The Vent

[Carlawarla 1]

Gosh...that house you're living in...is crazy! Only another week and you're out of there?!

[L_n_O 3]

Oliver helped me clean the house (ie vacuum) and then we organized all our wedding ####### that we had on this desk!

It made my night.

I had a mini breakdown earlier..

ok, it was slightly bigger than mini and it involved me walking out the house at 1pm to sit on a bench in front of our apartment building by myself for about half an hour......

Just the stress of the whole thing getting to me occasionally.........

but tonight helped...

[trailmix 77]

Oliver helped me clean the house (ie vacuum) and then we organized all our wedding ####### that we had on this desk!

It made my night.

I had a mini breakdown earlier..

ok, it was slightly bigger than mini and it involved me walking out the house at 1pm to sit on a bench in front of our apartment building by myself for about half an hour......

Just the stress of the whole thing getting to me occasionally.........

but tonight helped...

Aww Liz, sorry to hear that you are stressing. It's terrible when there is just too much to do!!

Hang in there.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Oliver helped me clean the house (ie vacuum) and then we organized all our wedding ####### that we had on this desk!

It made my night.

I had a mini breakdown earlier..

ok, it was slightly bigger than mini and it involved me walking out the house at 1pm to sit on a bench in front of our apartment building by myself for about half an hour......

Just the stress of the whole thing getting to me occasionally.........

but tonight helped...

Sweets --- breakdowns right before the wedding are almost obliged and part of the rite of passage. So is pizza with extra cheese.

Relax daaaaahlin' ---- and be as b1tchy as you'd like he he he he he

[L_n_O 3]

You two are angels.. =)

[TheATeam 0]

OMG seriously! I need to vent. Alright, before I left Canada, I worked at a gym. I was actually a member at that gym and had signed one of those ridiculous 3 year contracts. Anyhow, before I even moved, I talked to them and told them I wouldn't have a Canadian bank account and it would take me awhile to prove that I had moved. (Which by the way is one of the most ridiculous things EVER!) They were totally fine with that, very accommodating. This was a good thing. Now my account is past due two months, which should be a 40 dollar fee, but instead they're charging me 113! Anyway, whatever, that's not the problem. The problem is, I spoke to the man from the cancellations department explaining my situation, nothing with my name on it really cause I don't have an SSN. He said, well, send me what you do have and I'll take a look and let you know, and then we'll worry about getting the payment in. That was two weeks ago I believe. Today I get a phone call from a real b!tch!

I'm sorry if anyone works in Collections, please don't take any of this personally, but OMG, SERIOUSLY! I've never met a more unfriendly person in my life. She wouldn't even let me finish what I was saying. She was all like "well I'm the manager of collections" and I'm like great...go talk to the other guy in your company who told me this. She's like we won't even consider you for canceling your policy until you're up to date. That is not true, according to what he colleague told me. It pisses me off to high heaven. She was incredibly rude to me and while I tried at first to be polite, in the end I was rude back. Some people are very nice and will work with you, others are crazy rude. I guess what I don't get is that most things do not go into collection after 2 months of missing payments, maybe after six, but TWO? And for forty dollars? C'mon, give me a break! It makes me so mad I'm considering not even paying, and that's not something I'd considered before. I just want to tell her to go f**k herself! ARGHHHHHH!!!!

Anyway, that's my rant for the day.

Edited July 15, 2008 by TheATeam

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Ok - a health vent for a friend - an American friend,

Last summer my friend was bitten by a tick. She went to the doctors, did the course of antibiotics but still a few weeks later started to develop symptoms of a tick related illness. She went back to the doctor, underwent more treatment, more antibiotics, but when she developed a fever of 104 and fainted, her husband rushed her to emergency. She was admitted and it was determined that she had developed pneumonia and they were pretty sure a variant of Rocky Mountain fever in spite of the anti-biotic treatments. She was extremely ill for a week on a respirator, at one point they didn't know if she would make it, and she was in isolation as they weren't exactly sure at first what was causing her illness. She eventually began to respond and recover. She was in hospital for 10 days. So, my friend and her husband submitted their insurance claim - and it was initially denied because SHE DIDN'T RECEIVE PRIOR APPROVAL FROM THE INSURANCE COMPANY BEFORE GOING TO EMERGENCY!!!! She had a fever of 104 and was unconscious on the ground and her husband was supposed to phone the insurance company to get permission before rushing her to Emergency????. Anyway, they fought it and got the doctors to fight it as well and the claim was eventually allowed so they are only faced with paying 10% of the hospital bill which is still close to $5,000. Now, however, they are fighting with the hospital to get a reasonable payment plan for the remainder - and they are still waiting to get the bills from the doctors (yes, hospitals bill you separately and doctors treating you in the hospital bill you separately). The hospital wants $200 a week - which they don't have - they are a one income family - and the hospital says they should borrow the money from the bank to make the payment plan. That is the place where she is at now - waiting for the next level of administration to phone so they can get a more reasonable repayment plan -one they can pay. This is after the insurance has paid their share - and my friend and her husband are still paying their health insurance premiums on top of it. This is the health insurance faced by the working poor - with Insurance - in the US. GRRRR.

Edited July 17, 2008 by Kathryn41

[Ontarkie 14,193]

theAteam, what I did before for a something close was call the company directly tell then you will only deal with them and not a collection agency if they want any payments and remind them how you already had an agreement and it was not honored.

Kathryn41, all I can say is WOW

[MrsCat 6]

Kathryn that is unbelievable! Unfreakingbelievable!

[Emancipation 2]

Stories like that terrify me Kathryn.... really scare me.

Our hospital insurance (and my hubby works for a HUGE international corporation) is an 80/20 split for hospitals, with a 500$ deductible. We'd have to pay 10K in this scenario, something that would be IMPOSSIBLE for us to pay back at this point.

My heart goes out to this family.. what a horror to have to CONVINCE an insurance company to pay for what is OBVIOUSLY an emergency.. GAH!

[trailmix 77]

That is a shocking story Kathryn, I really feel for that family - this happens every day in this country and it's - well you guys already know.

TheATeam - almost sounds like they have their own collections person, I would imagine with a gym abdefault on fees is probably pretty common - given the nature of the biz and the high pressure tactics used at some gyms?

Edited July 17, 2008 by trailmix

[Carlawarla 1]

Horrible...horrible, HORRIBLE story Kathryn!!

[TheATeam 0]

Yes trailmix, they have their own collections department. That gym is one of the highest pressure there is when it comes to sales tactics, etc. You might know it...SpaLady. When I signed up I wanted to get just a month to month kind of thing, but she sold me into the 3 year policy. Anyhow, I'm getting bombarded from all directions, emails, and phone calls from all sorts of people! Whatever.

Kathryn- That's just TERRIBLE. I have to admit, that kind of a story terrifies me. I haven't been sick in awhile, but I have, in the past been hospitalized for asthma related issues. I guess I just always took for granted that health care was almost free in Alberta. I can't even wrap my brain around the health care here!

[KarenCee 3]

OK....Education Rant Ahead!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!

The administrator at the school where I work...and where Anna will be attending....just told me that my request for Anna's placement was denied b/c the SPED department thought another placement was better and there were also scheduling conflicts. The SPED staff is "doing what they feel is best for Anna". HAH! They haven't even asked us...her parents...what our thoughts are on this and they've had all summer to do it. It's not like they have hundreds of children in SPED in this little county...the least they could have done was called and said "this is what we're thinking...". GAH! I am so pizzed!

I feel like a non person in all this...and even more so our Anna.

This is the part that irritates the ####### out of me....the teacher I requested has experience with children who have epilepsy, has taken the time on her own to educate herself about seizures, and this teacher WANTED Anna in her room. I felt this was a reasonable request and I had hoped someone would actually LISTEN to me. I'll tell ya...being on the other side of the fence on this has really opened my eyes to what the general SPED parent has to go through. I also asked our administration that some type of training be given to ALL staff members regarding children who have epilepsy, as well as asthma, and other serious conditions. I was told "we have so much to do during pre planning...we might have to put that off for a while...you know we can't overload the teachers with more training..." *SIGH* The school nurse is more than willing to find a health professional to come do a short training...doesn't take hours to do this...and do all the leg work to get it set up. Nope...not gonna happen. At least not for some time. So...in the meantime I've offered the new teacher all the information I have regarding Anna's conditions and she has graciously allotted Joel and me 40 minutes of conference time to go over all of this. I guess I'll have to talk fast, eh?

Sorry about the rant but as an educator (and former SPED educator) I can see that this isn't going to be a good year. I know it partly be up to us as to what we make of it and for Anna's sake we will do OUR part to make it as successful as possible. It's just that I've seen this scenario before...and with Anna's disabilities, this won't be an easy road this year. Other than trying AGAIN to get a job in another school system there doesn't seem to be another solution to this one. Not yet anyways....

OK...rant off.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

OK....Education Rant Ahead!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!

The administrator at the school where I work...and where Anna will be attending....just told me that my request for Anna's placement was denied b/c the SPED department thought another placement was better and there were also scheduling conflicts. The SPED staff is "doing what they feel is best for Anna". HAH! They haven't even asked us...her parents...what our thoughts are on this and they've had all summer to do it. It's not like they have hundreds of children in SPED in this little county...the least they could have done was called and said "this is what we're thinking...". GAH! I am so pizzed!

I feel like a non person in all this...and even more so our Anna.

This is the part that irritates the ####### out of me....the teacher I requested has experience with children who have epilepsy, has taken the time on her own to educate herself about seizures, and this teacher WANTED Anna in her room. I felt this was a reasonable request and I had hoped someone would actually LISTEN to me. I'll tell ya...being on the other side of the fence on this has really opened my eyes to what the general SPED parent has to go through. I also asked our administration that some type of training be given to ALL staff members regarding children who have epilepsy, as well as asthma, and other serious conditions. I was told "we have so much to do during pre planning...we might have to put that off for a while...you know we can't overload the teachers with more training..." *SIGH* The school nurse is more than willing to find a health professional to come do a short training...doesn't take hours to do this...and do all the leg work to get it set up. Nope...not gonna happen. At least not for some time. So...in the meantime I've offered the new teacher all the information I have regarding Anna's conditions and she has graciously allotted Joel and me 40 minutes of conference time to go over all of this. I guess I'll have to talk fast, eh?

Sorry about the rant but as an educator (and former SPED educator) I can see that this isn't going to be a good year. I know it partly be up to us as to what we make of it and for Anna's sake we will do OUR part to make it as successful as possible. It's just that I've seen this scenario before...and with Anna's disabilities, this won't be an easy road this year. Other than trying AGAIN to get a job in another school system there doesn't seem to be another solution to this one. Not yet anyways....

OK...rant off.

Sister Karen... need a gun??????????????? :devil: :devil:

HUGZZZ