might consider it”
Them : “No, we can’t do that. But we don’t understand what the problem is with this appointment, it’s at your home at 4pm”
Me : “Amazing as this may seem to you, I work. Maybe I’m the only person you’ve ever dealt with who works, but there we go. So 4pm on a weekday is not convenient. I’m home for about 7pm, if that helps”
Them : “Oh no, our nurses only work 9-5”.
At which point I ended up going back to the insurers and telling them they could stuff their business. The people they engaged would have problems discerning between an arse and an elbow, and there was no way I was using them. So they promised to organise something else, a proper medical at a proper doctor’s surgery. However, it would still be organised through a third party.
And then I got another call about a week later, from the first third party, still trying to make a ‘convenient’ appointment for me on a workday at 4pm, and which for an appointment ‘at my convenience’ was strangely immovable. This time they got told to sod off.
When the second third party finally called, the first thing they said was “So, you need an appointment in Norfolk?”. At which I think I growled. The woman at the other end certainly seemed surprised. I re-explained the situation (actually, that’s probably more like re-re-re-re-explained, but there we go), and they finally discovered a surgery that was close to the workplace. Halle-bloody-lujah.
But all told it’s still taken four weeks to organise a poxy medical. But if my blood-pressure is too high (I doubt it will be, but still) I’m going to blame it all on the poxy fucking insurance company and their medical third parties. So there.
Patronised
Posted: Fri 23 February, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Health 2 Comments »Ah, the joys of being patronised by medical ‘professionals’.
“Well, Mr Lyle, you’re really rather overweight, aren’t you?”
which really should get the response “Really? And there I was, hoping to climb Everest tomorrow“, instead of the one I gave, which was “Yes. And?“. To which the twat had no answer.
Health Check
Posted: Fri 23 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Health, House Purchase, Sweary Leave a comment »One of the real pains (and one I haven’t yet written about on D4D™ – believe me, it’s coming) with our house-buying process at the moment has been that as part of the entire mortgage malarkey, we’ve both been advised to get some proper life-insurance, that’d cover the whole amount of the mortgage should one of us suddenly develop a ‘critical’ illness or drop dead. Of course, that also means having to deal with another load of financial scumbags – insurers.
Back in Jan 2005, I got one lot of cheap-ass life insurance on Herself’s insistence (in fairness, she got some too) which became not-such-cheap-ass insurance when the insurance scumbag underwriters at Norwich Poxybollocks Union decided I was overweight, and whacked an extra amount on my premium. Not a lot, to be honest, but still rather more than the initial quotation had been. Bastards.
Since then, I’ve lost a fair amount of weight, although (as I’ve commented many times) I’m still never going to be 12-15stone without going through at least one limb amputation. That’s a fact of life. I’m not unfit – OK, I’m not fit either, but there we go – and… oh, chuff it, you all know the score by now.
Anyway, with the mortgage application and insurance guff, the scumbag insurance underwriters have – again – thrown a wobbly. And they’ve insisted that this time I don’t just pay extra, I have to have a ‘health check’ too before they might deign to take my money.
So while you’re reading this, I’m in a random doctor’s surgery, having a basic medical and healthcheck for scumbag dirtwad insurers . Whoopee Doo.
Compeed
Posted: Sun 18 February, 2007 Filed under: Health Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I bought some more Compeed®™ plasters, this time for the poxy burn on my hand. I’ve used Compeed plasters before, and I think they’re absolutely marvellous.
However, they’re also deeply strange. I can’t explain how they work, but the material in the body of the plaster is a sort of semi-liquid gel, which ends up forming itself into the wound, and forming almost an inverted mould of whatever you happen to have done to yourself. For me, the plaster itself becomes a source of fascination, it feels so odd as the gel solidifies with body heat, but it’s also good to know (and feel) that they’re actually doing some good.
Dogs and Health
Posted: Mon 22 January, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Health Leave a comment »In general, I can’t say I’m surprised at the ‘revelation’ that Dog owners (and, I suspect, pet owners in general) ‘lead healthier lives’. Particularly in the case of dog owners (or at least responsible ones) part of that is due to the enforced exercise regime – also known as “dog walking”.
Currently I’m not as good on this score, because Herself takes Hound for its morning walk while I’m sat on a train going to work – although on weekends Hound decides that it’s back to being my job. Which is fair enough.
Once we’ve moved, though, I suspect we’ll also be back to doing a lot more Hound-related exercise. In the current place, we mis-assessed the situation, and we’re actually not very close at all to anywhere that’s good for Hound-walking. There’s one small area that’s semi-close, but for a border collie it’s just too small. In fact, I’d say the designated ‘dog walking’ area is actually smaller than our garden. Once we’ve moved, though, there’s just fields all round, so I’m sure we’ll be doing a lot more, even in the evenings.
It’s also well-known that stroking one’s dog or cat is, in general, good at reducing stress levels, blood-pressure etc., and as such is usually quite healthy.
Then again, the people who created this report had obviously not met our two, as Hound is great at inducing heavy levels of stress when she’s in irritating (AKA “Barky twat”) mode, and Psycho Cat is great at guessing when you’ve just relaxed while stroking the furry little fucker, and then biting your fingers at the opportune moment…
Ug
Posted: Tue 14 November, 2006 Filed under: General, Health Leave a comment »I hate having a cold.
It’s 6am (OK, now 6:15am) and I’m wide awake. The skin at the bottom of my nose is glowing like Rudolph, and is sore. For some reason I’ve woken up, and my brain won’t let me go back to sleep. So instead I’m sat here, coughing my lungs up, sneezing, and generally feeling like shit.
Oh, and one of my nostrils is blocked by a plug of what I can only assume is snot, which has apparently congealed in a spot that is both unreachable and immovable.
Ain’t life glamorous?