summer teethThere I sat at my desk at work, plugging away at some of the tasks on my list of things I need to wrap up this week before I go on vacation when I was joined by my boss. My work station comes with a small stool so that folks who visit me have somewhere to sit. My boss, Larry, puts that chair to good use. I often get teased by some of the gals I work with that he sits a little too close. Often, we’ll be working on something on my computer and he’ll scoot over close to me in order to better see the screen.

Yesterday was one such incident where we were sitting close together working on a task. We were waiting for the file to finish saving and it was taking a few minutes because it was a large file. We sat there in silence as we watched the status bar on the screen inch its way to completion. “A part of my tooth fell out earlier,” Larry said.

“Oh?” I asked not sure I’d heard him correctly.

“Yeah, about half an hour ago,” he said while running his hand along his jaw.

“Is it one you’ve had work on previously?” I asked, keeping an eye on the screen and hoping that the file would hurry up and save so that we could stop this conversation.

“No, it’s been happening for awhile now, pieces of my teeth have been coming out,” he continued. “It hurts for the first day but then it’s fine the next.”

“Oh,” I said again wondering why he was sharing this information with me.

“I would go see the dentist, but I’m out of money,” he moaned. That was when I got annoyed. By ‘being out of money’ he meant that he’d used up his allocated amount as part of his benefits plan. This is a man who lives in a house in a very pricey area, he once told me he had been mortgage free when he bought the house and he has a good paying job. Even if he had used up the money in his plan, he could still afford to go to the dentist and have his mouth looked at. I’m not an expert, but something tells me that having pieces of your teeth fall out intermittently isn’t a good sign. You’d think by buying watches at the dollar store, he’d have enough set aside for medical situations.

Luckily for him, our benefits plan starts its new cycle in a few weeks so his plan will be at its full amount. “I called the dentist office and spoke to the receptionist. She said I could wait a few weeks,” he said.

I guess since the receptionist gave you her medical opinion on the matter, its wise of you to wait to be seen, I thought.

Cheapness is a trait I find truly disgusting in people. Being on a budget and sticking to it is one thing; driving around stealing free wood for your fireplace and getting $6 haircuts is petty and not something you should be proud to tell people about. Avoiding medical care to save a few dollars leaves me baffled.

I’m a bit worried that any day now Larry will be sitting next to me and I’ll find myself with a tooth in my lap. At the rate he’s going, he’ll have summer teeth in no time.

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