It's furniture-throwing time: New Angroyed thread

[RavingLunatic]

So a few weeks ago, when I was feeling so dead and devoid of energy that it required a real effort to get up and walk about, I went to the hospital and had a blood test of some sort done. My parents get a blood test every year for $40, and while they may have done a couple additional test on mine, I figured the cost would be comparable, certainly not more than about $100. Got the bill yesterday for 540 fucking dollars. What the fuck is that all about? Is it because I don't have insurance and therefore have no bargaining power? They knew, when I went in there, that I did not have insurance, and no one mentioned that the cost would be anything like that. I guess my dad called them this morning and apparently just because he called, they cut the bill in half. Still, $270 is still fucking exorbitant. I'm not sure exactly what to do. I can pretty much truthfully claim that I cannot afford to pay.

Anyone have experience or knowledge about this sort of thing? Is it worth the risk of them taking you to court to pay a reasonable price, say, $100? And is one fucked if they do decide to sue you for the money? I mean, I feel like there's a pretty strong case to be made that they have a responsibility to give an indication of the price of something when the vast majority of people would naturally assume the price to be a small fraction of what they are in fact charging. It's like ordering a hamburger from some place that doesn't list prices and then being informed, after eating it, that it costs $500.

[elpollodiablo]

My solution has historically been to not pay. If you're okay with awful credit, you can do the same. They will not take you to court for an amount that small.

[RavingLunatic]

Cool, thanks. I don't plan on ever needing good credit, so I guess I'd be OK with that.

[Maaik]

I don't plan on ever needing good credit

yeah?

[elpollodiablo]

Just make sure you marry a sensible person.

[RavingLunatic]

Marriage to any sort of person is an extreme long shot at this point, as is my ever purchasing a home or anything like that.

[milesofsparks]

I don't plan on ever needing good credit

that sucks to be in that position of not being able to pay for things you need, but keep in mind credit scores are used for more than just buying a house. it can be difficult to even rent an apartment without good credit, for example. maybe it's worth talking to the hospital to see if they can a) reduce the fee further and/or b) work out a payment plan.

[RavingLunatic]

Yeah, a phone call was enough to cut the bill in half apparently, and I guess you can pay in installments, but I'm not sure what the details of that are. Probably I will end up paying part of that reduced bill in installments and forget about the rest. I thought about sending them weekly payments entirely in pennies, but my dad pointed out that would probably just angroy a low-level employee who's got nothing to do with any of it.

[elpollodiablo]

RL, my life is made exponentially harder by my fucked up credit. If I could undo a lot of the damage I did as a younger man, especially w/r/t medical debt, I would. You should not heed my advice about stiffing the hospital if you can at all avoid it--in fact, it wasn't even really advice.

[bethany_m]

Yeah, please don't ruin your credit over less than $300.  It is painful to get back to good credit when you realize you may need it.  Also some jobs require credit checks.

[elpollodiablo]

I think it's a little less than gracious to leave me as the only front office employee for three hours this morning, roll in at 12.30, and then upbraid me for yelling on the phone. Sorry! I've just been singlehandedly running every aspect of the company for most of the day; I didn't mean to shout at that gaping asshole with a chicken joint down on John street!

[elpollodiablo]

However: I just realized that I've got exactly 22 days left here.

[Ignatius]

They gonna need some help? I'm supposed to graduate and move out of here in 20... 

[elpollodiablo]

I'd say you should definitely send me your resume, but a requisite for the position would be two weeks of shadowing me at the office. If that is at all feasible for you, though, you should email me.

[diesel_powered]

I dunno, with all that shadowing he might learn to yell at people on the phone.

[Ignatius]

I'd say you should definitely send me your resume, but a requisite for the position would be two weeks of shadowing me at the office. If that is at all feasible for you, though, you should email me.

Ah, no dice, then. I couldn't possibly get out any earlier than the 17th, or make that commute in the meantime.

[clare]

tax bill arrived in the mail yesterday. Not only is it 9 times what we paid last quarter, it's 3 times what we were expecting to have to pay. Fuck you ATO. Fuck you IRS. And fuck your alleged tax treaty.

[alex]

Dammit, I want my internet connection at home back. It's been dead for 9 days now, I've wasted a lot of time and money calling the customer service to see what can be done to fix it, and at this point it seems that replacing the router - which is something the landlord would have to initiate - is the only option that's left. Landlord doesn't answer his phone, and is probably not in the city. I've considered moving into the cellar, where there is not only a functional internet connection, but it's also nicely chilly. Unfortunately, there's also lots of mould, spiders and dust, so I think I'll resist the temptation.

[clare]

Gah, yesterday the cat was on the table so the bloke decided to peg one of Erik's little hard plastic toys at him (rather than getting off the sofa and grabbing the cat). Of course the toy hit my laptop which was open on the table, and now has a very interesting but useless screen. Which is why I'm reading LPtJ on my phone. *sigh*

[JamesSchneider]

My phone bill came. It is usually btw $95-105. This bill is $645. Fire Will Reign.

[lucky strike]

Gah, yesterday the cat was on the table so the bloke decided to peg one of Erik's little hard plastic toys at him (rather than getting off the sofa and grabbing the cat). Of course the toy hit my laptop which was open on the table, and now has a very interesting but useless screen. Which is why I'm reading LPtJ on my phone. *sigh*

wtf?? who throws hard objects at kitties? really not feeling it  perhaps i have misunderstood?

[clare]

No, strike, you read it right. He's totally in the dog-house over this. We have squirt bottles, but he's a lazy bugger so grabbed the closest thing, which was a crayon. *sigh*

[kyle]

Having a tough time finding a place to live.

Sent an email to a good prospect in a good neighborhood at a good price and recieved this back:

Hi,

I did get your response concerning the AD I posted on craigslist. The house is still available but presently I'm not around.. I did bid for a portion of petroleum land sometimes ago in West Africa and fortunately I won the bidding so I have to move quickly down to Africa to have my company set up because I will still have to rebid for it in the next 10 years. I came over here with my wife, we both built the house when we got married. As soon as we settle down here I had a thought of selling the house so I have to look for an agent, after getting one, we got a deal but later my wife advised against that. She said we may not be able to win the bidding next time, in other to keep our head when we return that we have to keep the house. I reasoned with her and accepted her advise. So I contacted the agent back and requested for my keys and documents. Later we decided to have the house rent out, we would have give the same agent this job also but the truth of the matter is that the agent would want to handle it professionally and the occupant may not be able to reason along with him later.  If you notice, you will discovered that the price we are offering is far below standard price, this is enough for you to know that we are not after the rental fee but the  absolute care for the property. I know there is no way I can be sure that you are the right person to live in the house because we won't be able to see physical before sending you the keys and the documents to occupy the space. But I just had a  feeling that anyone who knows what it takes to put the kind of structure down should know that maintaining a building is mandatory, so if you belief you can take good care of the house and handle it like yours then I will be more than happy to let you rent the house.

Please if you are ready now to occupy the house kindly provide the information below for record purpose

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF

NO WAY I'M SENDING A CHECK TO AFRICA. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? UGHHHHHH!

[FreddyKnuckles]

I'm pretty sure the weather lady just described tomorrow as a steam bag

[Anne the Man]

I am sick of having no money. I have about $14 for the rest of this week, which includes transport and some classy $8 wine, so I have to walk to and from the drinks I'm going to tonight. It's freezing. Also I want chocolate and can't afford to buy any. Blerg.