Do Not Be Afraid To Ask

I received a bill from the hospital after my baby was born. As I do with all bills I read it carefully.

I do not know medical billing but I did find something that puzzled me. There was a tray with a number that was charged twice. 

I had no idea what it was so I called the hospital and asked. The woman was very nice while letting me know that I was interfering with her day.

She looked in her list of medical terms. Then she looked at her copy of my bill. 

Tray number whatever was for performing a circumcision. They were charging me twice for my son's circumcision.

She very kindly took it from the bill.

If I had been afraid to ask I would have been overcharged.

A good thing to remember is that if you ask you will get one of two responses. In the case above the response was positive. I saved some money.

If the response had been negative the charge would have stayed on the bill. and I would have paid it. I would only have lost some time.

If you have a question always ask. You never know which answer will come but it is better than not knowing.

IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE

My son liked to watch Star Trek. All of them.

The second incarnation was Star Trek: The Next Generation. It introduced a character named Worf.

Worf is a Klingon. Klingons live for battle. When barging into war a Klingon screams IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE. It is a way of saying that if the warrior is brave in battle there is no more honorable way to die.

My son has an affinity for gadgets. He had one of the first home computers. He was on the internet as soon as it was available to him.

He kept telling me about all the interesting things he was doing. I really was not interested at all.

Finally one day he talked me into looking at it. He found a site I was willing to look at. I read it and learned a few things. Soon I was on the computer often reading that site.

Then I discovered these things called links. If I clicked on a link it would take me to a different site. Wow. I could find stuff. I would sit and click away. 

I found some things I liked. I found some things I did not like. I found some things that embarrassed me. I still clicked away.

Until... one day I clicked on a link. What appeared was a totally black page that somehow had a red tint to it. I was puzzled.

Then a loud deep voice told me IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!

I ran to get my son. I was terrified. I thought somehow I had clicked onto a curse of some sort.

My son just laughed at me. He explained that he had installed Worf's voice to sound if the computer crashed.

It's not funny!