Transcript
Speaker: From a makeshift recording studio in Brooklyn, welcome to The Grocery Stick with Jessica and Francis. Shut the front door, that is not what we agreed upon. Francis and Jessica. Meh, ignore that.
Speaker: We're Brooklynites and friends. We're here to talk, laugh, commiserate, and argue about all things travel sports related, kid related, and plain old life related. It's Francis and Jessica, or I quit.
Speaker: Go. Word. Okay. Episode 57. Episode 57. Jessica. Yeah. and And just realized as I was preparing that because we're now doing it every two weeks.
Speaker: Yeah. I forget everything we talked about the last episode. I don't want to repeat myself. You know, it's same, dude. Same. That's called old age. I feel like I have to go back and listen. It's like doing extra homework.
Speaker: Yeah. And then I get questions from people. I get questions from people like friends, family, whatever, that who listen to an episode that not in order. And I'm like, what? Huh? Oh, right. Right.
Speaker: That time. Yeah. Did i say that already? And anyways, so the answer is yes. You said it all. and So I've been like diligently Apple notes and trying to record everything. And especially when I, you know, publish and write the little blurbs. But now even things I need to talk about, i have an Apple note.
Speaker: For example, first one, I'm tired of finding loose cash all over my kids' rooms and bags. What's going to be one of the top I keep pushing that down the rhyme because it's not that important. But just FYI, kids, because I know you listen to this once in a while, stop fucking hoarding cash.
Speaker: Yeah, seriously. That say you need and you're going to use it. And then I go into your soccer bag or your hockey bag or your backpack or whatever the is. Don't go into those things. Golf bag. and Stay away. There's five bucks. There's ten bucks. I'm like, what the fuck is going on here?
Speaker: Money does not grow on trees, kids. Please keep track of the money I give you. Jesus. No, I know. is one One of mine is better at it than the other. yeah i know you know which one is which. yeah I don't have to tell you.
Speaker: I think mine are both equally bad, even though they'll both say the other one's worse. Yeah. No, one of my, one of mine is is, vigilant about money and cashflow. Yeah. that's Like vigilant. And anytime, um anytime money is laid out by that child, very, very quickly asking for reimbursement. Hey, this is what I spent. This is what I have. This is what I need. Can you please, you know, can you please Venmo me? I'm like, absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker: Absolutely. and i learned i mean One the things I read about long time ago was like, hey, people have cash everywhere, crumpled, but whatever. no, no. no like Maybe it was Susie Orman. susy Oh, that's funny. Respect your cash. like Your cash should be in order. I don't care if it's big notes on the outside or on the inside. dude, that's my OCD.
Speaker: That's my OCD. And in order and in the right direction. Whatever. It has to in the same order. some kind of numerical order, respect your cash. Oh, ah Right? And it's it's a whole thing of like organized mind, organized life, organized person, yeah success. Yeah. i would I would argue that my money is more organized than a lot of other things in my life. Yeah.
Speaker: That's good. Like the money in my pocket, like in my bag. because But that's, a again, it's an OCD point. It has to be in order. It has to be facing the right direction. Okay. It has to be folded at least once in half and probably no more than that. Okay. Well, because I don't like it when you fold it twice because then it's like a big fat wad of money. I can't see it.
Speaker: Sure. So I don't like a big fat wad that way. I want it to be neat. These are important things that were PSAs we're teaching people. Right. And not defiled. I just want it to be neat. Respectful money. So wait, for you, small bill on the outside, big bills on the outside.
Speaker: Big bills on the outside. Big bills on the outside. i used to do that too. And guess what? Yeah. That's how you get mugged. Yeah, except I'm not going to get mugged. When you pull it out, like the whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't pull out my money. I do reverse now because now the ones on the out ones and fives on the outside. So when I pull it out and some bumble, them I'm poor.
Speaker: got ones and fives, bro. Yeah, except if they want it from you, they're not going to ask you. They're just going to grab it. They're just going to grab it. Oh, man. It's like they ask you before they see it. If you don't have anything out, they'll ask you. But if you have it out, the majority of the time,
Speaker: I don't think they're going to ask politely. I'll have to thank the temporarily unhoused people in our neighborhood because it stops me from going to McDonald's and Panda Express. Why? in Excess calories because they want to hold the door open and ask you for money. So i don't go. But dude, like I will walk into an ATM bank, like, you know, like a vestibule. Yeah. And they're sitting outside.
Speaker: By the way, yesterday. Because they know. They know. that I mean, and really, that's a good place to be because you know people are getting money. The TD Bank ATM machine, which I use on Atlantic.
Speaker: Yeah. Right next to five below Michael's, whatever Yeah, sure. I know. I know. routeed crazy I know the exact corner you're talking about. Okay. Right across from my old apartment. yes crowded crazy area they never used to lock that ATM door they started to a few years ago and they started locking it and I was like annoyed i fucking so anyways I sweat my car and I go in and this is one homeless temporarily unhoused guy sitting outside Michael's and he's harmless right but yeah I guess they're not mentally stable.
Speaker: Okay. So I'm in there getting money and it's broad daylight. It was like fucking two o'clock in the afternoon. People. military I'm, I'm the only one inside. so Sorry. Today's when it was Sunday.
Speaker: Sorry. Okay. Midday, but still busy. Yeah. So the bank is closed. The door is locked. I swipe, I go in, I'm halfway through my transaction and i hear someone. No, like yanking the door. Like ah pulling at the door, pulling, pulling. i'm like, what the fuck? I turn around. It's him. oh my God. And he looks angry. I'm like, oh fuck, here we go. Cause he's unstable. This is going to be a fight. This is going to be a fucking attack. of by He pulls it. yeah It doesn't open.
Speaker: He turns around, he walks to the corner. I'm like, well, this Sunday afternoon, i don't need this shit. Money comes out. I grab it He turns around and looks at me. I slip out the door and I push the door shut that it doesn't stay open. So he goes in and terrorizes the next person. Yeah. He comes back. He's locked again. He locked right away. He can't get in And then he goes back to a spot. sits down. I'm like, what the fuck?
Speaker: I'm like, Jesus Christ. or Do I start carrying weapons around to go to the ATM machine in brooklyn on Atlanta Street in midday Brooklyn? What the fuck? Maybe. maybe That insane. Maybe. Yeah. Anyways.
Speaker: I don't know. I mean, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to carry pepper spray in your pocket. Maybe. mean, not- You never know when this happens. I was like, broad daylight, you think it's not going to happen. almost fucking happened. I think shit happens whenever it happens, and I don't think that the daylight versus the darkness matters that much anymore. That explains why they started locking it. Yeah, I think it was also, mean, it's been happening for a long time. They locked that door. They started locking that door not long after we left. You think so? That building, yeah. feel like- Maybe it was just my luck. And I pulled it a couple of times and it was open. And maybe the lock was busted. Yeah, maybe. But normally, like, there's a guard in there.
Speaker: There used to be. There used to be. Yeah. And so, like, would walk When bank closed, they don't do that. Oh, no, no, I know. But, like, during the day, if the guard's in there and the door is locked... Oh, I see that he lets he'll let people in. It might look like yourself. Right. like yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah Like he'll go and open the door. OK. OK. If someone's questionable, he leaves it and waits to see if they can swipe in.
Speaker: Anyways, I don't scare easily. But then I was like, here we go. Yeah. it You know what, though? i mean, you but you're right to have a heightened sense of danger in that circumstance. Yeah. You know, I mean, if you didn't, I would question your sanity.
Speaker: Just saying. As I do. You know, because it's like it's not being out and about is not the same as it was before. oh yeah, yeah. I know. You know, I want to say like before COVID for sure. yeah um But even before, like, you know, not even like a few years ago. Right. Past COVID. Like, oh not even the same as it was then.
Speaker: Prolifically worse. Yeah. um It's not, I don't feel and like I'm in perilous danger. Like, you know, every single time I leave the house, like in Batman. Right. Yeah. No, but, but shit can happen easily around the corner. Subway. so push I just think that there's a lot more there's a lot more going on. And like over by where I am, there's a lot of unhoused walking around.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, that it's because it's the park. Oh, I guess because the park. Yeah, it's because of the park. um You know, like they'll sleep on the benches. Sometimes they said like there's a bunch of people living in the fucking park, um like living in the park, like taking up residence. There's a bunch of Rastafarians, by the way, that have been there for years.
Speaker: No shit. Really? I shit you not. I guess. They hate dogs. they like you know They're over by the off-leash areas. I do remember going to the park at night, way back when the kids were younger.
Speaker: had to walk to the parking lot. And at some point, you're like, ah Yeah. Like not so safe. It's definitely people lurking around. Yeah. night Yeah. Like I, I know I don't go into the park by myself at night.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, I'll go with the dogs. Like I've done that. That's not a good idea. Yeah. I mean, but people are less apt to bother you if you have two black pit bull dogs. Sure. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're just less apt. It's not worth the trouble.
Speaker: like Pick on the next person. Right. I'm not worth the trouble. Yeah. Like the chance that you're going to get hurt versus me getting hurt is much higher. Fair. You know, but like my my daughter has gone through the park at night by herself. And I'm like, what the fuck is wrong with you?
Speaker: Like, you know, you don't. When you walk the dogs at night, you can just walk up and down. I mean, the park is so big. You can walk up and down the street without entering the park. And that's nice. Yeah, like I could go up, you know, up on the outside of the park and go around. And I do that with frequency. I mean, I've, i've you know, I've had a dog be sick in the middle of the night and had to walk them at like 2.33, 4 in the morning.
Speaker: And it's it's quiet. It's like it's eerily quiet. If you came by me, there'd still be people milling about it. Yeah, but it's always like, I'm always, always, so I always wonder to myself, is it better if there's more people out or is it better if there's less people out because the balance and percentages of crazy versus normal?
Speaker: I'm always like the craziest, the craziest of people, unless it's a Thursday, Friday, Saturday night, right which are all safe nights to be out very late because socially people are out. yeah But on the other nights...
Speaker: you know like is it better to have a lot of people i don't know because i think the craziest of people come out at those hours on the nights that aren't socially um yeah you know i see a point socially calendar night ish type things as a city person still think it's better to have people out and about but i get it it's the right people out and about right well that's That's it. Is it the right people? And like, do you know? No, you don't. You really don't know until you step out of the house. And for me here, it's pretty quiet. Yeah, it's basically what you guys are. Yeah, it's pretty quiet. And so, you know, at like two, three, four, five in the morning, if I have to go out at those times, I'm
Speaker: I kind of don't feel like I'm at risk so much because it's so quiet. Oh, man. Well, I mean, um but again, I'm walking dogs. Fair. Right. And so I'm, and you know, unless someone's going to fucking beat me to death and my dogs aren't going to do anything and they're goingnna take my dogs, then, you know,
Speaker: I mean, i'd like to think that people are not going to mess with me walking around with like an 85 pound dog and and in a 55 pound, put like literal pit bull. I mean, he's like, like people cross the street when they see my dogs. It's not like, you know, and they're not even like I had Dobermans when I was a kid. People would never come up to my front door. Like people would not ring my doorbell.
Speaker: i want it work when i mean So this is why Singapore underrated. It's like when I was in Singapore and I worked late, I used to go jogging at 1 o'clock in the morning after got home from work. Because it's the safest place in the world. Well, and it was like, first of all, it's freaking hot.
Speaker: So you can only run when the sun is out. right And then 1 I was are you crazy? I'm like, listen, when I'm Wednesday night, late night, 1 a.m. and I'm running, you think I'm the only one? I'm not the only one running.
Speaker: There were other people running. Yeah. Yeah. Because everybody else, everybody else can't handle that heat either during the day. This is insane. So I was like, so, but yeah, anyways, that's side note. Yeah. So that was my excitement. Yeah. ATM machine with the homeless guy. Yeah. don't love that. I don't love that.
Speaker: I think that, I feel like ATMs should be sacred. They should be neutral ground and nobody should be able to harass you while you get money. I was in Vancouver visiting my parents. early in the year, they still don't lock their ATM machines. And I was like, what the fuck? I was like, ah, Vancouver.
Speaker: do they have a Do they have like ah an unhoused homeless crazy problem? They do downtown. i think the thing I think if you're downtown, they definitely lock the doors. yeah And they have security guards and that kind stuff ah patrolling. is it I think that once you leave that downtown core, and again, i feel people don't understand, like you know if you're a New Yorker, you don't really understand the the suburban thing, the accessibility of suburbia, right? In the sense, like when I went to DC for the college tour, Evan, it was like, hey, look, college campus. yeah And then 10 minutes, 50 minutes away, you can live in a nice apartment and house, green.
Speaker: yeah And like the commute to work or school is not that bad. Yeah, yeah. But to do the same thing in New York, would be like an hour and a half, right? So he's like, oh, what the fuck? You're like, just like, it's so painful and and sometimes people are here angry. So anyway, so like Vancouver, same thing, like downtown, you're like, oh my God, like sure, nice apartments, homeless and drug problem. I think it's the West Coast thing, like like very lax on, but never well very lax, but more like there is an area downtown where they want you to congregate. Is it a tent city? Like one of those like... I don't think it's, no, not so much tent city. I mean, they have that, but not so much tent city, but it's just like, that's just where they are. I think...
Speaker: The welfare centers are there. the drug center is there. So everybody is downtown. So then you get further out, like, again, 20 minutes from that downtown core. And, you know, West Coast life, lots of malls, lots of buildings, commercial buildings. And so none of those ATM are locked. So I'd go at 2 o'clock in the morning. Oh, hey.
Speaker: Doors open. But that like I said, nobody's there. Right. Nobody. Everyone's sleeping. Nobody's around. Yeah. You don't feel scared. Like, oh, OK. like Yeah. You check inside before you go in. There's nobody hiding in there. so in So does Vancouver have like the same type of unhoused volume problem that say like Portland, Seattle, like all those cities, those bigger cities up in that area in the Pacific Northwest area have?
Speaker: It's a Pacific Northwest problem. Yeah. Yeah. So it was part of the reason that I really didn't like Portland. Yeah. Like people kept on saying. I think worse Portland. It's pretty bad Portland. Seattle, you know, San Fran's tried to clean up a little bit, but downtown San Fran's still disaster. San Francisco's gross. Like.
Speaker: So similar, similar. Okay. But I have some friends that live downtown in the night, quote unquote, nicer areas.
Speaker: It's not really an issue. Like you might see one straight guy walking up and down kind of thing. Yeah. But for a while they were aggressive in the sense like during the daytime, if you park your car, they would like come down and say, hey, man, if you give me five bucks to watch your car. And he's like, wait a second. If I don't give him five bucks. Right. Right. Kick the car. Right. If I give him five bucks, doesn' it hope.
Speaker: He's going to watch the car, but you know he's not watching the car. He takes five bucks and walking out. Right. But you know what? it might but it At that point, it might be worth the five bucks just to have him walk away. wait Here, take the five bucks. Right here. Take the five bucks. I don't need you to watch the car. Go enjoy a bucks so enjoy it. Try your best. yeah Thank you for the offer. Go enjoy it. Have a good day. that was happening for a while. Yeah. But on my last few trips back, it's better.
Speaker: Okay. It's definitely better than it was from a couple of years ago. Okay. I don't know how or what they've done, but it's not as visible. Yeah. Yeah. i don't know. Like Portland, it was such a turnoff in Portland. I mean, there were some crazy people on the streets in Portland.
Speaker: Like not just like friend rada drug addicts, but like in insane. San Fran last fall and I stayed on Market Street and actually it was better than I thought as well. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: You know, my little Union Square area in San Fran, right? They used to think it was nice and then it went like really shitty. Yeah. And then now it seemed kind of clear like there was for definitely years you could not walk and it's not even that big. You could see the other side. But you could walk through and then all the retail stores, that was Saks is gone. like Everyone's gone.
Speaker: Sure. Yeah. weird Right. Well, I mean, it became an undesirable area where nobody would go. And then when I was back in the fall and I stayed in the hotel and and I was bracing myself, I walk by and go, oh, even though the buildings are empty, I didn't see any bums.
Speaker: So maybe they're living in the buildings. They're squatting in the buildings. Maybe. maybe Get them off the street. Let them go. Yeah. Get them off the street. Put them in the building. Right. Like, who knows? Yeah. Yeah. yeah yeah Yeah.
Speaker: Could be. Could be. Yeah. Any who's. I have a medical update for you. Oh, yeah. I wish you were a lawyer because I think this is a lawsuit. memory Remember, I had to show up and pay seven grand for my. I should have gone to law school. I actually was going to law school and then I was like, it wouldn't have made me happy. So I didn't do it. But I got into law schools. Oh, my God. Like I even went through the application process and I just didn't go. oh would have been nice to have a good friend as a lawyer. Yeah, I know. Like a good friend who's a good lawyer. I think I would have been a really good lawyer. Of course.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. My family has said that for years, too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Detail oriented, stacked arguments, linear, critical thinker. They're always like, you know, you should have, you should have, you should have. like, I know, I know, I know. Let's stop talking about it. Well, it must be hard to be married to a lawyer. litigator. Like, fuck, everything's fine. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. And I got to tell you that, like, for the most part, like, I know one litigator who I love now who is no longer a litigator.
Speaker: Okay. But when I worked in the legal industry, yeah i came across a ton of litigators. I mean, I met litigators left and right. Yeah. And very few of them were very nice. so I was to say, they're always on offense. yeah Yeah, they don't know how to relax. They don't know how to not be in that like yeah no fan that fighting in that fighting mode. they kind of It's it's that very...
Speaker: it's a very um always on guard Yeah, all-encompassing type of... I get it. Listen, people are trying to trick you all day, it's hard to turn it off. Yeah, I mean, but you're trying to trick people all day, too. I guess. You know, like every deposition, you're trying to catch people. It's a gotcha moment, right? Like, they're always looking for the gotcha moment. So, like, every conversation comes down to a gotcha moment. It's just like... Yeah, totally.
Speaker: So anyways, I think it's a lawsuit. You know, our non-American friends won't understand this, but like every few months, you and get this little flyer in the mail. Hey, class action suit, blah, blah, blah. It's Apple against this person, blah, blah. No one admits fault. If you fill this out, you own this and you did this, you get $3.50 by paying for hours. I'm sure like that. Right, right, right. Right? Yeah. So I'm waiting because this is like a slam dunk, I think. Right?
Speaker: They're making you pay for your, so in my case, June 26th, had the kidney stone surgery, right? Yeah. Walk in there. You got to prepay $7,000. Which is bananas. Or you cannot come and do your surgery. So fine, you put in the credit card, you pay. Those are to come back. And then you say, well, okay, so now let's deal with the money. Well, so we have to hold it until your insurance company pays the claims. If there's a balance,
Speaker: They'll deduct it and then refund the rest. Refund the money. Yeah. Okay, fine. Okay, but okay, so now it's July 29th today. Yeah. How long did they give you did they give you an estimate at all? of that like No. Customarily, how long this will take? They're like, oh, it depends on your insurance. can mobile but Okay, I see the claims. Most email most insurance companies operate pretty quickly. yeah So our insurance company files the claims. I see them blah, blah, blah, blah within like a couple of weeks.
Speaker: Okay. We can have. Okay. I'm just, I'm just going to be patient. I'll wait. I'm not going be a dick. Just wait. Just wait. Just wait. Finally, like three days ago, it's been a month. like, what the fuck? So we call the, call the hospital or the, the billing center. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: and And again, this is how warped America, right? You know, you get the physician billing. You get the, okay, so you have ah you have a bill for the surgeon. Yep. And you have a separate bill for the anesthesiologist. Yes.
Speaker: Then you have a separate bill for the lab. Yep. If there were labs. Yep. And then there's separate bill for the hospital. Correct. For the facilities. So there's four, at least four bills coming, right? Yep.
Speaker: I see them all come through and I'm like, wait a second, wait a second. If I'm doing my math correctly, This whatever headline $30,000, $40,000 surgery, which I prepaid $7,000 for, which was their estimate of my responsibility post insurance coverage.
Speaker: It ended up costing like $1,500. fifteen hundred bucks Yeah. Okay. Right. Because your insurance. So, but you're, you're looking at this from the actual invoices from the physicians in the hospital, or you're looking at this as the estimated benefits. No, like these are the official. So the official insurance, you get the letter. Yeah. Your surgery costs this.
Speaker: the discount for the insurance company is this. It's like 70, 80%. Yeah. We pay this. Your responsibility should be this. Okay. okay so yeah And it corroborates with the the doctor hospital group.
Speaker: So I call up and i say, hey, based on this, you guys owe $5,500. the lady's like, yeah and they's like
Speaker: OK, so how do we get the money back? Oh, she's like, well, you probably use us again. So do you want to leave it here? like, no, I can leave a credit balance of fifty five hundred dollars with you. OK, well, you haven't we see that you haven't paid the doctor bill yet. I said, I know because I'm waiting for you guys to keep my money back and I can pay in the app.
Speaker: Well, you owe the doctors. The surgeon two fifty. And the anesthesiologist, $150. I'm like, that's $400. Right. You owe me $5,500.
Speaker: I owe you $400. are they they Are they affiliated with the hospital? Yeah, yeah. So NYU. Why aren't they paying them out of your balance and then refunding you the money? I'm like, so wait it's very complicated. Because first, when I called the first center, I hit whatever number for the doctor billing.
Speaker: And then I gave them all the information. I'm like, oh, your credit balance is with the hospital, not the doctor's. So let me transfer for you. So they transfer me to the hospital. Unbelievable. Which is probably the person sitting next to them, by the way Every one of these systems is so broken. Hold on. Let me transfer you. So they transfer. I don't get cut off. They actually transfer you. I transfer. I'm explaining the same thing again. Yes, you're right.
Speaker: Now, we need special authorization, not from you, but from our management to allow us to take $400 from the $5,500 we owe to the doctors.
Speaker: And then we'll send you the balance. I'm like, I could just pay for the doctor right now in the app. They'll get it faster. Right. No, no, no, no, no. Don't do that. We'll just take it from your back. I said, no, I don't want to do that. I'll pay them right now.
Speaker: She's like, it's going to be easier this week. I'm like, well, how long it take? She well, it'll take us two weeks to get the authorization to transfer. What? And then after another two weeks to to pay you back. ah I'm like, oh my God. Fine. Fuck. I don't want to. Honestly, I'm not going to double pay this bullshit. If that's why way you want to do it, do it.
Speaker: So. So I got an email yesterday saying that, which is like a week and a half later. So a few days ahead of schedule, I could say right they have paid the balance of the doctors of 400 bucks and now they owe me 5,100 to my credit card, original credit card. Right. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker: And that's going to take supposedly another fucking two weeks. Jesus. All right. So so so let's say let's say all in all, and this is me, by the way, this is me chasing them, right? If I don't chase them, this goes on forever. Okay, let's say I chase them. Right. When all is said and done, they would have had my money for like six weeks to two months.
Speaker: Okay? Mm-hmm. You owe me interest. Well, i was goingnna I was going to say, are they are they collecting interest on holding your money the same way as like Starbucks does?
Speaker: so So they're collecting interest. So my thing like, you owe me that interest, one. Right. And then two, okay, I don't carry a balance, so it didn't cost me anything is except for the interest. But what if I'm a person that has to carry a balance? Right. And that's $7,000 over two months at 30% interest rate, annual. Right.
Speaker: Who's paying for that? Right. So I'm like, this is a class action suit. Yeah. Or someone's going to file a col claim at NYU say you can't. but So I look forward in five years when some lawyer, some old lawyer gets his surgery goes, what the fuck is this? And yeah, miles the class action suit. And I get the letter saying, oh, by the way, since you were a patient of NYU in whatever six 2626, you are entitled to interest on seven dollars. Great. And it'd be like a few cents. But for the principle of it. Right. I want that fuck because that's bullshit. Yeah, it's ridiculous. It's silly. fucking bullshit again. Yeah. I think, you know, look, I understand why they do it in terms of like people not paying and people getting service and running. But, you know, the majority of us who have insurance policies should not have to operate that way. If we have insurance, it should go through the insurance and then give the balance. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah How can the discrepancy, the system's all automated. You can't estimate my responsibility at seven grand. Right, but that's my point. The insurance company's going to give you $1,500. But and this is my point.
Speaker: Take two grand. hospital should collect a copay. Yeah. If if you have you're contracted, right? Sure. you have a hospital copay, if you have a doctor copay, collect the damn copay. Right. File with the insurance company.
Speaker: Let them process the claims yeah and then send the invoice to the patient. You get an explanation of benefits and you get a bill. Right. you You know what's happening. Well, and you can get a bill from the hospital.
Speaker: But back to your original point. Yeah. so here think Most of our friends. people we know who don't have the best corporate level health insurance. Yeah.
Speaker: They have to get preauthorization. Yes. I know. So you already know how much that's going to cost. Yeah. Okay. So those guys, sorry, we have many friends. They're freelancers. They're, you know, on contract work. They had to buy Obamacare, whatever they want to call it these days. And, but, yeah and it's troublesome, but they need preauthorization. But the preauthorization process means that they know exactly what is going to be spent. What it's What it's going to cost,
Speaker: So take them out for a second, right? The small portion of people like you and me, where our family, someone in our family works for a big multinational corporate with a nice policy, a generous policy. Yeah.
Speaker: you're not not getting paid. ah like these right people You're going to pay. I'm going to pay. right well that's like yeah Even if you want money, it's fine. Take a thousand dollar deposit. You already know what it's going to cost. You can't charge me seven grand and then refund me 5,500. Yeah, it's stupid. Yeah. Because, you know, what they're doing is they're they're doing lowest common denominator shit. That's what it is. And and and the truth is, is that, you know, depending on what policy they have for you, what insurance policy they have, yeah they should they should use that as a guide and not have these blanket lowest common denominator behaviors.
Speaker: Because, you know, and my daughter's in medical billing before, for like for for our friend's family mother who's doctor. They can go in, they go in the system. And if you're one of the big name insurance companies, they already know. Like there's no lie. They type it in and like, i know somewhat so I'm like, I don't understand that you cannot charge me seven grand. We already know within, within 99% certainty. Yeah. It's under $2,000. Well, that's why one of my surgeries, one of my surgeries, the insurance company denied it What? Like the day I walked in, I checked in for,
Speaker: for surgery. They were like, the insurance companies denied it. It's $40,000. Holy shit. And i was like, I'm not paying you $40,000. I was like, there's absolutely no way. Like when you take me, the little person versus corporate insurance companies, I'm not paying out 40 grand.
Speaker: Like I have a policy. I pay the policy every single month. Exactly. Their obligation is to take all of the information available to them, which has been provided, yeah and to make a decision. And there was no there was no reason with all of the evidence that had been submitted to the insurance company for authorization for this. Because you do need pre-authorization oftentimes for bigger surgeries. Yes. Right?
Speaker: Fair. You just don't walk in and, like, book a surgery. They work with the insurance company. And so with all of the evidence that had been presented as to why this was a necessary procedure, they still denied it.
Speaker: And somebody at and NYU, who I would never name because i you know they were like, don't ever say anything. And so I'm not technically saying anything. But they were like, nope, we're doing it anyway.
Speaker: And we will fight it afterwards. And you don't need to pay a single cent in your pocket right now. that's nice. we've got the OR booked. This is not going to be a big surgery. it's like It was like two hours. i walked out. Like I walk i got up and walked out. It's literally a factory now. They want you in there doing that surgery. I bet you they do too many surgeries on purpose to pad the stats. Yeah. And it's like, so so my thing is like if if there's some argument over payment, I'm like, listen, dick if you don't do this surgery, that OR goes empty, you lose time. You might as well just fucking do it.
Speaker: Even if you collected half the money, it's like a plane, right? you, the plane's flying, right? but Sell the seat for a dollar if you need to, because like a dollar better than nothing. But the point is, is when, when they put it in and they know they have the estimated, right they have the estimated cost and estimated benefit. yeah The insurance company should just be like, okay, check the box.
Speaker: We'll pay it when you, when you invoice us because yeah paper trail, right? We need the paper trail. As soon as you invoice us, it'll get paid. They shouldn't be harassing patients.
Speaker: I know. Out of pocket maximum. And that's what they did to you. They harassed you for out pocket maximum, which is like. Which they January. So my'm i'm i'm I'm just i trying guess, like, make a bet on how long it takes for someone to freaking, like, sue them for this shit. And what they hope is that you are going to be a person who thinks it's all being handled.
Speaker: yeah yeah seven thousand dollars was all accounted for and so you're not going to follow up you're not going to call and you're not going to be like i want my money okay so think about it right so many people don't and that's how they get over on so many people it's unbelievable so i guess the good thing is like a the credit balance stays there you get a statement every month okay you have a credit balance and okay fine like it's there right but on the flip side it's like hey they're earning interest on that money and it's like the float right yeah so many so many business that do that And then they just keep quiet. But then, so that's how they're going nailed. There's one thing if you took the money and there's no interest involved, but now it's like interest earned interest. I have to pay I have my credit card. That's right. So, but that's, that's, that's one part of it. Right. But the other part of it is that, you know, they sit there and they have a balance that sits on the, like on your account. Right.
Speaker: Yeah. most Most people don't check it vigilantly. I know. Well, and then. And so, and they don't, and they don't understand. the hospital That's right. It won't show up on your doctor bill. That's right. Your doctor bill is you owe money. That's right. So, but they don't, they also conceptually don't know that the hospital is making interest on them, that they're holding, right? Because a lot of people don't have an understanding of the way that that works. Like you pay the $25 to the city for parking, right? You bank and you bring it down. And as you're banking $25, $50, $100 for parking, they're making interest off of the money that you're banking with them.
Speaker: Same thing with Starbucks, right? And so oftentimes people do not understand or know yeah that when they make those payments that it's actually building interest for the corporate, the corporation that they've invested that money into, right? Yeah. And so these people who have like, let's just say arbitrary number, right? $7,000 paid out for their surgery. yeah They don't even realize that they're paying interest on it for their credit card while it's being held by the hospital and they're earning interest on it. They don't even understand because they don't even think about it in terms of of interest and and holding money. They just think of it in terms of like, oh, I paid the bill. And and and then in good faith, they'll just refund it to me.
Speaker: as they promised, I'm throwing air quotes up, right? As they promised. and they don't follow up because they just naturally sit there and think it's done and they wait for the check or the refund. yeah But oftentimes what happens is life happens and they don't remember They forget about it.
Speaker: And then the hospital makes extra money. and And the thing is, is like yeah maybe maybe it shows up in your account yeah as as a balance. Maybe not. you know But regardless, they're definitely making money as yeah they hold all of your money and your spending if you put if you had to put it on a credit card. And most people would put it on a credit card because who's walking in with $7,000 and paying a hospital person?
Speaker: i wonder how long before other hospital groups start doing the same thing. I don't know. I don't know. i you know, it's funny. I, um, yeah, I've run into this a lot. I feel like. yeah Yeah. With, with, well, with NYU in particular, yeah like we were talking about Atlantic, the Atlantic Avenue, you know, outpost or whatever you want to call it. I guess it's, i don't know is it a full hospital?
Speaker: Yeah. I mean like people, like they admit patients, patients stay there now. Okay. So there, and I've mentioned this before, but one of the things to note about that place in particular is the facility fees.
Speaker: Oh, right. And so the facility fees for that location are astronomical. Yeah, they're huge. It's a new place. It was just rebuilt after they tore down Lich. I mean, it took down it took like a thousand years. It feels like it was been forever. Right. Because it's been abandoned. That lot had been abandoned by Litch, what, 14 years ago?
Speaker: oh really? 13 years ago. it was It's been empty for a really, really long time. okay um it It turned into NYU, right, as the old Litch building. yeah And then they redid it piece by piece by piece. Because when my son broke his arm, the first time, it was on Court Street.
Speaker: in front of Union Market. Yeah. And we ran them over there. And so they didn't have any peds. They didn't have an orthopedist on site. And so we had to get in an ambulance and go to the First Avenue location, the main hospital. Oh.
Speaker: Yeah, the ambulance ride sucked. Shit. They go slow and it's bumpy. And you're just like, yeah. And I remember i was sitting in the back. It was after like it was on a Sunday after hockey games. We went in to go and, you know, pick up food to make for dinner or have for dinner.
Speaker: And he fell on the sidewalk and fell on his arm and broke his arm. And I remember being in the ambulance and calling Danny on the way. Shit. I know. I was like, so just wanted to let you know, this is what happened. This is what we're doing. This is where we're going. And he was just, and he stayed on the phone with me the whole time. Like the whole ride. Yeah. It was really, really lovely. It was really sweet. He stayed on the phone with me the whole time.
Speaker: he was like, can I meet you there? He was like, where's Ruthie? Let me take Ruthie. You know, it was just like all this like crazy stuff. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know why. oh right. So what I was getting at is because they redid that hospital the way they redid it, they they need to recoup the cost. And yeah so the facility the facility fees there are tremendous. And so like I went to go book a mammogram there. Yeah.
Speaker: And i they wanted like $300 pocket. And that's interesting. I've never seen that. Yeah, it was like that a ridiculous. I got an invoice on the app for it and it was facility fee because most of the time mammograms, they don't really, they don't gouge you for mammograms.
Speaker: Right. It's yeah after the age of like 40, you know, a standard at least once a year. And I have it once a year. where thing and network i never I mean, the facility is a facility, but like the the the group that's doing it typically has a in-network contract with your insurance company and they can only charge what they charge. You can't charge. and ah youre You're telling me they're charging you a surcharge. It's the hospital. Yeah. It's the hospital.
Speaker: it's not It's not an independent group, right? it's It's the hospital because it's at the hospital. So if I go to one of the other outpost imaging centers that NYU has, right? I don't get that. I don't get charged that fee.
Speaker: But it becomes, you know, less convenient because I have to go to the city. But no one knows you that, right, in advance? No. i've never I've never had anybody say that to me. They give you yeah in the app where you get your referral for it. They give you an option to make appointments and it's yeah you get to pick up the five boroughs in Long Island.
Speaker: And actually, i think it's four. I don't think they offer to send you up to the Bronx. But it's, you know, like four. Okay. um And Long Island. And the app is really elementary because it doesn't allow you to search.
Speaker: It doesn't allow you to search more than one borough or location at a time. So you go through it and when you get to the times and the locations, if nothing works or it's too far ahead, you have to exit out of the whole thing and go back through and start all over. yeah yeah yeah But yeah, when i booked with I booked with the Atlantic Avenue location the hospital because it was convenient, it was the earliest time. it would have been perfect. Right. Take the train over, take a walk. No big deal.
Speaker: I got a bill like two days later and it was a facility fee, surcharge, whatever. i know I wish I had saved it. Next time I'll try and make an appointment there and then I'll i'll get, I'm sure I'll get the invoice again and show you. thought the whole point of having, but I canceled and moved it. Yeah, I canceled it and moved it.
Speaker: And I didn't, and I did not get the facility. Okay. Okay. okay Okay. The whole point of, of, of having that building, the hospital and all the facilities there, including doctors and specialists, is so that, right, it's like a business, it's like vertical integration, right, for hospitals. Totally. Let's just have everybody here. You need a scan. Okay, go to the sixth floor. Yep. And it'll be in the app and I can see it and then come back down and then go to the basement, blah, blah, blah. And then, and then,
Speaker: I've got a captive, you know, patient. I make all the money from the insurance company. Yep. Why am I charging you a facility fee for that? So that's kind of weird. Yeah. It's just, yeah but every single time for MRIs and for mammograms, when I book there, i get the bill and I'm always thinking, well, maybe, you know, at some point I won't get it, but I always do. And so I always end up going into the city or deeper into Brooklyn.
Speaker: I'm going to check my files. Like Bay Ridge. don't remember seeing that because I'm paying these like $25 here, $25 there. Nothing big has stuck out. But like. You got to look at. Also, look at the hospital bill. See it's there. I've done everything including like, you know, ultrasound for the stone, blah, blah, blah. All the same hospital. On Atlantic. You know, that brand new thing they put there. Yeah, yeah. Always there. In the basement, radiology, blah, blah, blah, surgery. And I've never, I'll look again. I've never seen the facility. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. Yeah. But it prompted me to not do it because I was like, I'm not paying that. That makes no sense. My insurance company. Yeah.
Speaker: Fully covers. I mean, granted, you know, like, i you know, I'm trying to hit my deductible, right? Because I, yes you know, I have testing. And so my, but my deductible is not big on this plan. It's really not. Right. um So it was, it struck me as strange. At first I thought it was the deductible, like the entire deductible in one fell swoop. Right. I was like, oh, okay, that's fine. Like no big deal. But then when I went and examined, it was not, it was not Yeah.
Speaker: And so I just consistently cancel it. I'm just like, nope, not going to do it. Hell yeah. Forget it. Okay. Okay. So our American friends learned something. me Next up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Next up, which is just got released yesterday. i think it's yesterday. we were so like angry, although we'll talk about it. I don't think we should be that angry about it. It was like, so Mayor Mamdani has, or the department of finance, whatever has released a list of of potential properties that fall under the new whatever, five, four to 6% pied-à-terre tax in New York for non-primary residents. Right. Right.
Speaker: Okay. And yes, I searched for, I pulled the spreadsheet today and like, I searched for your name, wasn't there. No. My name was there. Yes. Go fuck yourselves. My name was there even though the assessed value, the market value of the home was below.
Speaker: Right. The threshold. And and either for people who who are not, I'm not completely well-versed on property tax, but the market value of your home for property tax is not the actual market value of your home that you would sell it for. So people understand that. It's a fraction.
Speaker: Right. Okay. It's a fraction of your home. So let's say, so that like they draw the line at 5 million at first, for example, for like homes. And then it was like 1 million for condos. you're like, fuck, 1 million for condos. Every condo is fucking 1 million in New York City. Yeah, exactly. No, no, no, no. I think the standard, I'll give you an example, but like a standard,
Speaker: three or four bedroom condo that might go for four to five million market value market like you and me for sale market value right market value for tax rule is more like 800 to 900,000 and then they they take they they take percent of that and then charge you 12.5% property tax. That's typically what the formula is, okay? So so
Speaker: um when they say, people read articles and they say any condo, a million or more, it's a million or more market value from the tax authority, not the for sale value, not the Zillow value. Right, right, right, right, right.
Speaker: Okay, so my name shows up. I'm looking my building like, oh none of us have have breached that $1 million dollars tax rate value. But all our names are there.
Speaker: ah Right. like, fuck you guys. and And again, like, the information is available to the public anyways. If I type in, if I go to the New York State website, property tax, I type in an address, I can see...
Speaker: the the legal beneficial owner and the tax. right that So itself is not a problem. Except what you've done is published an Excel spreadsheet. So now it's so easy. I just download the sheet and type someone's name in. I'm like, what the fuck? well least i'm yeah It's like doxing people.
Speaker: like The method in which it was done totally is so fundamentally wrong. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like that is that information is actually not for the public's consumption. It's not.
Speaker: Not in that format. Yeah. No, there does not need to be, you know, transparent disclosure so that you create a witch hunt. And this is what I feel like he does all the time.
Speaker: But I'll tell you. yeah Highlights, highlights people that like all these DSA members hate. Right. They're there. They like draw the ire. And then it creates this witch hunt. Yeah.
Speaker: temperature well once again it doesn't work okay once again it only hurts people like you and me for example right if you show the list because people like you and me i'm not buying my apartment using a trust no or lc i'm not spending that money fuck that i just under my name so im like so you can like dox me and then oh fucking friends of okay but like the people he's after like the billionaires and the centimillionaires, they buy all their properties under an LLC. That's right. So you see the LLC name, you don't know who the fuck that is. Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, now you got to go Freedom Information Act or whatever it is and file it and then who owns the LLC. Eventually you'll find find it. Yeah, you can find it. There's more trouble. and that's the whole point of the website. But these people have nothing better to do. I know. and so so so Anyway, so now, I love it because these articles, because you have all these old people who have nothing better to do than to call their local council person and say, fuck you. right My name's on the list. yeah And they're in these old shitty co-ops right or condos. They're 80 years old. They're retired. They're like, why the fuck am on this list? why And that was the thing that I was going to get to. It's so dumb. First of all, it's all computerized.
Speaker: And again, this is all politically motivated because ultimately the the way to do this, and and you know we started discussing this before, I can't figure out whether he did it bear with me for a second yeah yeah my you thought whether it's stupid political just send it out in a hurry yeah or genius political in a sense to say look how many people there are that have these expensive condos it's both okay it's probably both right and and and then you'll see articles like listen
Speaker: in In New York City, right, everything is computerized. My tax return is computerized. I get my refund back to my digitally in my account. yeah I filed, they have all these different abatements for the people who don't live in new York City. you always different thing But for me, for example,
Speaker: This is my primary residence. I file for something called the star. ah And it gets me a discount. Right. On the property, a small discount on the property ah taxes because it's my primary residence. Right.
Speaker: And the pied-a-terre taxes for people who are not a primary residence. Right. So it's not that it's literally two buttons. To say, spit out the list of all the apartments that are valued at a million or more right by the tax rule where they don't have a star abatement, where they don't have a New York state tax return that has their home address on it. Because that's what they're asking for proof. They're like, if you have to appeal your name on this list and you get a letter saying you are going to be facing the surcharge, the only way to appeal it is to show your tax return, which has your... Home address. Yeah. Or or your star abatement or something like that. Right. Yeah.
Speaker: So I'm like, if you're asking me for that data, you already have it. And you could have wit whittled down this list to really just the people who are non-residents. You know already. Right. So based on that. Why be a dick? Right. So based on that assessment, right, let's go with intention.
Speaker: Let's talk about intention. Yes. Intention is to rile his voter base. But there are people on that list that work for him. It doesn't matter.
Speaker: And there are people on that list who who are his biggest advocates. buts Like cynthia Cynthia Nixon's on that list. Cynthia Nixon's on that list. Right. Cynthia Nixon's on that list. Right. I mean, she's like of his like she wants to lead the fucking DSA. Like she's bananas. I think one of his Department of Finance people was responsible for the list is on the fucking list. Yeah. like Guys. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, but it riles bit but at riles his his like his useful idiot voter base. I guess. Right? it It becomes like a witch hunt, like stakes and pay your pay your taxes, pay the... I know this morning in CNBC, they were arguing about it back and forth. it's like And it was like, on the one hand, it was like, hey, like said, you're doxing people. On the other hand, it was like, but it's public information anyways. But you don't need to aggregate it so that it's and easily accessible. You'd still have to go and you look for it. If you force people to go look for it, they're not going to go look for it. But if you hand it to them in a spreadsheet, they look at it and they're like, oh, wow, let's go protest in front of that guy's place.
Speaker: Because that's what they do. Totally. I welcome it. come on All they do is harass people. come and Come to my building and and protest. it's The jail is next door. Seriously. Like, honestly, all they but all they do is is harass people. That's all they do. They make people very uncomfortable. Their whole entire thing is to disrupt.
Speaker: They're very good at it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. And the truth of the matter is it's like it's taken over every civil, like every civil. I wonder if there's going to be any kind of like, anyways, this media fallout. It's all over the news. I if there's any kind of like apology retraction. Like, oh, I'm so sorry. We're going to redo the list. Because on top of that, they're like, they're only giving you like three weeks to appeal. I know. crazy. I know. Well, to file your appeal. Yeah. Yeah. It's a form though. It's like an online form. Yeah.
Speaker: But now I'm fucking paranoid because I'm like, wait a second. And now you're responsible. I see my name on the list. Yeah. Yeah. I know that the value that they have the tax authority value on my apartment is below the threshold. So I shouldn't be on the list anyway. yeah Right.
Speaker: I shouldn't be on the list. Yeah. And now i'm like, what if the letter got lost in the mail, which happens all the time? Yeah. I don't file the appeal. it Now suddenly paying extra 5%. I'm like, go fuck yourself. You know, there's a, there's a link online for this. You know that, right?
Speaker: i do yeah and but i don't trust it i'll tell you why you but you could do it both so what i would do is i would do the online first and then i would do a paper appeal and i would hit it from both sides to make sure that both of your bases are covered something that doesn't exist Well, you're appealing the fact that you're on the list. You have to. Okay, that i that's, I don' i don't know what to do about that, right? i don't I don't personally care that I'm on the list. just care if youre I'm going to be charged. Right, but if you're on the list, yeah you know, the whole... No, because list is filled with properties.
Speaker: The list is filled with so many properties that are sub $1 million. So they should you're not you're not going to be taxed. The problem is why are you on the list? Because somebody just fucking did a data dump and just sent it out. There are properties that are worth like,
Speaker: 30 to 50 percent below the threshold yeah what the fuck yeah it's like well because they're it's just it's lazy research no exactly right it it like someone someone that they hired to do it and i'm sure it wasn't like you know like an ernst and young right like oh someone right it's someone in-house they gave how go right they gave somebody like like go take care of this and anybody that looks like this, this, this, and this, these are your criteria. And so they just went through and they were like, yeah and the system's always fuckington oh, well, if we if we did the, if we filed the wrong thing, it's up, it's your problem. That's right.
Speaker: That's right. I know this because yeah it's laz it's so lazy. i don't know if we talked about this way back when. I don't know. Stop me if you recall the story. Yeah. But like two years ago, my wife went to the beach in Bridgehampton. Okay. Okay.
Speaker: where there's notoriously no signal. Okay. We have a parking permit. h She drives there, parks in the spot, goes to the beach, comes back.
Speaker: Okay. Great. Whatever. Two months later, i get a notification. You are barred from renewing the registration on your car because you have nine outstanding parking tickets that you haven't paid.
Speaker: I'm like, what the fuck? How is that possible? Every parking ticket's issued paper, like everything, right? Yeah, it's always something. i I log on to this, I'm like, why do we have nine fucking parking tickets in Bridgehampton on this day? And I go, on this day, i was not here. my wife in the and I, I look at her like, what the fuck did you do She's like, I, I've been talking about.
Speaker: I go, no paper tickets in the windshield? Nope, nothing. I go, and then I look dig deeper and like, there are nine parking tickets issued to our car within seven minutes. Yeah. What? you not Seven fucking minutes, nine tickets. So i'm like, okay, great. So now I'm like, okay, so some fucking asshole newbie parking person who's stupid decides to click, write a parking ticket. And then because there's no cell signal in those terminals, oh keeps clicking ticket, ticket, ticket, ticket. ticket oh Nine fucking times. Either gives up or whatever. There's no paper issued it in Bridgehampton.
Speaker: First world problem. okay And... Now i'm I can't find a lawyer. I can't call the – I don't live there. I can't go to City Hall and get a thing. I'm i'm beyond the two, three-month time period to appeal because you can't appeal it because didn't have a paper ticket.
Speaker: And I didn't even know it The first time I've heard about it is when you tell me I can't renew my registration. That's bananas. Okay, so now the tickets are worth like two grand. I'm like, ah this this doesn't even make sense. I finally tracked down a lawyer in –
Speaker: West Hampton, maybe Hampton Bays. Okay. And I explained to the lady, look I have no idea what the fuck is going on. And the lady was like, this is great. And she was like, this is crazy. The lefties are at it again. They're just trying to fucking like take advantage of people. just but She's right. Can't disagree. and let you help me? Okay. Anyways.
Speaker: It cost me $800 in legal bills. Sure. They go to court. The judge obviously strikes it down says, what the fuck is going on here? You can abuse your authority and issue this guy parking tickets that he, A, didn't deserve, first of all, because he has the parking permit. B, nine fucking times. In seven minutes. In seven minutes. That's less that's less than one minute per ticket. Yeah. Clearly a mistake in the machine.
Speaker: You know who wrote the tickets and who the hell knows whether that person gets disciplined or not. I can't be the only person because he but put up and down the street. Yeah, seriously. And I'm like, guys, you can't. OK, don't worry. Your record is expunged. It's all gone. You don't you can renew registration. Everything. Tickets have all been voided. but I had to pay eight hundred dollars to the lawyer to get that done. Yeah, that's the problem.
Speaker: What the fuck? I mean, that's really the bigger problem is the idea that you have to spend so much money in order to make it right. You should never have to do that. When there was no violation in the first place.
Speaker: Yeah, you shouldn't have to do that. I'm so fucking pissed. I don't blame you. I don't blame you. That's ridiculous. Because that. ridiculous just now I'm like my name to the list like hey just because my property value doesn't fall doesn't break the threshold to be taxed doesn't mean that these idiots don't send the letter for me to prove it and the letter gets lost and now like three months later on the on podcast episode number whatever 85 gotta tell you like guess what that's good I got dinged for five percent even though it's wrong ridiculous ridiculous can't trust the government anymore.
Speaker: No. but um Well, no. yeah Well, so, but you know what? It's like super valid, right? Like I always used to think that my family was bananas when they would get like this when they were older. But the truth is, is like, they're not wrong.
Speaker: They're not wrong. They're not wrong. and you know And there's nothing wrong with making sure that you are your you know your best self-advocate, right? You have to because nobody else is looking out for your junk more than you are. Yeah.
Speaker: And so you don't have a choice whether it comes to insurance companies, hospitals, car insurance, you know the police department. like yeah you know You have to follow up. you know I'm like, I'm having the same thing with my you know my car like I was just telling you earlier. But I'm not going to get into it because it's not finished yet. So I'm not going to like jinx it or out anything. But, you know, like we've had to like really follow up, like beat it down. Yeah.
Speaker: Just like you have to. Otherwise, people are just ready to take advantage of you a second it just in a second. In a second. And they will. And that's the whole thing. Like if you if they present something to you and you say yes, it's your fault.
Speaker: Yeah, I know. What the fuck? It's your fault. Right? You have to attention. Yeah, your responsibility, your fault. Pay attention to people trying to get you around every corner. Yeah, no, it's terrible. It's terrible. And, you know, it's funny because it's always been like this. It's no different. It's just I think the difference is I used to watch my parents get taken for a ride. You know, not all the time, but enough.
Speaker: Yeah. um And now I'm just more of a skeptic. Like I'm just so naturally skeptical of of intention generally. that I'm vigilant all the time. And it's exhausting.
Speaker: I'm not even going to lie about it. really It's exhausting. I'm tired. I'm so tired. Okay. And so, like you said before, people who are working like 80 hour, a hundred hour weeks, who don't have time to be reading all this shit yeah and paying attention and chasing. Yeah. Like, yeah, they just give Yeah. They give up. Right. We have that time and we're already like annoyed and stressed out by imagine if you're like working full time.
Speaker: trying to sort that shit out. You can't. I mean, people do or they hire other people to take care of it for them. Right. I mean, my parking thing, unnecessary cost. Like there's a niche market there for sure. Right. Yeah. I mean, you're not going to, you know, you're not become wealthy. I don't think in that space. But some things you can't trust. Like sometimes you can't trust people. I'm not going to give you like all my records you can go fight this shit for Right. That's exactly right. Or you'd have to hire a lawyer or have a lawyer friend take care of it for you.
Speaker: Yeah. you know Something of that ilk. I'm just also a trusted person who really knows insurance, unfortunately. i mean, I know insurance because over the past 20, really 25 years, I've dealt with more insurance company bullshit than I ever thought I'd I'd ever imagine.
Speaker: You're the expert now. Big time. I mean, I would not say expert, but I certainly have a lot of experience where I know more than, know, enough of the system to know that something's fishy. Yeah. fight it Yeah. And I, and I, you know, and I say this all the time and, you know, Eric just recently said this to a friend of his that, you know, it's a saying that I just fucking stand by like a thousand percent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which is.
Speaker: No is a complete sentence. yeah Right. I like that. It's true. Like you can ask me anything. Yeah. And I can just say no.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I don't need to explain myself. I don't need to ask any questions if I don't want to do it. And I say no, that's it. It's a complete sentence. No. You know, so it's like, you know, hey, go pay $40,000. No.
Speaker: No. No. no Oh, my God. No. Sorry. god That's not happening. Oh, i I also very quickly ran that one hour mark. going to go soon. But I had a flight. I finally had a flight story. I was like, I never have any flight stories to tell Jessica. I have one now.
Speaker: We were supposed to go to D.C. and it was pissing rain. Yeah. And I've flown 20 years to Boston and D.C. for work out of LaGuardia. And every time it rains, just rains, forget thunderstorms. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You cancel the flight. You take the train. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Right.
Speaker: we're We were supposed go and do the tour and and it's pissing rain, pissing rain. And I'm like. And kudos to flighty again, again, for the, give me all the necessary information about inbound aircraft, blah, blah, blah, blah. blah So I look at it's two o'clock in the morning. I look at, i'm like, my flight's at nine zero o'clock in the morning.
Speaker: Right. Flighty is telling me the inbound aircraft never arrived. Right. because they cancel all the inbound flights. right Delta is saying this flight's taken off on time. Like that can't be right. There's no fucking airplane. And then I'm looking up the, I'm listen it's to i'm looking up again because flighty, tail numbers of aircraft, all public information, looking at stuff. um bla And then I get on the Delta website and say, okay, flight to DC.
Speaker: They're never full. There's always one or two seats. yeah So try book a flight under my wife's name and they're like, the first flight available to DC is at 9 like, that's harsh. Every hour that can't be right.
Speaker: They can't be also though. So I get the Delta app and I'm like, listen, I a very important meeting in DC at 2 PM. I'm on the nine o'clock flight. You just got to tell me if this flight is not taking off, just tell me I'll rebook something else. I'll drive, I'll take the train. You can't leave me hanging at the airport. Yeah. Yeah. And of course, and I'm like hoping it's a Hail Mary. Yeah. is it no no no everything is good you're gonna take off on time i'm like listen lady the first flight showing available on your app is 9 p.m right how can that be all the flights are sold out bullshit i said there's no way all the flights of dc are sold out on a monday in the summer i'm like lady you're like i don't know you're smoking you're 100 sure yeah i'm like hang up okay cancel flight I cancel the flight. I go to the train, it's like 500 bucks. Yeah, it's expensive.
Speaker: We're just going to drive. Yeah. Hop in the car. now i'm no Now I'm like nosy. I'm hopping the car. I still get the flighty alerts because it my flight's still in the system. Delay. Delay.
Speaker: The flight's the board at 835. at 9. time. time. time. driving 836. Delayed. flight has been delayed.
Speaker: okay all it on time on time on time on time we're driving eight thirty six delayed your fight has been delayed for an hour uh-huh you motherless fuck yeah fine so i'm driving about 20 minutes your flight's been canceled like yeah fuck you like so they basically for anyone who doesn't have the option to drive or take the train yeah they squirt them but it's like not even advanced it was like get to the airport pretend your flight's taking off at nine yeah get right to the gate at 8 35
Speaker: oh sorry it's delayed at that point you can see there's no aircraft at the gate and then 10 minutes later cancel but right and the problem with that is they know that the other plane didn't take off they know that's what i'm saying and so right and so it's it's like it's again it's just like the hospital Yeah. Right. They don't want you to cancel. they Yeah.
Speaker: and And again, like, how do I, I know to take the evasive action by myself on the shoulder because I've been flying for 20 years and been screwed 20 years. I'm like, yeah most people don't. Right. Most don't fly there for business every week, week, week, and week. I don't understand. a lot of people don't fly often at all.
Speaker: but Right. So you now there's there's like at least on that flight, a hundred people sitting there going, what the fuck? And you know. And they're all sitting in the fucking terminal. can't rebook some hundred people on the 9 p.m. flight. Nope. You get stuck. might take days. Yep. You get stuck. I mean, it happened to me Two at a time. It happened to me in Puerto Rico. Happened to me with Tampa.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, I know this. So normally I'm pretty happy with Delta, but fuck you guys at Delta. Yeah. You basically fucked the whole days with the people because what? Minnesota. Yeah. yeah Because, but what? what Because you're too stupid. Don't care. Like, I don't know what the hell's going on. They're following instructions. They're just talking heads. Maybe.
Speaker: It's just dont make decisions, right? They don't make decisions. They're taking orders. And so like they're just doing what they're told. But the truth of the matter is, is like the people, the people who are giving the instructions that the damn aircraft, the, the, the, but the aircraft isn't there.
Speaker: and it did And it didn't take off. the hardware, yeah they call it the hardware, right? The hardware didn't show up. Right. You know, the hardware didn't show up. Right. Hello. It's not complicated.
Speaker: And the truth is, is it doesn't matter whether they, you know, cancel the flight before or cancel the flight then because they're going to owe all the people either rebooking a refund or a credit anyway.
Speaker: Yeah. So the timing doesn't make a difference. You've got my money. It's not it's not going back in my pocket. It's a credit for something else. Right. You're not going to give it back to me. So it doesn't matter. Just call it. And you know what? know Do it with enough consideration of the people who are sitting there waiting.
Speaker: Your fucking customers. It's terrible. They don't. Jesus Christ already. But none of them do. This is kind of part of the big problem. None of them do. None of the airlines do. The hospitals really don't. like It's all money. It's all business.
Speaker: Bummer. It takes all of the all of the human consideration out of it. Yeah, I know. and so Okay. I know. We're going for dad jokes. Two weeks of bitching. Here we go with the dad jokes.
Speaker: I could see my son listening the other day in the car. Oh, yeah? And I was like, what the fuck are you why Why are you like? And then he told me, oh, I'm listening to the dad joke part. And I couldn't get I was like, ahha That's funny. haha He was stumped on the, which one was that?
Speaker: He was stumped on the one. My neck hurts today. oh the paw one. The paw one? The dog. What country Western dog? is the Where's my three-legged dog?
Speaker: Where's my paw? my paw? Paw. Anyways, here we go. Yeah. Why did the man get fired from the orange juice factory?
Speaker: Oh, really? Why did the man get fired from the orange juice factory? I feel like if I gave this to you in writing, you might, maybe you're a more visual person, you might get the answer.
Speaker: Why did the man get fired from the orange juice factory? Oh, I got it, got it, I got it, I got it. I know you got it. Come on, give it to me. Give it to me. Because he wouldn't concentrate?
Speaker: Close enough, because he couldn't concentrate. concentrate juice factory yeah just because i get one doesn't mean i'm gonna get all them but but i have a funny story about orange juice tell us i started juicing my own orange juice did you really dude it's so much better so much better yeah i got like how much is how much you pay for the juicer Well, so the juicer I've had for a while. Okay. But it's like a small, weird, like Black & Decker one.
Speaker: It's easy, like super easy. It's a reamer, like an electric reamer. Yeah. So it's cool. It like spins. You like push down and it starts to spin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. it gets everything out of it. Okay. And so I think it was like $20. I don't think it was a big investment. okay, okay. So they use it as an excuse to buy some newfangled juicer. Right. And so like a bag of organic oranges from Whole Foods is like $7. And so fresh squeezed orange juice. And I get a whole carafe.
Speaker: out of a bag of oranges. Simple pleasures in life. Dude, there's nothing really quite like fresh squeezed orange juice. I'm just going to say. So we were we were talking about it the other day, which is why I think that concentrate, orange juice concentrate was in my head. Okay. See, there you go. got it. But nothing else is in my head. So everything else is vacant. Well, I've got another easy. I got another slam dunk for you. Come on.
Speaker: Come on. All right. Okay. Let's try it. I got two slam dunks for you and then going roll. Why did the golfer bring two pairs of pants? Oh, it's so easy. Come on.
Speaker: Yeah. But you're a golfer. I'm not a golfer. A lob down the middle, fastball down the middle of the plate, 65 miles an hour. Here comes the home one. Why did the golfer bring two pairs of pants?
Speaker: Because there was a hole in one of them. In case he got a hole in The judges will allow it. Close. there I'm close. I'm not exact. Very good. Close enough. But not too bad. I'm not doing too bad.
Speaker: Okay, okay, okay. okay You got to go three for three. Oh, shit. You know what? That's a lot of pressure, and I'm not really enjoying the pressure right you love the wordplay. This one's definitely for you. I do like the wordplay.
Speaker: What do you call hippie's wife? Wow. since We love lefties so much. Yeah. What do you call a hippie's wife?
Speaker: I don't know. I don't know. Stinky? Smelling like patchouli? don't know. One more guess. Come on.
Speaker: What do you call hippie's wife? Wordplay. Wordplay. Oh. No, it's not coming to me. Mississippi. Oh, shit.
Speaker: Oh, shit. That's funny. I like that. That's pretty right? Mississippi. Yeah, I like that. I totally wouldn't have gone there. I really thought you would. No, I was totally in a different headspace for that. that As soon as you said left, like, you started to make it political. My head went in and completely, like...
Speaker: Wacky. Exactly. Like a wacky headspace instead of simple. I was no longer in a simple headspace. Yeah. Dad jokes need simple headspace. yeah Yeah. I was overthinking it just like just like my kids do on task. There you go. Yeah. Okay. So as we leave, for all you nosy people out there, you can search online for the tax property tax rule of New York City and find your friend and their address and how much property tax they pay. I don't know why that matters, to be honest. That's the other thing. I don't care. You dox you dox me. like
Speaker: So you know how much you pay for property tax. Good for you. Right. Like, what does that do for you? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. It does nothing. And it doesn't mean. Especially when you Zillow the address. You know where i live. Zillow it. It's all there. And it doesn't indicate anything about any other monies. It doesn't matter.
Speaker: Nothing. Yeah, exactly. It doesn't matter. you know It's not a disclosure thing. It's a weird political thing to do. It is a weird, it's a, you know, he's trying to keep his promises so that what is everything else.
Speaker: New York Post. Why does Mamdani hate New York City so much and the people who live here? Because, well, I got theories, but we're out of time. So I'm not going to. That's a long conversation for next time. Yeah, I'm not going to get into it right now. All right.
Speaker: All right. Well, enjoy your next couple of weeks. Thank you. episode This is the end of 57. Thanks for listening, everybody. having e Bye.
Speaker: Well, well, well, you made it to the end. We can't thank you enough for listening to all of our random thoughts. Don't forget to give us a five-star rating. And you know how to reach us on the gram at TGS pod or send email to hello at the grocery stick.com.
