Post your Gripe

[earlene]

I had to wear a similar device for a month in early 2020. The cost they billed my insurance company was in the thousands & was denied for some stupid reason (indication for need not sufficiently documented or some such). I was horrified that my Ins. Co. wouldn't pay since the results of that monitor was what identified the problem that lead to my surgery that repaired the problem. None of the previous diagnostics had made that ID, and yet, payment was denied.

I wrote and called the insurance company insisting they pay the bill because it was justified by virtue of all above. They said, "No, we have an agreement with this company ...blah blah blah... and they won't bill you either. It's part of the agreement we have with them." Personally, I felt that was wrong and the bill should have been paid, if only a pre-agreed upon portion, at least, because without that quite expensive monitoring, I could potentially now be dead and I am not. But, as I was told, I was never personally billed.

 

[Quanta]

I had to wear a similar device for a month in early 2020. The cost they billed my insurance company was in the thousands & was denied for some stupid reason (indication for need not sufficiently documented or some such). I was horrified that my Ins. Co. wouldn't pay since the results of that monitor was what identified the problem that lead to my surgery that repaired the problem. None of the previous diagnostics had made that ID, and yet, payment was denied.

I wrote and called the insurance company insisting they pay the bill because it was justified by virtue of all above. They said, "No, we have an agreement with this company ...blah blah blah... and they won't bill you either. It's part of the agreement we have with them." Personally, I felt that was wrong and the bill should have been paid, if only a pre-agreed upon portion, at least, because without that quite expensive monitoring, I could potentially now be dead and I am not. But, as I was told, I was never personally billed.

That exact thing happened to me the first time I wore a Holter monitor. Insurance and medical billing is sooo messed up and complicated.

 

[Jubilee8269]

I had to wear a holter monitor back in February. They are not fun to be walking around wearing. I had to walk to the store, which was only a block away and back. I was worried they were going to accuse me of stealing or something with the bulk under my shirt. Thankfully nobody said anything. Good luck on that getting back to your docs and read!

 

[MGM]

Our youngest had to wear one only for a few days last month, but considering he has all sorts of sensory processing issues, I figured he wouldn't last an hour. He did it though. We had to drive the monitor back to the doc's office -- a whole hour away! I mean, I used to commute almost an hour to work every day, but after working from home for over a year, any sort of drive is such an imposition on me! I'd have paid someone to take it back.....

 

[Daisy]

Thank you!
I guess my gripe really should have been that I had to have a Holter monitor at all, regardless of the Postal Service!

Either way you've created a support group! Your are not alone!
I pray you'll get better soon!

 

[Quanta]

Either way you've created a support group! Your are not alone!
I pray you'll get better soon!

Thanks! My follow up appointment isn't until May 7, then I'll know more.

 

[Quanta]

This past week I had to wear a Holter monitor. After 7 days I had to take it off and put it in its box to send it to the company that extracts the data for my doctor. The prepaid postage on the box is USPS, so I have no choice but to sit here and hope and pray that they don't lose it. I don't want to have to wear another one for another week. If they had let me take it wherever I wanted I would probably have taken it to UPS. I just don't trust the postal service anymore.

I was given the tracking number for this when it was dropped off at the post office. I've been checking it and it was delivered this morning. Hallelujah!

I'm increasingly ticked off at how hard it is to get SLSA, now that I finally convinced myself I want some.

After weeks of searching I found one place that had it stock and placed an order. A couple of weeks go by, it doesn't turn up. I send them a message through the contact form on their website (the only way to reach them). No response. Finally I open a PayPal dispute, expecting a long process of wrangling and negotiations - nope, it was instantaneously refunded! In other words their business is in such bad shape PayPal has apparently written them off entirely.

Which leaves me at square 1, with no source of SLSA and a Europe-wide shortage, apparently.

I was poking around the internet, looking for something completely unrelated when I stumbled across this, and I remembered that you were looking for it:
https://soapmakers-store.com/shop/body-care-ingredients/surfactants/slsa-sodium-lauryl-sulfoacetate/Was this by chance the one place you saw it? Their site shows that it is in stock.
If that's not the place you tried to order from, maybe it's worth a shot. They deliver to Ireland but they have a minimum order size of £50. However, they do appear to have lots of other useful stuff to add to your basket to make up the minimum order.
Failing that, my usual source for it is makeyourown.buzz, they currently have it in stock and they ship internationally. But shipping will be more expensive from Arkansas than it would be from England. I guess you would have to decide how badly you want it.

 

[TheGecko]

WOWZA! I bought a 5lb bucket of Palm Oil No-Stir from Elements Bath and Body the end of March, was going to order a couple more today and OMG...$15.84!!!

Now I'm going to have to check their other prices on stuff I usually order because that is just ridiculous!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

@TheGecko Thanks for the heads up.

I wish I knew how to knit... I could prolly finish a kingsize afghan by the time I get my order. And they are only and hour and a half away from me.

 

[earlene]

WOWZA! I bought a 5lb bucket of Palm Oil No-Stir from Elements Bath and Body the end of March, was going to order a couple more today and OMG...$15.84!!!

Now I'm going to have to check their other prices on stuff I usually order because that is just ridiculous!

Are you sure? When I look that up, it's 8 lbs for $15.84, not 15 pounds. 8 pounds = $26.79 ($15.84 plus $10.95 shipping) = $3.34 per pound

At Soaper's Choice you can order 33 pounds for $43.33 Organic Sustainable Palm Shortening (No Stir) | Soaper's Choice

33 pounds at that price is $1.31 per pound (plus shipping - which for me is probably a lot less than it would be for you

$17.29 shipping + $0.79 tax = $61.49 for 33 pounds, which = $1.86 per pound

Last time I ordered 50 pounds, it cost me $1.41 per pound, about a year ago., so the price has gone up, but it's still pretty good.

Depending on where in Oregon you are, of course, the shipping could be more. For Medford, the shipping goes up about $10, but still the price per pound is still lower than at Elements Bath & Body, at $2.16 per pound.

But maybe you would not want 33 pounds of Palm shortening (no-stir palm).

The flat rate shipping for 8 pounds is nice, though. How do they ship? Soapers Choice sends by ground UPS.

 

[TheGecko]

Turns out they changed the bucket size...from 5lbs to 8lbs so it is still 1.98 lb. Whew!

I've never used Palm Shortening before, how does it differ from Palm Oil?

I would not be adverse to ordering 33lbs, however if I were to order Palm Shortening, I'd probably go through my local supplier. 50lbs for $65 ($1.30lb) and no shipping.

Elements shops UPS Ground as standard. By itself, the 8lb bucket ships $10.95. But I tend to spread the love around and order other stuff to get the most bang for my shipping buck.

I wish I knew how to knit... I could prolly finish a king size afghan by the time I get my order. And they are only and hour and a half away from me.

It can be relaxing and it can be frustrating. I sometimes get upset with myself because I'm not fast or proficient, but then again...I don't have as much time to knit as I would like.

I wish BrambleBerry did Will Call. As much as I like that they use brown glass bottles, glass is not cheap when it comes to shipping. There are quite a few of the FOs and EOs that I would love to purchase in larger quantities, shipping costs defeat the cost savings of larger quantities.

 

[Catscankim]

If anybody cares to hear me gripe about work AGAIN, read on LOL

Two of our techs resigned their FT positions to become per diem. Makes an already short-staffed department now desperate. I worked 30 hours overtime last week in an incredibly busy hospital. My 8-hour shift today turned into a 13+ hour shift.

Hey, grass isn't always greener...they are quickly finding that out. But are also bragging to people that they quit..they didn't quit, they stepped down to per diem. which btw, they are not picking up enough hours to keep a job there. I'm like GOOD!! HR will just send them a friendly letter saying that they are no longer needed.

They both worked yesterday, I worked today. I guess being per diem means that you can reschedule all of your inpatient orders to today, and leave the department a mess, like physically a mess. Plus nothing was stocked...not one prefilled saline syringe in the entire department. No contrast. Just nothing was stocked. Dirty linen filled to the rim in the laundry bags. Blood on the machine. All they had to do was pick up an already stocked cart from our other department...nothing.

The amount of patients left from yesterday was incredible. I was scanning patients today, that were ordered at 7am yesterday, and having to put out fires with doctors that were mad that their patients weren't scanned. These two girls just need to quit and let us look for techs that can fulfill the positions. Because we are UNION, they had to let them just take on the new positions if that was what they asked for. But in the meantime they just have the mindset that they don't "really" work there.

In the meantime, our supervisor hired a new tech..right out of xray school new. She has never even seen a ct machine before. I don't know how many times I have to tell her to get off the phone and pay attention.

I don't mind telling you that I am at the top of my profession. I am really good at what I do and I take pride. I do research, I have been published. I have trained so many techs from brand new to not so brand new. You need to learn from me. To have to keep reminding a 35 y/o woman to put her phone down because you need help is flat out irritating.

Me and another tech were discussing a case that is sensitive (on the news and all...high end)...this girl laughs and says that she just texted someone else at "another hospital" and they were going back and forth about it. I used to be the supervisor at that hospital...for 8 years. I know ppl. I sent out a text message to the new supervisor that I TRAINED, that these two girls need to stop talking about it or I would have them both fired. She finally put the phone down..."sorry, didn't know you used to work there", Yeah, me and the DIRECTOR are going out for drinks tomorrow. I'm kind of a thing.

The one guy that I trained is AWESOME. The doctors all brag about him. He was fresh out of school new too, but like a sponge. He is such a good tech. i have seriously taken him under my wing. I love ppl that want to learn. With her it's like "jump in whenever you want" and then she doesn't.

 

[Daisy]

@Catscankim "The one guy that I trained is AWESOME. The doctors all brag about him. He was fresh out of school new too, but like a sponge. He is such a good tech. i have seriously taken him under my wing. I love ppl that want to learn."
Silver lining

 

[Quanta]

Thanks! My follow up appointment isn't until May 7, then I'll know more.

Today's gripe is that my appointment has been postponed again, this time because the doctor hasn't received the data from the Holter monitor yet. I have had so many postponed appointments. And I can't go back to work until I have this appointment and the doctor decides that I can go back.

 

[Catscankim]

@Catscankim "The one guy that I trained is AWESOME. The doctors all brag about him. He was fresh out of school new too, but like a sponge. He is such a good tech. i have seriously taken him under my wing. I love ppl that want to learn."
Silver lining

A couple of years ago I had a newbie that the director wouldn't let her come to CT to learn. I let her come over a bunch of times and basically crash-coursed her in EVERYTHING. A couple of months later she said that she was interviewing for a job at a hospital that I worked at previously. I told her to tell them that I trained her. She got hired, and is now a supervisor.

The girl we have now...I told my boss to get rid of her NOW. Do it while she is still in orientation. Really, it is no questions asked by HR. She isn't trainable. I can't fix someone who isn't taking it seriously. This is one of those hospitals that....if you work here, you can work anywhere.

I'm like (transporter) is bringing a head ct. Transporter brings in the patient, I tell her that its her show....all you girl. She goes in and sets the patient up, then comes back, "What's his name?" I don't know, you are the one who put him on the table. Go ask him, you have the paperwork. Then she gets all pissy with me.

We get a trauma. She wants to scan. I'm like NO..i'm scanning. Can't do a simple head ct on a easy patient, she's not doing a 8 exam trauma. I didn't say all of that to her, but I told her that she needs to watch me. And there she goes...on the phone the entire time. I continued to explain things as I was going...trauma doc sitting next to me...."stop here and let him see the head ct, then continue on to the cspine"... Chief trauma doc is the one sitting there, he laughs and says "she's not even listening"....because she is on the phone!!

The other day I asked her if she takes notes. She says no...she has a good memory. I told her that I always take notes, even though I have been a tech since 1995. Please take notes, I tell her. And then I also brought her a notebook today. I says that I started a per diem job a few months ago and was so happy that I had the notebook (just a little pocket thing).

So she starts writing things down and I got happy. Then I looked at her notebook (while she was outside on the phone), and she had stuff written down like, check the armband, ask the patient their name, etc. So I gently reminded her things that she should write down....this is when we do this, this is when we do 3d's, that dr wants this protocol, this is how you charge out this. Hey, you should write this down...

SHE TOLD ME that Mc Donalds is paying almost as much as we were paying her to work here. Seriously?? We get shift pay, call pay, holiday pay, **** ton of overtime, bonuses for extra shifts....THATS where you make your money. You need to want to work. Plus I happen to know that starting pay is $25 ish an hour. Then she said chik fil a was paying $17/hr LOL. ok, My paycheck last week was $...k. Get that from chik fil a LOL.

So she tells me that this is so much work for the pay...go to micky d's girl, fly away.

 

[AliOop]

@Catscankim that makes me very nervous about ever needing a scan... I mean, come ON. And this is the generation that will be in charge of our medical care when we are in the old folk's home. I'd better start taking better care of myself, lol

 

[Catscankim]

She is 40 years old!! Not a kiddo. That makes it even scarier LOL. The other day I was getting attitude left and right from her. I don't know where it was coming from...I am trying to teach her. Finally I says "You can knock it off with the attitude, I am NOT the one." She instantly turned on her heel and went upstairs to complain to my boss that I was being mean to her. I wasn't being mean, I am blunt. Sorry if you don't like my voice.

Anyway, my real gripe for today LOL....

I go to get my eye exam. I told them that I needed both glasses and contacts. I have never worn contacts before, but with the masks and the glasses etc, my ears are being rubbed raw, not to mention the very irritating fog issue.

The doctor rushes through my exam, then stops and types a bunch of stuff on the computer. He is getting more and more I dunno....excitable. Then blurts out "wait! this can't be right! Did anybody ever talk to you about double vision?" I'm like nooooo. Then he does another eye exam and keeps going back and forth to the computer. I'm sitting there cover one eye, cover the other eye...I'm starting to panic LOL. Is this something that I never noticed??

"So lets talk about that double vision thing" He's like "I never said you had double vision" LOL. What the heck, you just had me in a panic.

He tells me to go to the other room and "wash up for contact lens training" because I have never worn them before. Girl comes in and places two contact packages in front of me R and L (backwards because she placed them while standing facing me. Then she says, "good, you have your phone"...hands me a little piece of paper with a qr code to follow the link to accu vue to teach me how to put in contacts virtually, and she leaves. After about 15 minutes of following this website, glasses on to read, glasses off to try to position my hand to put the stupid contact in: I finally dropped the stupid thing. I paced around waiting for the girl to come back and lost it LOL. She says that's the way they do it because of covid. OK I get it sort of...if you are so afraid of covid, then put on an n95 and help me put in my contacts for the first time in my life.

They didn't even have wifi, and I couldn't get service to scan the flippin qr code. Finally I hooked up with Burgerfi next door. In the end, I did not get contacts lol. Only because I cannot do it that way.

Anyway, she tells me to pick out glasses. So I'm out there trying on glasses. I probably tried on about 8 pairs before somebody freaked out that I needed to put "dirty" glasses in the bucket.

I finally picked my two pairs of glasses. FINALLY got to pick them up this Friday. I went to pick them up and she asked me if I wanted help to adjust them. I'm like "what, you don't have a qr code for that?"

...saturday one of the lens popped out and I cannot find it.

LOL I woke up and put my glasses on and it made me so nauseous. Seriously want to throw up nauseous. I even took an anti nausea pill. I'm like "OH MY GOD I DO HAVE DOUBLE VISION!" LOL. Put the glasses on, again wanted to throw up. The lens was missing and I didn't even realize it. THE NEXT DAY!

My friend is an eye-guy at another place. I guess a tech. He said that the qr code thing is totally stupid and they do actual person to person teaching you how to put in your contacts. So I guess I have a new eye doctor....

 

[Tara_H]

He said that the qr code thing is totally stupid and they do actual person to person teaching you how to put in your contacts.

Gah, I can't even imagine trying to learn how to do it like that! When I got contacts the optician had to stand with me and literally lend a hand because I couldn't figure out how to keep my eyelashes out of the way.
Hope you get a better one next time!

 

[earlene]

She is 40 years old!! Not a kiddo. That makes it even scarier LOL. The other day I was getting attitude left and right from her. I don't know where it was coming from...I am trying to teach her. Finally I says "You can knock it off with the attitude, I am NOT the one." She instantly turned on her heel and went upstairs to complain to my boss that I was being mean to her. I wasn't being mean, I am blunt. Sorry if you don't like my voice.

Anyway, my real gripe for today LOL....

I go to get my eye exam. I told them that I needed both glasses and contacts. I have never worn contacts before, but with the masks and the glasses etc, my ears are being rubbed raw, not to mention the very irritating fog issue.

The doctor rushes through my exam, then stops and types a bunch of stuff on the computer. He is getting more and more I dunno....excitable. Then blurts out "wait! this can't be right! Did anybody ever talk to you about double vision?" I'm like nooooo. Then he does another eye exam and keeps going back and forth to the computer. I'm sitting there cover one eye, cover the other eye...I'm starting to panic LOL. Is this something that I never noticed??

"So lets talk about that double vision thing" He's like "I never said you had double vision" LOL. What the heck, you just had me in a panic.

He tells me to go to the other room and "wash up for contact lens training" because I have never worn them before. Girl comes in and places two contact packages in front of me R and L (backwards because she placed them while standing facing me. Then she says, "good, you have your phone"...hands me a little piece of paper with a qr code to follow the link to accu vue to teach me how to put in contacts virtually, and she leaves. After about 15 minutes of following this website, glasses on to read, glasses off to try to position my hand to put the stupid contact in: I finally dropped the stupid thing. I paced around waiting for the girl to come back and lost it LOL. She says that's the way they do it because of covid. OK I get it sort of...if you are so afraid of covid, then put on an n95 and help me put in my contacts for the first time in my life.

They didn't even have wifi, and I couldn't get service to scan the flippin qr code. Finally I hooked up with Burgerfi next door. In the end, I did not get contacts lol. Only because I cannot do it that way.

Anyway, she tells me to pick out glasses. So I'm out there trying on glasses. I probably tried on about 8 pairs before somebody freaked out that I needed to put "dirty" glasses in the bucket.

I finally picked my two pairs of glasses. FINALLY got to pick them up this Friday. I went to pick them up and she asked me if I wanted help to adjust them. I'm like "what, you don't have a qr code for that?"

...saturday one of the lens popped out and I cannot find it.

LOL I woke up and put my glasses on and it made me so nauseous. Seriously want to throw up nauseous. I even took an anti nausea pill. I'm like "OH MY GOD I DO HAVE DOUBLE VISION!" LOL. Put the glasses on, again wanted to throw up. The lens was missing and I didn't even realize it. THE NEXT DAY!

My friend is an eye-guy at another place. I guess a tech. He said that the qr code thing is totally stupid and they do actual person to person teaching you how to put in your contacts. So I guess I have a new eye doctor....

Well, that sounds like a HORRIBLE experience! Take them back! My eye doctor's office has a 30 day return policy. And when my son got a pair at Costco a couple of months ago, he ended up with that horrible nausea thing, too. The glasses weren't even created to his specifications either. He told them he didn't want bi-focals, but that's what they made. We got a full refund because I made sure they would do that if the glasses didn't work for him.

Now I don't know about how having lost the actual lens will affect the return policy, but if they argue, I'd make a real stink about it all the way up to contacting corporate, if there is a corporate, or the Better Business Bureau, or whatever. For a lens to fall out within the first week of owning glasses is totally unacceptable.

 

[JuLeeRenee]

As I wait for the dr to figure out where my glasses are, y'all are scaring me with your stories