Never Over

And I thought it was over. But the truth of the matter is, it is never over.

A couple of months ago, S quit her job. She said she was going to be fired because of a bad review and they were giving her the opportunity to quit. I know people at her job that are higher up the ladder than her and they say she would not have been fired. Either way, she stopped working there. According to our divorce agreement, S pays for the girl's medical insurance. Since she quit, she would have to pick up COBRA in order to continue or make arrangements with me. As time went by, S's mom mentioned to me that S and I should discuss the insurance. I replied that she is a big girl and would take care of it (my fucking mistake). She said she would get COBRA but guess what? She didn't! And one day while taking Bug to a counseling session, she got hit with a $500 bill. Because out divorce agreement says we will split medical bills 50/50 if we both agree on them, she expects me to pay half. However, I would have suggested stopping the counseling session if I knew the idiot wasn't going to continue her insurance obligations. I found out about this just before Xmas.

I contacted her last night to let her know that there was an invoice from Bean's Pre-K school. Apparently, S has not paid them her portion of the bill EVER! Her excuse was that they never sent her a bill - idiot. Just because you are not sent a bill does not mean you are not obligated to pay!!! We signed a contract with them. They even sent us documentation on how to setup direct payments from our banking accounts or credit cards. Since I planned on doing my own thing from my bank, I gave the information to S. She obviously ignored it. When we originally put Bean in the school, I spoke with them and explained that I pay 53% of the daycare while S pays 47%. I asked them if it was ok that we would be paying separately. They agreed and said they would create two separate accounts. I asked what would happen if she was late or did not pay. They said I would be fine and they would be going after her (guess I had a premonition huh? - easy when you have known someone so long and completely know and understand how irresponsible, ignorant, and selfish they can be). When I spoke with them this morning, they verified that my account was in perfect standing (I am almost never late with any payments anywhere, hell I was never in debt until I married a certain someone) but that she has never paid anything beyond the first month's portion. They admitted to never sending S a bill but also said they should not have to. We signed a contract with them. We are obligated to pay. They are now sending S an invoice directly to her home address. They are being very nice and also decided to waive any late fees for her. They also said that I have nothing to worry about. Since my account is in excellent standing and the situation is beyond my control and not my fault, Bean is all set and they would never remove her from the class.

So when I contacted her last night to tell her about the invoice, she brought up the $250 amount again. I again replied that it was her responsibility. She again said that her old job never sent her paper work on COBRA (get a fucking life and grow-up! where the hell are your responsibilities!!!!!!!!!). And besides, COBRA would cost more than the medical bills. Really now, how does she know this??? (actually - more than likely she is right). So she threatened to take me back to court because with her new job, she took a $6k pay-cut. In court, she would ask for an increase in my child care payments. I told her to go ahead and take me because it doesn't work that way. It's not how much you make, but your income potential. And she quit her job! Finally I told her, "I'm sorry that you weren't responsible enough to take care of the insurance" and then she hung up on me.

After calming down and talking to a couple of friends, I decided to compromise and pay her. Fuck it, the stress even from this phone call with her is not worth $250.00. But my main reason for not wanting to pay was not the money. If I pay once, will she keep laying her problems on me and expect me to take care of her fuck-ups?

But anyways, I decided to compromise and pay her. I called her back and started leaving a message - and the phone stopped recording giving me some message that it couldn't continue. I called again saying that I got cut off. The phone stops again, same message, except this time much faster. The immature shit was hanging up on me - LOL. So I sent a very professional email to her letting her now that I would subtract the $250 from the amount she owed me (her share of next year's Pre-K deposit) and that we can figure out the remaining. I then asked her if she would like to use my medical insurance and split the amount with me. No response as of yet. Now I just need to decide if I can afford the medical insurance and do it anyways. I have until Monday.

Side-note: during the divorce proceedings, I offered that we use whoever had the less expensive insurance and just split the cost (pro-active thinking for future possibilities). She declined. Why? Because if she pays the insurance, then her take-home amount is less. Therefore, my child support would be more. Smart huh?