For the past couple of months, I’ve been updating from my private group on Facebook. It’s not the same, but honestly, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Since we last talked, Aitch turned five; Doodicus started the sixth grade and his grades half-way through the first quarter were all As; and I found out that November 1st will be my last day at work for the surgeon as he has opted to retire early.
I’ve been a little consumed by the last point because I hate job-hunting. I mean, who doesn’t hate job-hunting, but for me, I hate it to the point I cry and get heart palpitations. Administrative jobs in a town of 20,000 are as rare as hen’s teeth.
In the past two weeks, I’ve applied for one position for which I really don’t qualify, but I figured what the hell. Actually I think the worst part is the interview. All those canned, pointless questions that the interviewer has written on a form and they write down the answers without truly even listening to what I’m saying… It’s the worst. I wish that they would just invite me out for coffee and just see if we like each other personally. Speed-interviewing, if you will.
Without my job, we will also be without health insurance. For our family, the ACA is a godsend. My apologies (insincere though it may be) to those of you who disagree. I’ve never pulled punches before and I won’t start now, but the only people I’ve heard vehemently appose the ACA are those who have had their coverage provided by their white-collar employer with little or minimal contribution from their paychecks. My husband and I make a decent living and have basically been responsible for a premiums. We are a blue-collar family that pays our bills. When I was diagnosed with cancer in 2010, we paid our medical bills in full and on time. And then after that, I was uninsurable unless through an employer, and I had to wait a year to even be eligible for benefits. I’m tired of hearing from friends and family through my social media contacts that the ACA is meant for deadbeats and people who don’t pull their weight economically. They are narrow-minded, candy asses.
With that, I bring you this in keeping with current events. It’s brilliant. It comes from Brian Krewson at “the metric ruler“.
So, Imagine that the company you work for held a poll, and asked everyone if they thought it would be a good idea to put a soda machine in the break room. The poll came back, and the majority of your colleagues said “Yes”, indicating that they would like a soda machine. Some said no, but the majority said yes. So, a week later, there’s a soda machine.
Now imagine that Bill in accounting voted against the soda machine. He has a strong hatred for caffeinated soft drinks, thinks they are bad you you, whatever. He campaigns throughout the office to get the machine removed. Well, management decides “OK, we’ll ask again” and again, the majority of people say “Yes, lets keep the soda machine.”
Bill continues to campaign, and management continues to ask the employees, and every time, the answer is in favor of the soda machine. This happens, lets say… 35 times. Eventually, Bill says “OK, I’M NOT PROCESSING PAYROLL ANYMORE UNTIL THE SODA MACHINE IS REMOVED”, so nobody will get paid unless management removes the machine.
What should we do???
Answer: Fire Bill and get someone who will do the fucking job.
Bonus: Bill tells everyone that he was willing to “Negotiate”, to come to a solution where everyone got their payroll checks, but only so long as that negotiation capitulated to his demand to remove the soda machine.
Bill is a fucking jackass.
Punch Drunk 
Sorry about the pending job loss.
People who have excellent health insurance here have no idea what it is like. My dad works for John Deere, which until recently had FREE health coverage for all its employees. I mentioned to my mom that I might use last year’s Christmas check to buy new eyeglasses, and she was perplexed that we might have to pay for such a thing ourselves. (To date, glasses have not been purchased.)
We are going to look into insurance through the ACA too. I was “bemused” (totally pissed off) by a snarky letter D’s Obama-hating HR rep sent along with details of the ACA, complete with exclamatory notes in the margins. “Our insurance plan IS affordable,” followed by the vague statement on the last page that “Employee contributions will increase next year.” As it is, I had to cancel Nina’s OT sessions because we were billed $94/session AFTER our insurance paid. That was $188/month. I felt like shit that I had to cancel therapy, but even the OT and scheduler were horrified by our out-of-pocket cost. And I cannot forgive D’s health plan for that $2000 “out of network provider” bill we suddenly received, a full year after the girls’ birth, for anesthesia for my unscheduled C-section.
Our HR manager did the same thing to us, even going so far as to say the reason OUR particular corporation’s healthcare premiums were high and going up because most covered individuals were single women. As a woman, I was tremendously offended.
I am not an American so I have no say, but yeah. What were they thinking? You nailed this one.