Reason
Member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2008
- Messages
- 8,674
(Names, Locations, & Dates have been changed to protect the innocent :o)
So a few days ago while I was visiting in L.A. I gave a friend's chihuahua a bath...
This particular dog may have been a little unhappy about this endeavor and may have bit my finger pretty good.
Not a big deal, cleaned and bandaged it, the next morning I can't bend that finger, it was very swollen, not red around the wound or anything, I am quite proficient at cleaning and treating basic wounds. However it is painful enough to where I think it might actually be fractured. So I go to the ER that morning to get a simple X-Ray at a hospital where it won't cost me much due to my coverage.
I show up at the ER very early in the morning, only a few people waiting surprisingly enough, show them my wound, explain that an uncooperative chihuahua bit me while getting a bath. No worries, everyone is friendly, give me some paperwork to fill out while I wait.
It is then that I notice one of the papers has an animal control letter head on it... I stop and read it over, it wants information about the dog, the location, the owner, breed of dog, is it licensed, etc etc etc
It's now that I realize I have f**ked up.
I had already written name & address & phone # but choose to write "unknown" on the rest of the form, & decide to change my story to unknown dog at unknown park, no further info available.
I get called back up and they want the form, I very calmly ask if I am required to provide that form. They state yes. I ask for further info, I asked what if I decline to fill it out, big mistake.
Their entire demeanor instantly changes 180 degrees to police mode, "why don't you want to give us the form?!?!?!"
I state very calmly that I feel my personal info is in enough databases with enough govt. and would prefer not to add it to another if I am not actually required by law to do so...
They instantly start repeating "it's the law!, it's the law! ad nauseum...
I ask politely if they could please verify with an admin that it's indeed "the law" while I get my X-Ray, they begrudingly agree.
I get my X-Ray and come back, I am called in to see the ER doc who tells me that my finger is not fractured and looks okay, then she asks about "the form"...
Once again I calmly give her my explanation that I simply wanted clarification that I am actually required "by law" not just some weaksauce local regulation or something.
She then proceeds to loose her damn mind on me, bumps her voice from a 2 to an 8 and proceeds to yell at me that I must follow their procedure because I have come for treatment and blah blah blah
At this point the form is sitting on a table next to me and I have my hand on it.
A particularly angry looking nurse who had been standing nearby and observing the conversation walks about and snatches the paper away from me and hustles off and proceeds to ram it into a fax machine...
At this point I loose my cool, I stand up and loudly exclaim "excuse me?! you're taking papers out of my hands right now?!?! That's how this is going to play out?!?!" She yells back "you gave it to me!" I state, "no, I did not, and you're lying to my face" she then tells me to go to the waiting room or she will call the police!
I bite my tongue and walk to the waiting room, at this point I am furious, I am supposed to be waiting for unnecessary antibiotics that I was planning on taking and saving, but I start googling around on my phone...
Some stories start coming up of people talking about how they had their dogs taken and held for 24 hour observation periods and how the animal control can decide "what to do with your pet" based on their behavior while locked in a foreign cage... What could possibly go wrong...
At that point I remove my ER bracelet and walk out.
As I walk out, I pass security hustling towards the waiting room...
Inch by inch...
Scary shit.
(I am thankful that they do not have my current address on any of their documentation or records)
So a few days ago while I was visiting in L.A. I gave a friend's chihuahua a bath...
This particular dog may have been a little unhappy about this endeavor and may have bit my finger pretty good.
Not a big deal, cleaned and bandaged it, the next morning I can't bend that finger, it was very swollen, not red around the wound or anything, I am quite proficient at cleaning and treating basic wounds. However it is painful enough to where I think it might actually be fractured. So I go to the ER that morning to get a simple X-Ray at a hospital where it won't cost me much due to my coverage.
I show up at the ER very early in the morning, only a few people waiting surprisingly enough, show them my wound, explain that an uncooperative chihuahua bit me while getting a bath. No worries, everyone is friendly, give me some paperwork to fill out while I wait.
It is then that I notice one of the papers has an animal control letter head on it... I stop and read it over, it wants information about the dog, the location, the owner, breed of dog, is it licensed, etc etc etc
It's now that I realize I have f**ked up.
I had already written name & address & phone # but choose to write "unknown" on the rest of the form, & decide to change my story to unknown dog at unknown park, no further info available.
I get called back up and they want the form, I very calmly ask if I am required to provide that form. They state yes. I ask for further info, I asked what if I decline to fill it out, big mistake.
Their entire demeanor instantly changes 180 degrees to police mode, "why don't you want to give us the form?!?!?!"
I state very calmly that I feel my personal info is in enough databases with enough govt. and would prefer not to add it to another if I am not actually required by law to do so...
They instantly start repeating "it's the law!, it's the law! ad nauseum...
I ask politely if they could please verify with an admin that it's indeed "the law" while I get my X-Ray, they begrudingly agree.
I get my X-Ray and come back, I am called in to see the ER doc who tells me that my finger is not fractured and looks okay, then she asks about "the form"...
Once again I calmly give her my explanation that I simply wanted clarification that I am actually required "by law" not just some weaksauce local regulation or something.
She then proceeds to loose her damn mind on me, bumps her voice from a 2 to an 8 and proceeds to yell at me that I must follow their procedure because I have come for treatment and blah blah blah
At this point the form is sitting on a table next to me and I have my hand on it.
A particularly angry looking nurse who had been standing nearby and observing the conversation walks about and snatches the paper away from me and hustles off and proceeds to ram it into a fax machine...
At this point I loose my cool, I stand up and loudly exclaim "excuse me?! you're taking papers out of my hands right now?!?! That's how this is going to play out?!?!" She yells back "you gave it to me!" I state, "no, I did not, and you're lying to my face" she then tells me to go to the waiting room or she will call the police!
I bite my tongue and walk to the waiting room, at this point I am furious, I am supposed to be waiting for unnecessary antibiotics that I was planning on taking and saving, but I start googling around on my phone...
Some stories start coming up of people talking about how they had their dogs taken and held for 24 hour observation periods and how the animal control can decide "what to do with your pet" based on their behavior while locked in a foreign cage... What could possibly go wrong...
At that point I remove my ER bracelet and walk out.
As I walk out, I pass security hustling towards the waiting room...
Inch by inch...
Scary shit.
(I am thankful that they do not have my current address on any of their documentation or records)
Last edited:
