Couch 225: 2+2=5, Sheeple!

I could use whatever payment method I wanted with my therapist - it was a larger practice so they probably just built fees into the business system of the practice. Whatever the case, the secretary handled the payments and I always was given a receipt when I paid. I would expect a receipt from a therapist, particularly if I paid in cash so there was a paper trail of payment. With a check, the canceled check works as documentation and billing statements work for credit and debit transactions. But be sure to get a receipt for cash payments.

L uses square too. I usually pay for a month at a time, for however many sessions we've decided to schedule. I told her recently since she already had my card on file from when we were still doing zoom sessions so she could just charge it, but she said it's a higher fee for her doing it that way than when she swipes it. Which is no biggie to me since my card's always in my purse anyway. I think it's weird that the fee is higher depending on how they use it.

I pay my T cash and she rarely gives me a receipt. She seems very scattered about money but I guess she knows I pay every time that I see her so it's not a big deal. Former T I paid cash too. And she always had the receipt already written out for cash.

It is kind of a weird fee structure. I guess he's paying more to invoice my payments.

Square’s standard processing fee is 2.6% + 10¢ for contactless payments, swiped or inserted chip cards, and swiped magstripe cards. Payments that are manually keyed-in, processed using Card on File, or manually entered using Virtual Terminal have a 3.5% + 15¢ fee. Invoices cost 2.9% + 30¢ or 3.5% + 15¢ if processed using Card on File.

wow... how convoluted is that? thanks for the information!

My T said it had been costing him more to key in my card (while doing virtual) instead of swiping it in person, too. But he just switched to Ivy Pay, where I put a card on file, he tells them what to charge me, then it automatically charges the card I put on file (I can change it at any time). It costs him less, plus he doesn't have to manually key in every client's card, which he said was adding an hour or more to his work each week. He still sends me invoices showing what I paid (I need them to get partial insurance reimbursement).

Something funny: When I was setting up my Ivy Pay account on my phone, I mistyped my last name, adding an extra letter (which Dr. T pointed out). I can't figure out how to change it, and he said it doesn't matter (it's just the name on the account, not the name on my credit card). Some copy editor I am!

L has my card on file. So did T. I never had to deal with the awkward payment exchange. I only ever get charged her set fee. I assume she takes into account service fees when determining their own set fees.

I don’t want to go into gory details, but every time I think of paying a therapist by credit card I think of a music video by Nelly thathad him swiping a credit card in a way really demeaning to women. (You’ll have to google if you want details.)

I have no problem swiping a card in a reader at a store. Or if the therapist has a receptionist, paying them. I doubt I’d have a problem paying remotely through an HIPAA compliant Venmo type of thing. But the therapist themselves, before or after a session...out comes the Nelly image.

I unexpectedly just got the rest of the afternoon off work! (2 hours). We're low on our messages right now so they offered VTO (voluntary time off). We can use our vacation time if we want to get paid so I'm doing that. And, it's my friday, so I'm freeeee! heehee I'm going to straighten up the house and do some laundry so I won't have to do those things tomorrow!

Close your laptop and get to it now, Artie. No playing facebook games.

How nice! Enjoy!

Bah. I don't want to do the reading for my psychoanalytic fellowship tonight. It's about projective identification, which T (ex-T?) was always going on about. It makes me think of him and then I get sad/mad.

Maybe I'll just take a nap.

A nap sounds good @chihirochild, I usually take one on the weekends. I might go for a walk after work tonight as long as the wind hasn't come up. That sounds good to me too.

I used to pay Liz with cash or check, depending on whether I had met my deductible (cash) or not (check). Pre-pandemic, I tried to avoid using my credit card at small businesses so they don't have to pay fees, but I have always felt fine doing it at bigger stores. Liz used to psychoanalyze the crap out of me bringing her exact change (to the dollar, nothing involving coins) every week, although she admitted that she preferred not having to pay the fees. But since COVID and being remote half the time and contactless everything, I've just switched to storing a credit card in her portal thingy. I kinda miss my cash ritual.

Amy is much more laid back and prefers running credit cards through her Square thingy, I think because then everything is deposited directly and creates its own paper trail without her having to do anything. I have to remind her to charge me half the time. I don't think she got into private practice to do administrative work.

With credit card payments, when we were still in person, I used to have to sign the slip (with Dr. T basically flinging the pen at me much of the time). Then at some point, he decided I didn't have to sign anymore because he doubted I'd contest the charge. And that helped make it feel less like I was buying something in a store (especially because you don't generally need to sign anymore at most stores unless a small place or big purchase).

Also, with ex-T and ex-MC, I paid a receptionist, so felt very different. Though on occasion, we'd see ex-MC at a weird hour or on a Saturday, so he'd run the payment himself, which always felt odd.

I decided to dissipate my projective-identification-related ennui by sharing this meme with my psychoanalysis class via Zoom. Everybody laughed; it was kind of fantastic.

I would never use a credit card for a therapist because I would not trust them with the information.

That's great!!!

Yes—after dumping me Smaug charged my card for some questionable things, things she’d never charged for before. No credit cards on file for me since then.

God, Smaug was a *****. Not the buttery kind, either.

So far anyway, L's never charged anything that I wasn't expecting. I trust her that it will stay that way.

My house looks so nice! I got rid of a bunch of junk mail off the kitchen table and straightened up the living room, cleaned cat hair off everything, swept, even put away most of the yarn that I had out in a box next to the couch (only left out what I'm currently using to make slippers). I feel accomplished looking at it. And the laundry is almost done now. Woo!

I keep trying to tidy up my yarn, but the more I try, the worse it gets. I have six skeins of different colors out right now because I'm making a rainbow blanket for ToddlerManatee. She suggested earlier today that I work on it more. Maybe she's getting impatient??

I can totally relate to the yarn mess. I have 5 blankets I'm working on. Thankfully they are all Christmas gifts, so I have a long time to get them done. But my room is cluttered with yarn!

At the start of the pandemic my mother had a steamer trunk so full of yarn you couldn’t close the lid. After a year, you can now close the lid with room to spare. She’s been knitting a lot while she can’t go out.

ToddlerManatee would approve.