Medicaid Dentist. Bougie girl goes to the clinic

I drove 30 minutes to Union City from Teaneck because it appeared, after extensive research, this particular dental practice was the only place that would take my Medicaid in a thirty-mile radius.

When I got there, twenty minutes late due to a misturn at the roundabout, Veronica the receptionist couldn’t hide her look of astonishment. She looked down at her records then back at me, then back down at her records.

“What are you doing in Union City?”

Nothing like a good cut to the chase.

After a moment of silence (Veronica had a piercing on her cheek, which thoroughly intimidated me) she said, “I mean, I go to Teaneck for all my appointments.”

Before I could explain myself, the phone started ringing off the hook and she was picking it up, spewing Spanish at such a fast clip I wouldn’t have gotten what she was saying if it had been English.

“Fill this out,” she mouthed, handing me a mound of papers on a clipboard.
She pointed to my wallet. I handed her my insurance and ID.
I watched her expression change from confusion to an “ah-ha.” Oh, honey, her face seemed to say.