C 5/29/02

Work diary; 5/29/02

You hear some sad stories from people when you handle insurance claims.
It's a miracle some people survive whatever depressing decrepitude
they've created for themselves. My favorite story involves one of my
insureds who called each day about the check for his car. Every call
was a nightmare of the insured screaming over the voices of his many,
many children. I finally sent him a check (there was some hold-up
involving his policy) and I didn't hear from him for months. When he
did call me back, it was to see when I was going to pay him for the
damages to his car.

"But I've already paid you," I said, "The computer is showing you
cashed the check on such-and-such date."

"Yes," he admitted, "I cashed the check, but because I needed money for
food and my family. Now I need another check for the car."
Criminy.

Abigail Van Buren (or it might have been her sister, Ann Landers) once
said that insurance companies are not charities. Is that how people see
us?