"Yes, This Is Seaweed, and I Have to Cancel My Appointment?"

A few weeks ago I made an appointment with an imaging center to have a test performed on one of my %^!! malfunctioning legs.  At some point in between the making of the appointment and the very appointment itself I acquired the knowledge that this particular imaging center didn't play nice with my insurance company.  Being a smart guy - NO doubt about that -  I made an appointment with an imaging center that does.  This, as I understand it, is the function of insurance: to pay for things that are insured, despite the very popular notion that their purpose is actually to take in premiums and avoid paying for any benefits.  They seem to think that benefits have been tainted with the Black Death.

I needed to cancel my initial appointment.  As I picked up the phone I found myself rehearsing little deflecting untruths as to why I was doing this.   I didn't want to piss anyone off because you never know when you might need to come back to them for something else, especially given the adversarial relationship between they that provide service with they that pay for it.  As the patient I'm right in between this mess. No one appears to actually like the patient.

This is not what I did.  I cancelled the appointment without providing a mangled, implausible web of lies.  No one asked for the reason.  They were very polite.  I did not need to lie at all.  The point is that my default reaction is to lie.  More of an embellishment or exaggeration to my mind, and a pretty minor one at that as long as I convince myself that not telling the truth has degrees. It's like being on time - you are on time or you are not.  I get the idea that being a little late is probably better than being very late but the REAL idea is not to be late at all, to get ready so that you get there a little early.

Little, convenient lies.