The healthcare system conversation I didn’t have.

It’s part of my job to entertain our clients until Boss and Pres are ready to start the meeting. As such, I have a lot of short conversations about the economy, the Dow, outdoor activities, handguns that can fire shotgun shells, cats, critters, music, grandchildren and other interesting topics. It goes without saying that I don’t tell our clients that they’re wrong (unless it’s a trivial non offensive topic).

So when Mr. P started explaining what was wrong with the country today, I smiled brightly and bit my tongue a lot.

Want me to share my new-found wisdom? Oh, I’m sure you do!

What’s Wrong With The United States According to Mr. P

– We need to be more like Sweden and take care of each other! (I did gently mention that Sweden’s going broke, but whatever; aren’t we all, nowadays?)

– We need to protest more! We need to get rid of is broken system! (No, he didn’t mean the Tea Party. And I didn’t think the UK’s riots did much for their economy or their political system.)

And, my favorite:

-We need to get rid of healthcare as a *sneer* FOR PROFIT system! You see, his girlfriend had to have surgery and was in the hospital for ten days. Do you know what the bill was? FORTY-THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! … of which her insurance paid 90%.

He condescendingly explained to me that it was wrong for people to be MAKING MONEY off this stuff and indignantly decried hospital bigwigs making MILLIONS of dollars. My smile cracking at the edges, I shrugged and pleasantly replied that good college presidents made more than that and added less value to their institutions. And then I beamed at him and fled.

What was it PJ O’Rourke said in Eat the Rich? Oh, right: “In Cuba, the healthcare is free – and worth it.”

In other news, the wonderful nonprofit British healthcare system is telling families that they need to assist with the feeding and cleaning of their hospital-bound relatives.

More thoughts on my opposition to universal health care can be found here.

Yard sign!

From a work colleague in Georgia …

From a guy in Texas :

My neighbor is a “lefty” of sorts (Obama bumper
stickers, gung-ho socialized medicine, “guns should
be banned”, etc.). So this past spring I put this sign
up in my yard after one of his anti-gun rants at a
neighborhood cocktail party.

The sign wasn’t up more than an hour before he
called the police and wanted them to make me take
down the sign. Fortunately, the officer politely
informed him that it was not their job to take such
action without a court order and that he had to file a
complaint “downtown” first, which would be reviewed
by the city attorney to see if it violated any city,
county, or state ordinances, which if there was a
violation a court order would be sent to the offending
party (me) to “remove the sign in seven days.”

After several weeks he was informed that the sign
was legal (by a quarter of an inch) and there was
nothing the city could do, which obviously made
him madder.
I tried to smooth things over by inviting him to go
shooting with me and my friends at the hunt club
but that seemed to make him even more angry.
I am at a loss how to reconcile our long relationship
(notice I did not say friendship), any suggestions
would be welcome.

I haven’t forgotten, but I have no words that do justice.

Ten years ago my friend Alex told me what had happened as I stood on the steps of my classroom building. Ten years ago I told him that was a fucking sick and tasteless joke.

I hope the souls of the fallen have gone to whatever heaven they believe in.

Fun with contractors!

Whether or not you believe in God, it should be pretty obvious that He (or She, or the Great Pumpkin) has one hell of a sense of humor.

My job seems to be going out of its way to make me do the things I hate.  Whether it’s writing a resume for my boss (I HATE RESUME WRITING) or comparing Internet packages and moving quotes (those are Mike-jobs!), I’m being forced to do in my professional life what I try to avoid in my personal life.

Such as deal with contractors.

It’s ironic that the same week I left this quote at Breda’s —

Wow. Lesson to Lissa: Leave the house alone. Do not mess with the house. The house always wins.

— I find myself stuck with shoddy contractors at the office.

Technically I don’t KNOW that they’re shoddy, only that they do shoddy work.

Such as building the kitchen wall ABOUT TEN INCHES TOO SHORT. The wall is currently level with the top of the cupboards.  That means not only that the counter will actually be TALLER than the wall, once it goes on, but there’s no room for a backsplash.  Charming!

Oh, but it gets better.  Whip out a tape measure, and it turns out they also built the wall FOUR INCHES TOO CLOSE to the existing wall.  Oopsy!  So . . . the fridge won’t fit.  So they have to CHOP OFF THE LAST CUPBOARD and replace it with a narrower cupboard and take off the granite countertop and CHOP FOUR INCHES OFF IT and polish and seal it and put it back.

Are you kidding me?  Are you freaking kidding me?  This is what you do for a living, and you can’t be bothered to check your work against the plans?!?!

Throw in the carpet that wasn’t delivered on time – because it wasn’t ordered until two weeks after it was supposed to be delivered – and, well, it’s been a helluva week.

P.S. At least all these mistakes aren’t wrecking *my* budget.  If I ever get work done on my house – any kind of re-modeling whatsoever – I’m tape-measuring every dimension of that sucker every single night.  BECAUSE APPARENTLY CONTRACTORS CAN’T BLOODY COUNT.