Tuesday, November 27, 2012

I'm a Lousy Shopper - Sometimes

Details, (policy) Details....

The other day I noticed how ratty my wardrobe was getting.  Ever the frugal consumer, I decided to embark on a quick shopping trip to my local T.J. Maxx (for the uninitiated, it's where clothes and other sundries that failed to be scooped up from the 'Clearance' section go to die).  I found what I believed to be some superb deals on some nice stuff.  In particular, I found a lightweight rust'ish' colored merino wool number made by an Italian guy I'd never heard of, but hey, why not?  Since I'm still tall, but not the larger figure I once was, I opted for the size large. I pretty much get everything in large.  Sometimes the clothes give me a skosh more room than necessary, sometimes a perfect fit and then there's this sweater.  Apparently lost in translation was the fact that this size large sweater was only that way when worn by dwarf hamsters.  Naturally, after having removed all the tags and any other vestige that would evidence my proof of purchase, I threw it on and headed out the door before the error of my transaction had fully been realized in my mind.  As I cruised along to a holiday gathering, I noticed that my forearms had seemingly grown to elephantine proportions.  I had an irritating, Popeye-like sensation that was definitely not what I'd planned to have.  Worse still, was that the sweater was so unforgiving that should I decide to steal an extra helping of Aunt Cheryl's homemade sweet potato casserole, it would announce it's presence beneath my sweater before fully making its way past my gullet. Perhaps the one saving grace of this article of clothing is that it was clinging enough to make some needy ex-girlfriends look detached and ambivalent.  So, at least my calorie count was down for the gathering.  The point with all this blather is the danger of assumption.  One former workplace had a mantra that I had failed to remember: "Assumption is the mother of all screw ups".  Granted, this is a paraphrased, sanitized,PG, version of the mantra, but the message is the same.  It is often crucial to have a thorough understanding of details.  

Now by now, you may be asking yourself what my personal shopping habits have to do with insurance.  As much as we may wish to skip over them and move forward with the next thing we sometimes have to get down and roll around in the weeds of minutiae for a least a little while.  And believe me, coming from a guy who's personality is filled with more ADD holes in my  attention span than your favorite block of Swiss cheese, this is not the easiest of suggestions to make.  Azimuth is continually trying to find ways to make the process easier, more streamlined and better understood, but until we are able to inject plan wordings into our client's brains (clinical trials didn't work out so well) we will implore you to delve into the finer points.  We have made it easier by giving clear explanations of how terms are defined, where details can be found and expressing them in terms as plainly as we are able.  So take a few minutes - please don't assume that something is covered just because you have insurance.  Examine your plan wording a bit, maybe call and ask a question of your insurance professional or of us.  You are welcome to connect with us any time via Service@AzimuthRisk.com or just pick up the phone and give us a call at 317-644-6291 and we'll do our best to make it understandable.  Anybody know how I can use a crowbar to remove a sweater without ripping it?

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