Given the global financial crisis (or GFC as appears to be currently trendy) it’s understandable that non-essential or luxury spending gets put on the back burner. We all have to tighten our belts, cut back a little on frivolous things and count our pennies. However, I’m not sure the GFC counts as an excuse to be downright rude, nor cry poor and berate the employees of a business for the cost of services. Generally speaking, things cost money. If you want to buy things, you pay money. Common sense also dictates that if you do no know how much something costs, you might ask the cost, then consider whether it is something you can afford. If you cannot afford it, you turn it down purchasing it and decide to wait until later when you are in a better situation. Yes?
Which brings me to my gripe for today…
If you turn up seeking an estimate for an elective procedure, you have two choices:
A) If you find the cost acceptable, agree to go ahead with the procedure, or
B) If for whatever reason you are unable or unwilling to proceed, you politely decline to go ahead with the procedure. Sometimes you might say something diplomatic like “I will need to schedule that later”, or “I need to save more money” or even “Let me consider that…”, you know, to humour us. Telling the truth is not a neccesity at this point.
At this point one thing would seem obvious, but since common sense is not so common it bears mentioning: If you don’t know how much something costs, you should ask someone. There is no point saying things like “Don’t spare any cost!” because that usually means “Do everything as long as it costs less than $100″. If it’s followed by a proclamation of how deep, true and endearing the love of the pet is, that figure is usually more like $50.
Note the absence of option C) (Loudly) announce that you find the find the cost ridiculous and unacceptable yet still agree to go ahead, and later continue to tell anyone that cares (and even those that don’t) how abhorrent you find the whole deal especially once you discover that are you required to pay a deposit.
Also absent is option D) Blame the vet (loudly) for all that is wrong with the world, including the GFC and follow it up with a domestic dispute in the consultation room about whether you actually own the pet and how the cost of treatment compares to how much you paid for the pet. Optional extras including various comments such as “This is ridiculous!!!”, “If you loved animals, you would do this for free!”, “I have to eat you know” and “This is why you all drive expensive cars!!”.
Life is good. Uhuh.