"Please can you explain the proper procedure?"
It's not like I'm asking for something obscure.
Her response was plain: "You need the right form."
I pulled on my hair. You're getting warm.
"I had the right form, but they wouldn't accept it."
It made me want to scream, to hide, or to quit.
"I don't know the answer. Call your insurance."
Jump through these hoops, let's test your endurance.
"I called them. They said they approve of this coverage."
And we wonder why people go over the edge.
"Oh," she exclaimed, "Then you must need a referral."
Good grief, do I look like a flying gray squirrel?
I said, "Isn't that the first form you gave me?"
How many forms can you get from one tree?
"No," she said calmly, "we write that separately."
I told myself to breathe deep and counted One, Two, Three.
"Is that it?" I asked. "Is that everything I'm missing?"
And whose mistake, I wondered, should I be dismissing?
"Yes," she concluded, "That's all you need."
Why do we allow such complications to breed?
by Christy Noel
3/22/04