M-I-C-K-E-Y

I was told that a friend of mine fell for one of those phony phone calls pretending to be from one of her grandchildren....asking, of course, for money.

Now, she is $6,000 poorer.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL!

We are particular vulnerable because of WHEN and HOW we were raised.  We are not programed to be suspicious of our fellow humans.  It's not natural for us.

As I look back on it, I think one of the shortcomings of our upbringing was......

not that we spent too much time in Sunday School.......BUT.....we should have spent a little more time in  DEVIL SCHOOL...learning a little about the "Flip" side of humanity.

However, maybe just about everybody but me instinctively picked this up on their own.
 ...

I recently retired. I thought it might take some getting used to...you know...sitting around doing nothing.

Nope, I'm sure I will eventually take  to it like a duck to water, a pig to mud.......whatever. I was born for this kind of life!

However, that hasn't happened yet. I think I already have a new career;  one that I don't want: WORKING FOR THE
GOVERNMENT!

Since I no longer had health insurance from my employer, I signed up for Medicare.
Most of you probably went through that exercise a number of years ago.  I was told how simple it is
to sign up via the Internet...."Just takes 5 minutes," they told me,.

I knew that was too good to be true.

I sat down at my computer....signed on.....and the first question I was asked was, WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

I typed in my name...and the website replied,

WRONG!

...and told me to visit my Social Security office on the other side of Alexandria, VA and wait 6 hours to speak to a Medicare specialist in person.

Well, it got worse from there.

But to make a long story short, I finally got signed up and received my Medicare Card and promptly
took it to Kinkos and got it laminated, so it wouldn't get shredded  from taking it out and in of my wallet hundred of times over the coming years.

All was well, until last week...when all of the bills that I had charged on my pretty red, white and blue Medicare card began bouncing back to me..............saying Medicare refused to pay....

I started back through the Government minefield and was eventually told,

"Yes, you signed up.....and we sent you the card....BUT we DIDN'T know you wanted to use it!

You mean, you want us to be your insurance provider!"

Now, they phrased that in their unique bureaucratic lingo, but that was the message.

It's like if you were to buy a new car........and the dealer shows up at your house a week later...and takes it back, saying, "Well, you didn't tell us you wanted to DRIVE it!"

Your Government at work.

-Ed