plastic fantastic

let me preface this post with two admissions:

admission the first: i'm generally not a fan of plastic surgery, with three exceptions:
 
     1. it's for reconstructive purposes.
     2. it's to correct some sort of birth defect*.
     3. it's for dolly parton**.

admission the second: i am all for social programs like welfare, provided they're used as "a hand up", not "a handout".

 with that in mind, i feel i should get a couple of bonus points tonight for restraining myself when it came to a caller who called into a practice to inquire about having a little work done. i told her i was afraid i was unable to tell her the specific options offered by the practice (they only use us for emergencies), but i was sure they could answer her (tummy tuck) questions if she called back after they opened monday.

"one more question..."
"yes?"
"do they take medicaid?"

 i reiterated that the office would have the best answer to her question, but inside, i was all like >:(

*it occurs to me that "birth defect" sounds really harsh. i'm not generally very politically correct, but how would you like to be told you were born "defective"? :/
**phyllis diller also fell under this clause. i feel both ladies should be able to do whatever they damn well please. (this does not, however, apply to dolly's duet partner, kenny rogers. i was working at the country station when he had "a little work done" and, frankly, his plasticized visage still haunts my dreams on occasion though, thankfully, not as frequently as those nightmares i get where i've gone back to school and have to sit in a math class.)