Side benefits of helpdesk experience
Today my wife visited the pharmacy for the first time after our insurance switched over to a new company. She had called in her prescription ahead, so she went through the drive through. When she got there, she was asked for her insurance card. She waited, and waited, and waited.... The lady finally asked is she could come in to the building, because she couldn't pull her insurance up on the computer. Andee was frustrated after waiting for 20 minutes, so she said she would come back later.
Later this evening, I called the pharmacy and asked if they had resolved their billing issue. They said that they had been really busy, and hadn't had a chance to call the insurance company yet. I asked what the problem was, and she said that when she entered the account number, it didn't return our account, it just came up "record not found"
I said "Try leaving off the three letters in front of the account number". She followed my advice, and the records came right up.
I was a little proud of myself when I realized I had called a complete stranger up, and told her how to do her job. While I have never played with the pharmacy's computer system had noticed similar confusion on the insurance companies website. When you work a helpdesk job like I do, there is a certain confidence that you learn to project that makes people willing to follow your instructions. She apologized and thanked me, and I was able to pick up the prescription and ease my wife's stress a bit.
