Five months ago we had an addition to our family – Max. Of course he is the apple of my eye and has been showered with love and affection from his arrival. Yes there has been sleep disruption and lots of additional expense but that goes with the territory of expanding the family.
Last week my dear wife returned to work and as I am currently working from home, I was entrusted with looking after my beamish boy. This meant lists of tasks from by other half, one of which was to talk to the medical insurance company. It appeared that max’s health insurance premium had not been getting deducted from my credit card. So armed with all the relevant information ie dates, account numbers, policy details etc I proceeded to call the insurance company.
It should be noted that I do not normally deal with insurances, ban statement, or bills of any kind. They all fall under the purview of my wife. my philosophy being that as I deal with dollars, contracts, payments, claims and recalcitrant subcontractors all day, I can leave all the personal paperwork to my highly organised wife. ask me how much our rates are and I would not have a clue. as to who supplies the gas and electricity, I do not have the foggiest. How the household bills are paid is a mystery to me. but my wife, bless her, had written on the list that Max’s health insurance should come out of my MasterCard on the 20th of each month and to date not transactions had occurred.
So I call the enquiry line wich turns out to be somewhere in the environs of Bombay. A very pleasant lady took my details, the policy number, max’s date of birth, my credit card details etc. I explained that the money had not been leaving my account and could she help me,
She said no and could not discuss Max with me. The reason being the insurance policy had been arranged by my wife and due to “Data Protection” she could not discuss the policy, the payment or even Max with me. I explained that Max was ours, the money was to come from my account, but the lady was adamant. At this point Max, who had been soundly asleep, awoke. I explained that max could verify my identity but could not speak, after all he is only five months old.
So she could not help me send her my own money and my wife had to speak with them the next day. This will probably be the last time i foray into the household budget area. cash flow reporting and job cost forecasting on multi million dollar projects is much simpler.
By the way here is a picture of the beloved Max.
PREMDALE CONSULTING 