brunobaby

I've been wearing the same glasses for four years, and it's time for my eye exam. I'm ripe for a change of face even if my prescription stays the same.

So today I called a Very Expensive Eyeglass Boutique in my neighborhood.

"Hi! Do you take United Health Care?"

"Oh, please," said the woman at the other end, and hung up on me.

I sat there hurt and stunned. Was this an insinuation that this store was so snobby that if you had to have insurance to help pay for their Very Expensive Eyeglasses, they didn't want your kind?

I called her back.

"First of all, the way you hung up on me was very rude. You could have just said, 'No, Ma'am, we don't take United Health Care'..."

She cracked up.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I thought you were a recording! Or a telemarketer. You have no idea how those people keep calling. Oh, I'm so sorry."

I cracked up, too. "Well, I was an actress; maybe I have a telemarketer voice."

As it turned out, they don't take insurance, although I could submit it on my own and try to get reimbursed. But I'm glad I called back, because otherwise, every time I would have passed that block, I would have felt like "There's the place that thinks I'm some homeless bag lady."

Actually, the truth is, I wouldn't be able to pay for their Very Expensive Eyeglasses without insurance.

I could splurge, and walk down the street saying "Don't come near my face...Don't come near my face..." Thereby sounding like some homeless bag lady.