Yabba ABBA Doo

B-17 bomber is riddled with German anti-aircraft fire but miraculously survives. Later they discover the explosive shells were all inert; sabotaged by Nazi slaves working in armament factories.

Do not post your crimes

The doctor scraped out a bit of earwax to have a better look inside.

I was sent a bill for $200 PER EAR for this 5 second procedure which I did not give permission for them to do.

That was key- they did not ASK me if they could do this "procedure". And, as I OWN a medical practice (it's me. The medical practice is me, sitting in my house on video calls) I knew to call them when this bill came in to be like "You did not obtain informed consent for this procedure, and it was not en emergency procedure. You had full ability to gain my consent and didn't. I'm not paying."

And the massive hospital who owned the bill said "yuh-huh you do have to pay."

And I said "I own a practice. I know these laws. I do not owe you money for this."

And they conducted an "internal review" and SURPRISE! Decided I totally owed them money and they had never done anything wrong ever.

And so I called my state's Attorney General office, and explained the situation because, as I mentioned, I know the law. The AG got in touch within a couple days to say they were taking the case and would send the massive hospital conglomerate a knock it off, guys letter.

Lo and Behold, today I have a letter where said hospital graciously has agreed to forfeit the payment.

"How not to get screwed over by companies" should be part of civics class.

Know your rights and know who to call when they're infringed on. This whole process cost me $0 and honestly less effort than I would have expected.

Civics class wouldn't help most people in this case because the AG will not take on all these cases and most people cannot afford an attorney in this instance or more importantly, the hit to their credit.

Were they going to get into a lawsuit over my $400 bill? No obviously not. But they printed up a letter on fancy letterhead to say to stop and it worked. They followed up with me the next day to be sure, and so ask how much money they had saved me.

They use dinky cases like mine to track habitual misbehavior of large scale companies to build cases they could actually go to court over.

And because people are shocked- I never spoke to the AG of my state directly. He operates mainly by overseeing a whole crew of people. And this is what those people do.

This didn’t happen because I’m special because of my tiny therapy practice.

This happened because this is what the AG office is for.

“The problem is systemic” doesn’t mean “and there’s nothing you can do”.

Then you've been trained well by "The System".

Yes, that System you say can't be fought? Where did you get that idea, huh? Who taught you that "small" acts of illegality don't matter? Who made you think that there's no point in fighting back because it will all come to nothing?

Might it be the same entities that benefit if you believe all that?

Gonna pause and let you ponder.

Never. Ever. EVER.

EVER.

Let companies or corporations or hospitals or organizations or any business big or small get away with screwing you over without a fight. Maybe you personally don't win every fight, but you lose 100% of the time you don't try. You'll win more often than you think you will. I know cuz I've done it.

So have others. Attorneys General offices bring lawsuits against businesses all the time. They do so because citizens contacted them to say "someone is doing a crime" and the crime doers did not stop when told and got into way more trouble than if they'd just stopped. FAFO. The Find Out can't happen if you don't even bother to report the Fucking Around.

On that note, as OP said, please know your rights! And, in a situation where you don't but suspect something is hinky, ask! The people of the internet can help! So can librarians! So can many others. Find out what is and is not okay for them to do. If it's not okay, report them! See something, say something.

Don't let the System win by default.

If you believe The System™️ is only for Them™️ and not you, it will only ever be so.

Sundial.

Timepiece with the most moving parts:

…Then they put down a carpet, so that high heels didn’t clack on the floor,  and BOOM women were suddenly getting hired.

This was the beggining of the current form of the US fascist movement and it underpins the entire thing about it to this day. If you live in the US and Gamergate isn't familiar to you, you're missing critical history to understanding US fascism. I'm not joking even a little bit here, you will understand modern United States fascism so much better if you are familiar with Gamergate.

If your doctor is fixated on your weight that is a RED FLAG. Yes even if you do have health problems, because here's something nobody wants to acknowledge: weight loss is not a proven treatment plan for any health condition, because it cannot be sustained. Upwards of 95% of intentional weight loss attempts fail and actually result in more weight gain long term. Not to mention weight cycling damages your metabolism and causes or worsens many of the same issues associated with high weight.

Intermittent Fasting, namely only eating during specific, arbitrary time frames and completely restricting everything other than water the rest, so starving yourself.

Eating on smaller plates so I feel like I ate more than I did.

Stop eating all fruit because it's sweet.

Eat only spinach, fish, and blueberries.

Keto, despite that being a specific diet for kids with epilepsy that is usually only successful under the strict and constant guidance of a dietician. I was not referred to a dietician by the doctor who suggested it.

Low-carb in general which is, at it's core, starving yourself.

Stop eating so much fried food. Without asking me what I was eating already which was, incidentally, not primarily fried foods.

To be happy about my colon cancer scare because the severe, painful, chronic diarrhea was great for helping me lose weight.

Most doctors don't know anything about nutrition at all. The doctor who tried to get me to do intermittent fasting? After going gluten free I told her I was worried about not getting enough folic acid and iron as I know a lot of grains are fortified with those and I won't be getting that supplemented in my diet like that anymore, and asked if she had any advice, and IN FRONT OF ME JUST GOOGLED WHAT FOODS HAVE FOLIC ACID AND IRON IN THEM and then told me as long as I eat veggies I should be fine. A woman who just told me to starve myself didn't even know what foods have folic acid or iron in them off the top of her head.

And even nutritionists aren't safe, my second one ended up being my last because she admitted she said she had no idea how to help me because she "just microwaves some lettuce with cheese" and that's a meal for her and me doing things like *checks notes* eating at chipotle was confusing.

Doctors will just fucking give you eating disorder advice and pretend because they have a degree it's fine but fr, see a registered dietician, those guys are the only ones actually qualified to give you advice on what you eat outside of gastroenterologists and allergists.