The Merrill Dubrow Blog

When I hear the term “Brat Pack,” I think of actors and actresses who played in a number of movies together.

Some examples are:

• St. Elmo’s Fire – Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy

• The Breakfast Club – Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy

• The Outsiders – Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, C Thomas Howell

I am sure all of you can think of many more.

When I hear the term “Brat Pack,” I also think of a group of friends that are tight and hang out together for a period of time. That’s what I want to discuss today. When I think about my life I guess I have been in a few “Brat Packs.”

The first one was in high school. Gary, Andrew, Kenny, Jeff, myself and others hung out together. We played lots of sports and even bowled together (yes, bowled) every Saturday morning in a league. On Friday nights we played poker.

The second one was in college. My college roommates, Kenny, Barry and I were inseparable. In addition, we had other members of the “Brat Pack” that included: Mike, Eli, Joey, Kathy and a few others. Yes, we played sports, yes, we ate most meals together, yes, I cooked hamburger helper (please stop laughing), we played a ton of cards and went out every weekend!

Wow, the good old days!

Ok, your turn.

• Tell me about your “Brat Pack.”

• What did you do?

• What was the funniest thing you did as a group?

• Did you ever get into trouble?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Life | Post Comments (8) »

For the past 7 years I have been going to the same doctor. He has been great, the experience with his staff has been good, and generally he doesn’t make me wait too long before he sees me. Well, last week that changed a little bit. I received a letter in the mail from his office that said I owe $15.00 for an outstanding deductable. In addition to mentioning that, it also said to call the office ASAP to set-up a payment schedule should I not be able to pay. For a second I chuckled, then that laugh turned into frustration and a thought of, “Are you kidding me?”

My next move was to call the billing person who was listed on the letter and then the fun really started. I asked her what date the $15.00 was for and mentioned I was in there a month ago and remember paying the $25.00 deductable which was recently increased. After she fumbled around she said, “You actually owe us $35.00, not $15.00.” Of course my comment was, “Well, this says $15.00, not $35.00, and what are these for?” She put me on hold and struggled to get the answer to either of those questions. She said, “I think I have figured it out, and the $15.00 charge was from 2009.” After laughing I said, “This is the first I have heard of this and I have been in your office no less than 5 times since that date.” She said, “I am not exactly sure why that is.” My response was, “Well, me neither, and now you have wasted 21 minutes of my day on this phone call. I am throwing out this paper. I will be in your office in 2 months for another appointment at which time if you have figured this out feel free to give me the appropriate paperwork.”

Yes, this was frustrating, comical and very disorganized.

• Have you experienced the same thing?

• How would you have reacted?

• Why do companies tend to put a very unorganized person in a very important position?

• Doesn’t it seem that making payments in the healthcare industry is very confusing and difficult these days?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Life | Post Comments (10) »

I am sure all of us have had good and bad experiences with our neighbors. There was the time that you were baking a cake and didn’t have any eggs but your neighbors did. Who could forget the time you were on vacation for 10 days and they brought in the mail and watched the house? I could always count on them to help me jump my car when it wouldn’t start.

With that said, you can also never forget the bad times. Remember when you were trying to sleep and they were blaring music? Or every time they would cut their lawn they would blow all their leaves onto your property? Who could forget the time when your next-door-neighbor put the dogs outside at 2:00 AM and let them bark for the next 3 hours?

• Time to share some good neighbor stories
   

• What about some bad neighbor stories?
   
• Have you had any experience with a nosy neighbor?

So I ask you, good or bad neighbor?

• You tell me!

I look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Life | Post Comments (14) »