Couldn't they have asked about that on the application?

I would think so. Also, I sent that application in November. Interviewing and then reading the applications seems just weird. (The interview obviously knew absolutely nothing about me when I sat down at that interview. The first thing he did was ask for my CV, and then he clearly was just glancing down at it and asking about whatever his eyes happened to land on.)

This is interesting. One of my dad's cousins just called me, because someone had contacted her saying that he was her cousin, and she wanted to know what I knew about him. It took me a minute to figure out who he was, because he'd changed his name (kept his first name, but went from obviously Jewish last name to really common Anglo one that starts with the same letter), but I was able to put it together. Really, the only thing I knew about him was that he hadn't been in much contact with anybody in the family since sometime around 1945 or 1950, when he became Mormon. I wonder why he decided to email his first cousin's daughter all of a sudden.

Taking a snow shovel into your daughter's room, scooping a shovelful off the floor and saying "Go get me the trash can, okay?"

Congratulations, MM, you have turned into my Dad.

when he became Mormon. I wonder why he decided to email his first cousin's daughter all of a sudden.

Proselytizing. Or genealogy.

If he's going for either proselytizing or genealogy, he's hit the wrong cousin. She isn't even sure what her grandmother's maiden name was, and she spent a while on the phone with me yesterday telling me how weird Mormons are. Also, the man is about 85 years old, and he suddenly decides to google distant relatives and tell them about how he came to America? He does have several kids, so it's not like he's just trying to find somebody to listen to his stories.

GRRRR.

Am so about to go apeshit on my eyedoctor's office.

I went there on 06MAR09. I paid the $15 copay for an eye exam. I ordered contacts, which I was (I recall) told would be about $250 dollars. That seemed reasonable, since I had paid about $220 for them the previous time, about two years before. I was not sure how much my insurance would pay for them, nor was the receptionist, but she seemed to think a significant amount, possibly almost all.

I received the contacts a week or two later, in the mail. (NOTE: They clearly had my address)

I never heard anything more from them, so I kind of assumed that the insurance had paid for the contacts fully. Awesome!

A week ago, I go to buy glasses. I searched, but could not find the prescription the doctor had written for me, just his card. SO when I get to the glasses place, they call his office, and get my prescription.

TODAY, I get a bill in the mail for my contacts--saying that they were $370, and that insurance paid $80 (which, mind you, is less than insurance will pay for OUT OF NETWORK contacts!)

I AM SO READY TO FUCK SOMEONE UP--BUT THEY AREN"T ANSWERING THE PHONE.

Wow. I...won!

I didn't expect THAT!

I called the office, and politely said I had some questions about a bill I'd received, and they were all "Oh, you have to call Art, he does our billing, there should be a number on the bill?" and indeed there was. Which I was skeptical (it was an 800 number)...and I got some guy that sounded like an old coot. Seriously. Art.

And I felt a little bad, but...I ripped him a new one. (A) WHY was the bill so damn late? (B) Why was it WRONG, insurance wise? and (C) WTF was the charge for the contacts so off from what they had quoted me for??

Art was all "Uh, it was my bad it was late, I misunderstood and thought they were writing off the rest after they got the insurance money, but then I realzed no" or something. And for the rest, he was all "I don't work in the office..."

So, he calls them up, and calls me back (!)...and they're writing off the rest of the bill!!! Which I totally didn't expect. I was willing/able to pay something. Like, $50 or whatever. Just not $290.

But $0? I'll take $0.

Damn! Today is a banner day for assertiveness!

Whooo! Assertiveness!

ION:

Butane torch for under $3+free shipping: [link]

Aw. My boss just handed me a document she'd reviewed and told me to send it on, and then she left to go home.

And then a minute later, she appeared back at my cube because she'd forgotten to tell me, "Good job!"