Is everybody getting fitted for vampire teeth?

That would be delightful, but I suspect not.

how about wearing cool clothing? Or the bouncy ball desk chair thingy? We want to know how much trend setting you will set!!!

Today our BigBoss sat in on the doc team meeting and made a point of praising how I handled a problem last week, and told the rest of my team to follow my example.

All right--go you!

We want to know how much trend setting you will set!!!

Right now, I think it's setting the trend of emailing MANY MANY people and saying "You have to tell me when you change things. If you don't, then the docs will reflect your old work, and we'll all look ridiculous. TELL ME THINGS."

I mean, it would be awesome if people at work dressed fancier and had bouncy ball chairs, but I'll take whatever I can get right now.

For the record, I really hate collection agencies. I'm not in the wrong. I am not trying to dodge you. I am trying to resolve the problem. Stop treating me like a deadbeat. My insurance is working with the hospital. The original biller. So. Bugger off!

Think of the productivity that would be increased if I didn't have to deal with this crap while at work! And why is single payer health system so wrong???

t /vent

I just got my first headhunting call, ever. Thanks, Strix!

It was for a position that called for better PHP chops than I currently have, but still. I was able to give the headhunter a tip on a local place that made its tech employees unhappy (and thus likely to jump) and he said he'd put me down as interested in any eLearning stuff that might come up. (Who knows if he meant it. Still, I figured it couldn't hurt to let him know what I was looking for.)

Anyway, it totally made my day to have someone call me up out of the blue to see if I might suit some job openings they had. This has never happened before. Let's hear it for shiny, new resumes.

Woo! That's fabulous, Calli! And big kudos to Strix for the resume assist. She is, indeed, the bomb. I for realz treasure my status as her first customer.

Jilli, I'm glad you are getting public validation of your fabulositude, and hope the stress eases soon.

omnis, in case you're not familiar with them, here are your rights when it comes to dealing with collection agencies - [link]

I had a debt of $5 almost go to collections because somehow Urgent Care sent all my bills from my 12/11 visit to wrong addresses, though I swear I updated my address when I signed in. The final pre-collection notice was sent to my parents in Raleigh, and I haven't lived there for more than a couple of months since 1994. Thank heavens they sent it on promptly and I was able to pay it in time. Man, I'm just realizing that probably dinged my credit. Hmph.

E was finally back today!!! OMG I missed her. We earned silver medals in mental gymnastics today, minimum. And are inventing our own vocab to talk about the shit we deal with fitting ovals to rhombi. God, as much as I adore G, E and I are so much more on the same page. It's nice knowing she won't fuck shit up if I turn my back for a second.

Plus, it was nice not to be working alone, especially in the pseudo Am Psycho apartment.

Current preferred OKC dude should be back from China today. Hope I hear from him soonish, I'm sure he'll need a few days to get over jet lag and back into the swing of things.

omnis, in case you're not familiar with them, here are your rights when it comes to dealing with collection agencies - [link].

Ah, good to know. So far, it's just at the frustrating side, that I pay insurance, but to pay the hospital bill, it has to jump through a million hoops, and in the mean time, I have to be hounded for something that isn't my fault. If it escalates any more, I will be calling an attorney! So far, the only thing she has said that is iffy, is she said I should pay it, and that my insurance will reimburse me. When I called my insurance, they said no, they will pay the hospital, but not me.

WOO, Calli! Awesome!

And thanks to you and smonster for the kind words!

And now, I must go make dinner. I am TIRED, yo. I did a LOT today. And more editing to come tonight...

Did you see this part?

How can I stop a debt collector from contacting me?

If a collector contacts you about a debt, you may want to talk to them at least once to see if you can resolve the matter – even if you don’t think you owe the debt, can’t repay it immediately, or think that the collector is contacting you by mistake. If you decide after contacting the debt collector that you don’t want the collector to contact you again, tell the collector – in writing – to stop contacting you. Here’s how to do that:

Make a copy of your letter. Send the original by certified mail, and pay for a “return receipt” so you’ll be able to document what the collector received. Once the collector receives your letter, they may not contact you again, with two exceptions: a collector can contact you to tell you there will be no further contact or to let you know that they or the creditor intend to take a specific action, like filing a lawsuit. Sending such a letter to a debt collector you owe money to does not get rid of the debt, but it should stop the contact. The creditor or the debt collector still can sue you to collect the debt.

So if you are resolving it through insurance, there is no reason for you to talk to them. If it drags on, you may want to send the letter. Include the fact that if they contact you again, they will be in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.