Turdsday
First a disclaimer: For any new readers that may be out there, it needs to be known that I'm not always warm and fuzzy (anyone who truly knows me would double over with laughter at that Understatement of the Year!). This is one of those times, so if you're offended by cursing and general bitterness, you may want to come back another time!
This was one of those days. I’m writing this at work (although I won’t post it until I get home), and all I can hope for at this point is that I make it home OK (I did). At least I have something to post about!
It all started this morning with a doctor’s appointment, which I made 8 months ago. I cancelled my COBRA coverage as of June 30, and I haven’t received my card for my new health coverage yet, so I knew there might be problems. So I took in the form that I faxed to HR on June 22 requesting coverage as well as the 800 number to contact the new provider. I figured that worst case they could call the new provider and confirm my coverage. Well, the new provider doesn’t have me in their system yet. The nurse called me back in her office to talk to the insurance rep on the phone. The nurse then left the room, and the insurance rep told me that I just needed to ask them to make a copy of my request form and have them attach it to the claim. OK, great. Good-bye. Click. I told this to the nurse who then said that they couldn’t do that and that she wished I had had the rep tell the nurse this on the phone too (oh, you would have done it if you heard it from her, what am I a fucking liar?). By this point I was pissed so I just had them make me another appointment for next month. I’ve only been going to this doctor for 8 years, so now I just decide I’m going to pull a fast one on them? Suck it. So I used 2 hours of sick leave for nothing. I loaded my metaphorical elephant gun for HR so when I got to work I would be ready to call someone and bitch them out about where in the hell my card is blah, blah, blah. (Silver lining in this: we get 4 hours of sick leave every 2 weeks, and you can bet your ass I’m going to use it.)
So I’m on my way to work when something happens that makes me forget about the healthcare bullshit. I’m about 7 miles from work, driving on major freeway, pretty much hauling ass admittedly, when the car in front of me swerves suddenly to the right. I didn’t have time to dodge what he swerved around, and I ended up running right over something big and metal in the road. I still don’t know what it was. My front tire was shredded immediately. Luckily I was able to make it over to the shoulder on the right side of the freeway without getting rear-ended. I pulled over as far as I could, but it was on an overpass so there was pretty much just room for my car and not much else. I have one of those tiny temporary spare tires so my plan was to put that on, drive to work, and try to get a new tire at lunch. I’m really glad that I carry that I carry an air compressor in my car because the air pressure in the spare was pretty low. Those things lose air pressure just sitting there, so unless you add air regularly your spare will probably be low.
Next for me was the part that I think freaked me out the most. I knew I had to change this tire with my body about 2 feet from the right lane of the freeway. And it was so loud. But I got it done and took side streets the rest of the way to work. While I was changing my tire, two other cars had the same thing happen to them. And I’d like to give a big “Fuck You” to the Richardson, Texas police officer who drove right by while my ass was dangling about 2 feet from traffic. I didn’t need him to help me change the tire, but couldn’t he have blocked off that right lane for the 10 measly fuckin’ minutes it took me to change the GD tire? Protect and serve my ass.
So I had a plan to get a new tire at lunch. I leave the building and go out to my car only to find that now my rear tire is flat too. I knew it lasted about 7 miles on the way to work, so I felt like I could put air in it and still go the 2 miles to the tire place, and that worked. So I ended up getting a new tire, and luckily the rear one was repairable with a plug. Now I just need a front end alignment because I have to turn the wheel way to the right to go straight. I don’t want to mess up my tires (and I had just bought a new set a little over a month ago).
The migraine that developed was a nice little cherry on top.
The worst part of this whole thing now though is that my adrenaline is going crazy. I am totally wired. It’s just really hit me how serious this thing could have been, and it’s freaking me out. At least on the drive home I probably won’t be able to go much faster than 30 miles an hour due to all the traffic (turned out to be pretty accurate). I know when this adrenaline wears off I’m going to crash big time. And HR, that elephant gun is still loaded.
This was one of those days. I’m writing this at work (although I won’t post it until I get home), and all I can hope for at this point is that I make it home OK (I did). At least I have something to post about!
It all started this morning with a doctor’s appointment, which I made 8 months ago. I cancelled my COBRA coverage as of June 30, and I haven’t received my card for my new health coverage yet, so I knew there might be problems. So I took in the form that I faxed to HR on June 22 requesting coverage as well as the 800 number to contact the new provider. I figured that worst case they could call the new provider and confirm my coverage. Well, the new provider doesn’t have me in their system yet. The nurse called me back in her office to talk to the insurance rep on the phone. The nurse then left the room, and the insurance rep told me that I just needed to ask them to make a copy of my request form and have them attach it to the claim. OK, great. Good-bye. Click. I told this to the nurse who then said that they couldn’t do that and that she wished I had had the rep tell the nurse this on the phone too (oh, you would have done it if you heard it from her, what am I a fucking liar?). By this point I was pissed so I just had them make me another appointment for next month. I’ve only been going to this doctor for 8 years, so now I just decide I’m going to pull a fast one on them? Suck it. So I used 2 hours of sick leave for nothing. I loaded my metaphorical elephant gun for HR so when I got to work I would be ready to call someone and bitch them out about where in the hell my card is blah, blah, blah. (Silver lining in this: we get 4 hours of sick leave every 2 weeks, and you can bet your ass I’m going to use it.)
So I’m on my way to work when something happens that makes me forget about the healthcare bullshit. I’m about 7 miles from work, driving on major freeway, pretty much hauling ass admittedly, when the car in front of me swerves suddenly to the right. I didn’t have time to dodge what he swerved around, and I ended up running right over something big and metal in the road. I still don’t know what it was. My front tire was shredded immediately. Luckily I was able to make it over to the shoulder on the right side of the freeway without getting rear-ended. I pulled over as far as I could, but it was on an overpass so there was pretty much just room for my car and not much else. I have one of those tiny temporary spare tires so my plan was to put that on, drive to work, and try to get a new tire at lunch. I’m really glad that I carry that I carry an air compressor in my car because the air pressure in the spare was pretty low. Those things lose air pressure just sitting there, so unless you add air regularly your spare will probably be low.
Next for me was the part that I think freaked me out the most. I knew I had to change this tire with my body about 2 feet from the right lane of the freeway. And it was so loud. But I got it done and took side streets the rest of the way to work. While I was changing my tire, two other cars had the same thing happen to them. And I’d like to give a big “Fuck You” to the Richardson, Texas police officer who drove right by while my ass was dangling about 2 feet from traffic. I didn’t need him to help me change the tire, but couldn’t he have blocked off that right lane for the 10 measly fuckin’ minutes it took me to change the GD tire? Protect and serve my ass.
So I had a plan to get a new tire at lunch. I leave the building and go out to my car only to find that now my rear tire is flat too. I knew it lasted about 7 miles on the way to work, so I felt like I could put air in it and still go the 2 miles to the tire place, and that worked. So I ended up getting a new tire, and luckily the rear one was repairable with a plug. Now I just need a front end alignment because I have to turn the wheel way to the right to go straight. I don’t want to mess up my tires (and I had just bought a new set a little over a month ago).
The migraine that developed was a nice little cherry on top.
The worst part of this whole thing now though is that my adrenaline is going crazy. I am totally wired. It’s just really hit me how serious this thing could have been, and it’s freaking me out. At least on the drive home I probably won’t be able to go much faster than 30 miles an hour due to all the traffic (turned out to be pretty accurate). I know when this adrenaline wears off I’m going to crash big time. And HR, that elephant gun is still loaded.
posted by JC at 6:35 PM
3 Comments:
Gees - glad you made it home safely. Not a good day to say the least. Insurance problems? Bastards! Their intent is to make your life miserable. Most people have experienced some sort of crap like this.
Chin up! Tomorrow's Friday.
Thursday sucked this week. Mine was miserable. And I got the lovely migraine cherry on top, too.
You are very, very lucky the experience with the tire turned out as well as it did. Hell, you're lucky you didn't lose complete control of your car after hitting that chunk of metal on the road.
Doesn't make the day any better knowing it could have been worse, does it? Nah, didn't think so.
Hope your weekend more than makes up for the shittiness of Thursday.
Oh man, what a day. I'm the queen of blowouts so I feel your pain JC. I'm glad you weren't killed and a big F U to whomever dumped that metal shit on the road and didn't report it.
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