My Luck

I called the dentist earlier to enquire about the price of a tooth extraction.

"£225", the girl on the end of the phone told me.

"That seems a little expensive", I said. "I'm working on a very tight budget here. Is there anything you can cut out to bring the price down?".

"Well, we could do it without any anaesthetic", she said. "But I must stress that it would be excruciatingly painful. We could do that for £170".

"That's better", I said, "but this really is about getting the lowest possible price. What else can we lose?".

"I suppose we could do the procedure without a clamp", said the receptionist. "Though that would increase the chances of something going wrong and make it even more painful".

"That's fine", I said, "keeping the cost down is paramount. There must be something else you can do".

The receptionist thought a little more. "The dentist could work without a nurse, but that would make the whole ordeal last even longer. It brings the price down to £90 but there's nothing else we can do as it's already going to be a horrific thing to go through".

"Not a problem", I replied. "We have a deal".

"How soon can you get my wife booked in?".