Why I Paid My Medical Bill In 40,000+ Pennies - The Result

PART TWO: THE RESULT

Now, hauling around pennies can be... less than visually dramatic.  When the bank manager came wheeling it out (he stacked $200.00 at a time on an office chair and pushed it over toward the doorway), I was, quite frankly, underwhelmed.  Here in my head I had imagined containers at least the size of shoe boxes, not things somewhere around half of that.  When I'd finished stacking them up, they didn't even come to the top of my dolly.

THANK GOODNESS.

Now, I'm not a big person, but I am surprisingly strong.

Even with that, I needed assistance to get the dolly tilted so that I'd be able to pull it to the van.

It wasn't until later that I did the math and found out exactly how much I was moving; when I did, I felt like distinctly less of a 'weakling'.  I weigh just under 100 lbs.  The pennies on the dolly? Approximately 225 lbs.

(HEE HEE HEE!!! ...What in the world are they going to do with all of those PENNIES?! ...Okay. Back to being an adult about this...)

After confirming the location of the Business Office (which was where I was told to take my cash payment), I went back out to the car to get the payment. (I'm very glad that I went and checked - they sent me on a wild goose chase around the hospital to find it - there's no way I would have been able to haul the pennies all that distance without completely exhausting myself.)  By the time I had lugged them inside, I was winded, and my heart was pounding.

I was, in addition to well exercised, definitely nervous.  What if they called security? What if they didn't listen to the legal code? What if they raised their voices? What if this didn't go as planned? What if someone called the police?  I am an expert worrier, and when faced with even the vaguest confrontation, I tend to be moved to inaction - that is, I freeze.

I'm the sort of person that has to write down their points before an argument, or else just stand their with their mouth drifting open as the other person tramples them.

That said, I have lots of practice at knowing this about myself, and have a tendency to come prepared.  My pocket crinkled - in it I had a copy of my original receipt with a $0.00, and a print up of the Snopes.com bit explaining that legally, I was allowed to pay like this.

I also had  my husband (looking decidedly official and no-nonsense) standing behind me, the video camera on his phone recording the exchange.

We certainly got plenty of looks, both from employees and patrons - some smiling discreetly in an attempt to hide their laughter, some gawking openly, some annoyed and uninformed.  Don't worry, disgruntled customers, I'm standing up for your rights, too!  I was postured at by security, who stopped to make radio calls as I entered the building, before another one approached, eyed up my cargo as he waited for me to explain myself (I didn't - they said nothing, so neither did I), rattled some numbers into his walkie-talkie and stalked off.

At the window, as I went to pay, the exchange sounded something like this.

"Hi, I'm here to make a payment."

"Alright. What are those, pennies?"

"Yeah, you guys take cash, right?"

"Hold on a moment, let me go get someone..."

She returned a moment later with a supervisor - the gentleman I'd spoken with on the phone earlier about taking a cash payment.

After a prolonged exchange about whether I had filed a grievance, who I had spoken to, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I figured it might be time to remind him of his rights as well.

"You're welcome to decline the payment, you're not legally obligated to take it - I can wheel it out of here, I'll just need a written statement that you've declined it and waived the payment."

According to what I learned, the companies are not legally required to accept your payment, however, if they do not, it waives their right to collect since you have attempted to pay, so make sure you get it in writing.  Could have been a win-win.

"...I'm not authorized to waive your payment."

Well, no win-win there. Ah well.

"Alright.  Well, I'll need my boxes back."

THUNK. THUNK. THUNK. THUNK. THUNK.

On to the counter they go.

Sixteen boxes later...

"Alright, that's $400... Hold on..."

$4.85 cents in loose change (which I helped him sort and count), and a $0.15 card payment.

I have to give it to the gentleman who received the pennies - Rey - while his frustration was obvious (I'm not sure whether it was the clenched jaw, or the sheen of perspiration which was more telling) he handled the entire thing with a great deal of grace.

Apparently, however, he didn't realize how heavy pennies are either.  When I reminded him that I would need the containers that the coins came in back, he grabbed the closest box, set it on his rolling chair, and started dumping the rolls in there.

As he's hitting the $200 mark, and the box is brimming full, I leaned over toward Wolf.

"...I don't think he's thought about this..."

Not only was he unable to safely lift the now-full box up off his chair, but if they try to move it with a partner, the box that they have the coins in is going to rip right open across the bottom - it was definitely not constructed to be holding that much weight.

Two inappropriate boxes (and subsequent rolling chairs) later, I got my receipt.

To anyone I may have inconvenienced today - I'm sorry if my activism disrupted your flow.  That said, it is the point of activism to garner attention, to create a situation which is cause for people to stop and consider what is actually going on.  I hope that somewhere in this exchange, beyond being irritated, someone in that room heard what it was that I said when Rey asked me why I was doing this.

"I am tired of being stepped on. I am tired of being pushed aside. I am tired of being treated like dirt simply because I am the lowest rung on the ladder.  When a company claims to provide a service, I expect, as the customer, to be served.  My business is a commodity, and your actions affect my life.  I am a human being, your customers are human beings, and it's time that we began acting like it."