Is the Red Lobster chain kid friendly? I also seem to remember the Sizzler chain being kid friendly and having Lobster as an option. But for some reason I have not stepped inside either one in decades so..

Post-meeting mini-Meara:

How is physician pay in countries that have some form of Universal health care? I have no idea. Not that we're going to have UHC in the U.S. anytime soon.

Well, according to Michael Moore's doc, in London they are doing just fine, but his representation of France's system was so skewed that I don't know what to make of that.

I think part of the argument for doctors' salaries is the crushing amount of debt most people go into during the lengthy training process. How does that work in other places? The whole thing feels a little chicken-and-egg to me, and then I start thinking about social workers, who, granted, only need a master's degree, but who make really minimal salaries to start, and only reasonable ones later.

Yeah, I left grad school with a debt higher than a starting professor's salary (mostly due to my MA, not the PhD). And I was in grad school earning a meager TA salary far longer than any medical doctor. But I do get to call myself Dr., so I got that going for me.

ETA: In France, university fees are minimal. Certainly less than $1000 a year. Certain top universities, which feed into state positions (teachers, public administration, etc.), pay you to attend.

Also, they do get paid as residents, just relatively poorly considering the hours worked and level of skill required.

From what I've seen, a resident's salary is higher than a professor's.

Median Med school debt in 2005: $120K. If you start at $250K, you can pay that back like whoa, if you don't buy a house and a BMW for 5 years.

This is key. Although, according to Ramsey, doctors are like the worst with money, partly due to the "I'm a doctor" complex.

Oh and the other thing about doctors' salaries here not being all that they may seem is the prohibitively large cost of malpractice insurance.

This is true. And I'm sure is not true in France and possibly other commie countries.

Although I'm sure this woman & her doctor husband who have no debt will be fine.

This was my actual point. This woman is calling in to a show where people are trying to get out of debt; where, in fact, many are being crushed by their debt and can barely pay their monthly bills. I'm sure the listeners have a lot of sympathy for a doctor with no school loans or other debt, whose house is on a 15 year-fixed mortgage that they apparently could pay off early if they wanted to.

Also, I think the possibility of universal health care is still far off, although, at the rate Obama is going, it may be here by the end of the month.

Here's something I hope Obama will fix (okay, not really, but it would be nice):

mr. flea is a federal employee. He was sent on 2 trips for work this fall, to be fully paid for by work. He did not make the travel arrangements or have any choices about accommodations. He was required to get a special credit card and all the travel was charged to it (overseas plane, fairly nice hotels, meals, etc.) But then the bill comes to him, and he has to pay it, and THEN he gets reimbursed, by check, by the feds. Only one of his trips got audited because the assistant who fills out the paperwork was new and screwed up, so now we are floating large sums of our family money while we wait for the audit to clear it up.

Why not just have a proper corporate credit card like every other organization I have ever heard of?

But then the bill comes to him, and he has to pay it, and THEN he gets reimbursed, by check, by the feds.

This happens in out gov't departments too. And I have heard of lots of instances where the bills come due before the cheques arrive.

Is the Red Lobster chain kid friendly?

Maybe if we were out in the suburbs? I wouldn't go to one.

I am very cranky about this! Why give me a couple hours notice?! Why can't you plan?!?!? sheesh

My bank issues cards that the holders have to pay and then get reimbursed for. My brother had the same system at several banks. It's a PITA.

Lisa, you up for cooking lobster? That might be the easiest. That or a hotel or harbor resturant.

I worked for a bank for a bit and that's how it worked for me as well.

Lisa, you up for cooking lobster? That might be the easiest. That or a hotel or harbor resturant.

Yeah i'm not up for anything tonight except getting in my jammies and lounging on my chaise.

I could have thought of a good option if they'd let me know like a week ago. And prepared mentally for going out tonight instead of staying in and relaxing.

We can get advances of up to 75% of the expected travel costs at my workplace, if we're going overseas or for an extended period somewhere domestic. We have people traveling for months at a time, though, and having them cover that themselves would be pretty onerous.

Otherwise it's haul out your credit card and send in a check request. Luckily we're working off of government per diem rates, so I don't have to hold on to receipts for every Diet Coke I buy at the airport.