a) I believe they should've bulk-billed that particular appointment so I was pissed off about the unexpected and unwelcome additional expense
b) they have yet to join the 21st century and refuse to let me pay in any way other than in person or by cheque (seriously, who has a bloody cheque book these days?) and
c) they also make paying in person difficult by being open only when I'm working and on three hours on a Saturday morning when I'd rather be in bed.
But of course the nasty letter eventually came and it was my word against theirs so I sucked it up and went in. I also had to return a book I'd been lent by the doctor so I got that ticked off the list too. I am now doctor shopping. I've had enough of that practice and my old doctor has pretty much retired so there's nothing keeping me there. The current staff certainly haven't impressed me with their medical knowledge by recommending I read books that have been scientifically debunked.
I grabbed a few things from local shops for my brunch and headed back home to tick off the next annoying task. I spent a total of 37 minutes on the phone to Optus in order to claw back the $125 they had recently overcharged me. Mr Smart joked that it was a good job that earned me that in just 37 minutes, but I didn't quite see it that way. It actually cost me 37 minutes of my own time just to claw back my own money that they'd effectively stolen from me via their incompetence.
The customer service agent was at least pleasant and helpful and fixed the error and as a result of my interaction with him they will no doubt send me a survey asking me if I was happy with his service. Now as I see it, that's a fundamental flaw in their feedback process because Yes! I was happy that he fixed my problem, but No! I am not a happy little Optusmite because they caused the issue in the first place. No matter how helpful he was I still should not have needed to make that damn call in the first place!!
After that was all sorted though, I fixed myself a nice lunch and sat down to write three blogs (much as I'm doing now but I think you'll have to wait another day for the other two). That took up pretty much the remainder of my day at home and I finished just in time to pack my overnight bag and head off to Mr Smart's sister's house. Tonight we were babysitting his adorable nephew!
Mr Smart's nephew is two and a half and so very cute. I crumble at his every lip tremble so I'm hopeless at telling him no. Fortunately Mr Smart is unaffected by his 'Jess-is-a-pushover' face so he still has to behave himself. Luckily he's also a really good kid. He likes digital cameras, because you can see the photo straight away. As a result I have a lot of pictures of toy cars on my camera for today. Black ones, blue ones, buses, front-end loaders, orange ones and yellow ones.He also thinks the popping noise Mr Smart makes with his lips is pretty neat (like Donkey in Shrek 2 during the 'Are we there yet?' scene). In fact, once Mr Smart and I started making the popping sound in unison it sent him squealing with delight and insisting on more. After the novelty of that wore off he dragged out his box of Duplo and we played with that. Mr Smart managed to make a Duplo basketball court and the three of us 'shot hoops' until it was bed time.
It took Mr Smart reading a fair few story books, but eventually his nephew settled down in bed. He chattered away to himself for a while but eventually he drifted off leaving Mr Smart and I to watch a movie. We watched Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, a movie based on the novel by Patrick Süskind. I loved the book, and for once was very impressed with it's film adaptation. I think it helped that I had read the book, but I was really pleased with how they'd done it. It was a movie I'd been wanting to see for a long time so I was super pleased that I loved it.
After the movie there was only an hour to wait until the midnight kick off of the Reading v. Liverpool match. I made it to half time, just barely, before I gave up and went to bed. I'm not sure if Mr Smart thought me a stout little trooper or a masochist for trying to stay up for it, but either way there was no denying that sleep was coming for me. I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow.
Saturday's food was:
- Brunch was two multigrain bread rolls, fresh from the bakery, with each containing one slice of Bega So Light tasty cheese, 30g double-smoked ham, half a Doncaster tomato, some baby cos lettuce and about a teaspoon of Heinz Light Salad Cream. Accompanying these rolls was two small bunches of organic black grapes. They were delicious, and well worth buying.
- Dinner was pizza, homemade for by Mr Smart's lovely brother-in-law. A flat bread base, topped with tomato paste, fresh mushrooms, hot salami, olives and two kinds of cheese. I ate three quarters of my pizza so that I could justify having...
- Dessert! A small bowlful of Connoisseur chocolate honey nougat ice cream.
Not a bad day all up. I got to eat some tasty treats but kept it fairly moderate portion wise. I got a few nagging and annoying tasks ticked off my list and most importantly, I got to have fun playing Duplo with two wonderful boys.
Jess
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