Winter O' Discontent: Dental Drama

Last fall, when we started thinking about the possibility of maybe getting serious about our finances, Husband and I took a field trip to The Warehouse Club. We contained our purchases pretty well to the necessary stuff: diapers, wipes and a few bulk groceries. Through our trip, we had managed to refrain from all other impulse purchases: books, CDs, bundles of socks, a tent, a pack of forty glue sticks, etc, until we were almost to the check out.

Without thinking, and barely missing a step, Husband tossed in a Val-U-Pak bag of Wint O Green Lifesavers the size of a punching bag in the cart. He justified the purchase by saying he **super** loves them and that often, people bring in little snacks like that into the office -- something he hadn't done since he started New Job. Besides, it was good deal, he said. I sighed, not really caring and not feeling like getting into Lecture Mode about how not everything is a "good deal" at The Warehouse Club.

A few days later, I get call on my cell. It's Husband.

"You'll never guess what happened to me today," he said in way that I wasn't sure if our car was stolen or he received a huge raise.
"What? Are you OK?"
"Well, I broke a tooth at work today."
"Oh no! Does it hurt? Where are you?
"I'm still at work."
"Are you OK??"
"I'll be fine."
"How did you break a tooth -- at work -- anyway?" I pondered the potential job hazards of architecture and couldn't exactly think of any way he could possibly break a tooth, outside of nawing on an Xacto Knife.
"Um, well... remember the Wint O Greens -- well, I sort of was eating them...and well..."
"You broke your tooth on a WINT O GREEN!?!?!"

Turns out, Husband was eating Wint O Greens like normal people eat handfuls of popcorn and chipped a freakin' tooth in the process. We end the phone call. He called the dentist, got in right away, came home and, over dinner, announced he needed a crown. Our conversation was neutral. We never making eye contact during the discussion.

"So when's the appointment?"
"Next week, I think."
"Does it take a long time to get a crown?"
"I don't know."
"Will it hurt?"
"I don't know."
"What do they do, exactly?"
"I don't know.
"What color will it be?"
"I don't know."
"How much do they think it will cost"
"I didn't ask."
"Does New Job have dental insurance?"
"I think so."
"You THINK so??"

Then tension was rising and with that one "you think so?" I may as well have said: "Are you kidding me with this? That you need a million dollar crown because your slamming lifesavers? How are we going to afford that? Yeah, that was a really good deal, there Husband getting the Val-U-Pak. Nice job on that. Really. Nice. Job."

"I'm pretty sure we have dental insurance -- I think it's pretty good."
"Well, can you find out tomorrow?"
"I think the information is in my bag."

Husband's bag, by the way, is the Original Black Hole. It's amazing what he keeps -- and doesn't keep in there. We end the conversation by (sort of) agreeing that he'll look into it and I'll try to be more cheery and try not to make him feel like a total bonehead. I take a deep breath and remind myself that it IS just a tooth and that we've been through worse. And really, what was he going to do? NOT get the crown??

So, even though we (sort of) talked about it, neither of us followed up. He didn't look in the bag. He didn't ask. He didn't call to verify. I didn't remind him or ask either. He got the crown. Didn't ask how much it would be. Nothing.

And then, a few weeks later, we got a bill for about $350 from the dentist. I called Husband and asked if this was a "this is not a bill, do not pay" bills or if it was a real live bill.

"I thought you said you had good dental insurance."
"Well I don't know. I said that I think that I thought I did."
"Has the insurance company been billed yet?"
"How am I supposed to know?"
"Can we get reimbursed for this through your flexible spending account?"
"I think we already used all that up. So, I don't know."
"You think it's used up? Or it IS?"
"I don't know. The paperwork is in my bag, I think."

After we went round and round, the dumb talking to the dumber about this, we just didn't pay it. We have a lot of experience not paying medical bills and I just added this one to the stack. But then, several weeks later, we received another bill, for the same amount. It had red stamps, words highlighted in yellow and made some rude threats, so I figured it was safe to assume that Husband had checked into it and this was indeed the real deal. As I write the check, I start to feel physically ill, knowing this was coming out of our Magic Money account.

Several weeks later, Husband asks if I paid the bill. I said yes and asked why. And from here things get really foggy -- I can't really explain how it all went down, but he didn't think we should have paid the bill and thought the insurance covered it 100% or maybe it was 80. Or was it 20?? But I shouldn't have paid it, that's for sure. Maybe the dental place screwed up???

We still go back and forth over if that bill should have been paid or not. And we still don't know. Neither of us has investigated and we aren't excatly sure where the information is. And it **might** have changed with a new insurance plan as of December 1 anyway OR, Husband might have accidentally tossed it out when he switched black hole bags. Not exactly sure.

And then today, back at The Warehouse Club for our spring stock up trip, I tossed a bag of Wint O Greens in the cart and waited to see just how long before Husband would notice. It was a long time, but the look on his face as he took it out of the cart, restocked it near the bread, and gave me a "ha. ha. that was real funny" look was REALLY funny to me. And not AT ALL funny to him, making it even funnier to me. He told me again that we shouldn't have paid that bill. I maintain that we should have, although I don't really know. He (sort of) vowed to look in his bag for the new paperwork so we could avoid this type of fiasco in the future, and I (sort of) vowed to stop hiding Wint O Greens in his coat pockets just to torture him.

About FrugalJo

Exploding Life Savers

What You Need

• Wint-O-Green Life Savers
• Ziploc Storage Bag
• Wooden block
• Hammer

What to Do
Place one Wint-O-Green Life Saver in the Ziploc Storage Bag. Seal the bag and place it on the wooden block. In a dark room or closet, hold the hammer above the Life Saver. Look directly at the Life Saver as you smash it with the hammer.

What Happens
A quick burst of bluish-green light flashes the moment the wintergreen candy is crushed.

Why It Works
Crushing a crystalline substance, in this case the synthetic wintergreen—methyl salicylate—emits light. This phenomenon is called triboluminescence. According to the Consumer Affairs department at Nabisco, maker of Life Savers, "Regrettably, though our mints' flavor is reliable, their sparking performance is not necessarily consistent. Sometimes the background atmosphere is simply not dark enough. Also, moisture seems to absorb the energy needed to produce sparking."

SOURCE: http://www.wackyuses.com/experiments/explodinglifesavers.htm