Yes, boys and girls, there is an Ultimate Complaint Free World Challenge, and it seems that fate, the universe and everything conspired to slam me with it on my second day of living complaint-free.  What, you might ask?

Healthcare.gov!  Ha, ha.  No, not the website which a kajillion dollars in technical expertise couldn’t get running after a year.  Rather, my Ultimate Challenge to Complaint-Free Living came on the phone.

A peculiarity of enrolling in health insurance through the Marketplace put me in a network which incuded NONE of my healthcare providers without my realizing it.  BCBSofKC had no problem switching me to the correct plan, but required cooperation from an agent at the Marketplace.  With a BCBSofKC saint, I spent an hour on the phone on 12/31/13 getting the problem — well, not solved; but at least documented.  We received assurances that the change coulld be made but, lo and behold “due to a glitch in the system”, we had to wait at least 24 hours before completing the second half of the process.

Which put us on January 1st, when BCBSofKC would be closed (one of the few days, mind you).  We received further assurances that no problem would impede completion of the process on January 2.

So….You guessed it.  The next person, on January 2, adamantly insisted that because it was “past January 1”, we could not complete the process.  Not only was he adamant, he was a little snarky, too. In fact, he insisted that I should get private insurance, not through the Marketplace.  “Why do you want to go through the Marketplace anyway?” he snarled.  When I told him that my reasoning was irrelevant to the process, he snapped back, “I think it’s very relevant.”  Uh, no.

I did not exactly remain calm inwardly, but I remained calm outwardly.  I did not call him the names which rose and clamored within me.  I did insist on establishing what he was saying — since I know all calls are recorded — and that he was refusing to let me speak with or know the name of the supervisor whom he claimed backed up his statements that “no exception could be made and nobody here can make an exception”.

Then, we got a supervisor who, uh, well, made an exception. Shock!

An hour and a half later, the process is several steps further along and resolution is in sight.  Your faithful blogger has not yelled at anyone, nor even felt tempted to do so.  In fact, I felt so grateful for the BCBSofKC lady that I  got the name of her manager from a friend who works there, and wrote a letter of praise.

It occurs to me that a government employee is not really the ultimate test of my remaining complaint-free but a trial run.  I can see drivers cutting me off, sales clerks cracking bubble gum, judges denyng simple requests, opposing counsel insulting my client.  It’s going to be a long year!  But:  I made it through one test, and I’m still standing, stil smiling, and still complaint-free.