Tuesday

My longer term readers will remember that last June, I broke my foor on the job, delivering papers with the boss’s stepvan.  It had failed DEQ (a smog check) three times.  A stepvan is a big box, and it filled with exhaust fumes which overcame me by the third or fourth stop, and I fell out of the thing trying to service one of our racks.  Since that had happened at my third or fourth stop, I continued the rest of the route that morning/night with the broken foot, and didn’t get it treated until the next morning, when it became plain(er) that something was wrong.

I gave my name and phone number to the walk-in clinic, of course, and that whole thing ended up costing nearly $800.  I was out of work for a week and a half, and couldn’t pay my bills, so I ended up getting some charity from St. Vincent de Paul to cover my rent, and ran up the other billls.  I was able to pay them off, eventually, with added Late Fees, so in that respect, at least, it worked out.

The boss meanwhile, said he’d pay the medical expenses, since it was clearly his fault, supplying faulty equiptment to do his job.  As I said, it worked out to nearly $800.  I took the bills I received in the mail to him, and he assured me that he would take care of them.

All this happened in June, 2006.

Last week, I got a bill in the mail from the clinic for $105 something or other, and took that to his dad’s store, where the boss has an office.  He wasn’t there, since he was doing the morning routes himself and was presumably home sleeping, so I didn’t talk to him about it, and the issue had slipped my mind, so yesterday when I saw him to get my weekly check, I forgot to mention it to him.

Just now, I was taking a nap between the am and pm bus runs, and was woken up by the cell phone ringing.  It was Providence Medical, calling to ask me where their money is.  (it was much politer than that, but it boils down to "where’s our dough?")

I talked to the guy on the phone, and explained the issue as seen from here, and told him that I would get a hold of my boss and say wtf?  I do have insurance now, but it wouldn’t cover me back in June – I’d be living in a different world if things worked that way, wouldn’t I?

Assuming nothing else on the van needs $ this payday (unlike last payday when it absorbed most all I could afford) I could make that $105 payment myself, if I really have to, but that payday is weeks away yet, and I am living on the $110 a week I make on the weekends until then.  Long story short, I don’t have 105 bucks right now.

I will be calling the boss this afternoon after the pm bus runs to say, forcefully, what the fuck.  The guy on the phone told me that the next step is a collection agency, and since this is a legitimate beef for them, and since they did fix my foot, I feel, rightly, that it is my responsibility to take care of the bill, one way or another.  I said as much on the phone just now, and perhaps I have a believable voice, or they’ve heard things like this before, but they are giving me a chance to resolve this before it goes to collections.

If I have to pay it myself, I will be getting a lawyer to help me sue the boss.  He’s not doing what he said he would, and it’s my ass on the line.  Rather than make everyone wait until it’s resolved in court, I would make payments on the bill – they helped me and don’t need to wait any much longer – but if I do have to go that way, the boss will end up owing way more than $105.  Way more.

He’s been a fairly good guy to work for, but, well, good don’t count for shit now, does it?

(since I am now a union member, perhaps they have lawyers I can use?  I’d rather not have go that way, but if I do, well, I will)

As a matter of fact, I’m having lunch with my lawyer as I write – Perry Mason’s on TV.

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