A Friday Chat About Professionals

CPAs, doctors, and… no, just those.

NICOLE: Happy pretend Friday!

MEGAN: Ahh, my favorite day of the week — pretend Friday!! Today is Thursday, which for some people is Friday, and for me, it is only because I’m going out of town until Tuesday.

It’s raining and everything seems….bad in the news but I’m very excited to debrief with you in a week abut S-Town.

NICOLE: I can’t get “A Rose for Emily” out of my head. Also, that tune sounds a lot like the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows.” I just want to say that.

MEGAN: After the first few episodes, I started turning it off and skipping to the next one after “A Rose for Emily” came on — am I missing any groundbreaking revelations or does it just fade to black or whatever?

NICOLE: You’re missing all the names of the people who made the podcast. That’s it.

MEGAN: Oh ok, I think I got that in the first episode, so I feel okay about it then. Chugging right along, I see that you have maybe possibly paid your taxes today?? If so, congrats!!

NICOLE: I am actually going to pay them in a few hours — gotta finish writing some stuff for money first — but I will accept your congratulations in advance! You’ve paid your taxes as well, right? Congratulations back atcha.

MEGAN: A fun secret about me is that sometimes I say I’ll do one thing on Thursdays and then either forget to do them or put them off because the nature of a thing that you do on Thursdays is that you don’t really want to do that thing because it sucks or is boring or will make you feel bad or is expensive. ANYWAY, I was going to pay my taxes like a month ago, but yesterday morning, I woke up and paid them before I had any coffee or really put my glasses on. Felt good.

NICOLE: I am impressed that you can do things without your glasses on! I used to be able to do that. Then… time happened. To my eyes.

MEGAN: Hahahah oh the ravages of time! Honestly, I like…can see only kinda without my glasses on, but enough to (hopefully) have paid the correct amounts. Just kidding, I think I did, but the old “take your glasses off and its fine but blurry” trick is one that I employ at horror movies when I want to see what’s happening but only kinda.

NICOLE: Oh that is a BRILLIANT idea and I am stealing it.

MEGAN: I used to watch scary movies through a scarf covering my face but the glasses trick is better because there’s not a scarf over your face. Works for just about everything that you need to see but don’t really want to! Like your taxes! Your bank account sometimes!

NICOLE: I’m feeling pretty good about my taxes this year. I really like my new CPA, and I like the small amount she told me I owed in addition to the estimated taxes I had already paid. I know that this is as much about me increasing the amount of money I set aside for estimated taxes this year, it isn’t like my CPA “made my tax burden smaller,” but I just feel like I have better communication with this CPA and also a better tax experience.

MEGAN: That’s good! I like that you have a steady CPA, like someone that you’ll go to over and over again, right? Like having a chiropractor, but for your taxes. And a good tax experience is great! Shitty tax experiences are half the reason why people have panic attacks about doing their taxes when really, it can be very easy.

NICOLE: Why are so many people like CPAs and doctors just not nice? Or communicative? Like, I have OB-GYN horror stories, I’m sure many people do, and I have a CPA horror story (more than one if you count the H&R Block person I went to for a hot minute), and it’s just like… they see you for five minutes and lecture you without listening to you.

MEGAN: Yeah, I really don’t get it! I always grill my friends who are doctors about their bedside manner because I have a fair share of medical professional horror stories myself, and I think they all try to be nice and communicative, but they’re busy? Which is fine, like, I get it, but Jesus Christ. Maybe it’s because money is somehow more sensitive and delicate a subject than like, “What is this thing I feel moving around under my skin, did I sprain my neck or what ?”

NICOLE: WHAT IS THIS THING I FEEL MOVING AROUND UNDER MY SKIN? Megan, am I going to have to take my glasses off?

MEGAN: You can keep your glasses on….for now!!! That happened to me once, by the way. I asked a doctor that because I was very concerned, I paid him $150 for him to poke at my neck for like 2 minutes and tell me to ice it because it was a sprained muscle.

IF I’M PAYING THAT MUCH MONEY FOR YOU TO PROD MY NECK WITH A GLOVED FINGER, YOU BETTER MAKE ME FEEL LIKE I’VE BEEN SERVED.

NICOLE: There are a lot of us who need professional services, and not enough time to pay attention to everyone, and there’s a money factor too, and there’s also the “it’s a horse not a zebra” thing, so they think they know your situation before you get to explain it. In and out.

MEGAN: Yes. “Professionals” who perform services often believe that they are more knowledgeable than you are because you’re seeking their service. Most of the time it’s true. But you could also just…listen? For like two seconds? Make me feel seen, bud.

NICOLE: I’d definitely say that professionals know way more than me about all of the topics in which they have been educated and trained. But yeah, having a little more time to explain yourself in these meetings is always a good thing. That’s why I am probably going to pay the extra money to go to my now-out-of-network OB-GYN this year, whom I like, instead of finding a new in-network one. I’d pay either way — I know that Well Woman exams are free but there’s always an extra test in there or something — so I might as well go to the person whom I’ve seen for the past few years and whom I like and trust.

MEGAN: A good gynecologist that doesn’t make you feel bad and that you like is worth every single penny. Splurge on the doctors you like, I say.

NICOLE: And if you don’t like the professional services you are currently receiving, go find some better ones.

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