Today, the Boy had a dentist appointment I've been trying to get him to for 6 weeks or so. The issue at this point is my Ex-hole who is court-ordered to have dental insurance for our son (he's currently in the Armed Forces) has not done so. It will only cost about $12 a month, but you know Ex-hole has other things to buy. Like a new truck. The receptionist at the dentist office called this morning to tell me he still hadn't signed the Boy up. She was ready to re-schedule. I told her to forget it, and I would just pay out of pocket.
Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal. I'm usually really good about keeping a cushion in my savings (I'll blog about that later) but I've had a couple purchases/expenditures that are no where near my budget plans. This has depleted my bank account enough to make me a little anxious. And I really had no idea of a price range for this appointment.
We get to the office, and the Boy is called in. Now, he did amazingly well for a 3 y/o. He sat perfect, didn't squirm or complain at all. They took x-rays of his teeth, cleaned them and that was about it. The Dentist came in for about 3 secs to tell me the Boy needs a filling (which I'd actually figured he would) and that's it. Took maybe 20 mins, 30 mins tops. I go to pay, and the nurse hands me an estimate for the fillings... almost $600! I'm not super surprised, but a little shocked seeing as his teeth are the size of tic-tacs.
Then she hands me the bill for this visit, $194.65. For 20 mins of work. Almost 200 bucks to find out my son needs 600 bucks worth of dental work. Nice.
I'm in the wrong career field.
So a plumber goes to Judge Learned Hand's home, because of a leaking pipe. He works for 20 minutes, and goes to the judge, saying, "I fixed the pipe; that's $400." The judge looks at him and says, "Are you kidding me, I'm a lawyer, and I don't charge people $400 for 20 minutes of work!" The plumber looks back at him and say, "I know. That's what I said back when I was practicing law."
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