Category: 2012_Posts

Daily is difficult for me, and weekly can be too slow. “Whenever” seems to be the way I post.

For Santa’s Naughty List: Companies That Outsource

~ JodiLea

Santa

We (hubby and I) are so disgusted now with the company we retired from this summer.  I suspect that a lot of companies are doing the same thing. It still doesn’t make it right.

As a retiree, I no longer can use the company’s benefits office. Retiree benefits are outsourced to a large conglomerate somewhere in Illinois. They are the middle-man for your retiree medical plan. Retirees pay company, and they pay the bill to the carriers for you. Sounds great, doesn’t it?  Until you find out that the premiums they have taken out of your checking account are not going to your medical carrier.

In October hubby retired and signed up for his retiree benefits. November 1st, his first medical premium payment was paid and he signed up for auto-payment from our checking account. No problems with that. They were taking our money right on schedule. Because of his first payment crossing in the mail with the auto-payment set up, he was billed for Nov & Dec coverage at the same time, so now we had made 3 payments.

I contacted the outsource company about hubby’s over-payment. I also was going to complain about hubby not receiving his medical card with his patient number yet. Sigh.  I am told to contact the medical provider directly to ask about the card. I did so and found out that hubby did not have any coverage with them at all. WTF??

That was Monday. Now it’s Thursday and hubby is waiting for a phone call from the medical insurance and the outsourced folks. Someone seriously dropped the ball here, and neither side wants to admit it.  Meanwhile, hubby has not had any medical coverage for two and a half months!

I want to know what the Hell the outsource company did with the money?

This kind of crap makes me want to go pirate!  ARRRRR!!!

Thanks for listening, I feel better now. ♥

What Retired People REALLY Do

~ JodiLea ~ 2 Comments

Oh, sure. We travel, relax, go for walks. We putter about the house, doing this and the other. We also join Guilds and get on Facebook more than we used to. Young people think retirement is one big Yawn-Fest, and old people are a bit “off”.

Young people can be wrong.

I’ll let you in on a little known fact: Retiree’s are so excited they don’t have to go to work anymore, they go through a “silly phase”.  Their children begin to worry about their mental state, and their grandchildren think they are the most fun people in the world.

That’s what it’s all about – fun. More like FUN.  Anyway, to give you an example of the type of silliness I’m talking about, I will tell you the story of the two bears.

Hubby and I were doing some Christmas shopping in the big city (of Manteca) and saw a large container full of stuffed bears. Huge Bears.

Momma Bear Knits   Poppa Bear with Remote
Miss Bear Knits                      Mr. Bear Has Remote

Apparently, the bear world is not so different from ours.  As you can see, these bears are bigger than I am, not to mention my grand-daughters. Even better, you should FEEL how plush they are. I had to get these for the girls. I couldn’t wait to see their faces when they saw them.

The Bears were too big to wrap and they would not fit under any of the beds. All closets were full of boxes of stuff to organize later.  Soooo, we just kept them in the family room. Now, here comes the silly part – we (hubby and I) played with the bears. That’s right. We even giggled like little kids. I would put hubby’s glasses on Mr. Bear.  They often watched TV together.

NowPoppaCanSee        BearsWatchingTV

One time, I put them sitting together on the couch holding hands.

Before I got around to taking a picture, hubby snuck in from his shop and changed their position. When I went into the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of what the Bears were doing  in the family room!

  (I did remember to take a photo)  MrBearGetsFrisky

Well, this turn of events required an equally surprising response.  And it got one.

♥   It was time for Mr. Bear to propose   ♥

                                                                       And yes, they are living happily ever after…

ProposalWithFlowers

Today’s Addition To Santa’s Naughty List: The Cable Company

~ JodiLea

!SNOWMAN

Each December, I notice a shortage of Christmas movies available on Cable’s “On Demand” feature. Today was the last straw – I wanted to watch a Christmas movie while I worked on Christmas gifts. Snowflakes were floating down and decorating the trees outside.

A perfect day to get comfy and watch one of the classics. The regular TV channels offered movies I’ve never heard of, and same goes for the actors. Our Premium Channel had one: Scrooged. Both of us love that movie, so I selected it. That was when I discovered the Cable Co. wanted $3.99 for the privilege of watching an old (1988) movie.

I could have watched Scrooged in July for free. (“Free” being a relative term, used loosely in this post). In August I could have watched “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” – also an old (1989) movie.  Who the Hell watches Christmas movies in the summer?  Maybe all the people who got gypped last Christmas.

If that  annoys you, then the selections that are available will piss you off.

  • “Born on the 4th of July“
  • “The Exorcist”  [also II and III ]
  • “Halloween“

But all is not lost. There are really good Christmas movies disguised as regular movies. If you have not seen these, you should check them out!  (The “**” means not appropriate for children)

  • “Trapped in Paradise”
  • “The Ref”
  • “Home Alone” [I and II]
  • “Bad Santa”  **
  • “The Family Stone”
  • “Love Actually”
  • “While You Were Sleeping”
  • “Ben Hur”
  • “Die Hard” [I and II]
  • “The Holiday”
  • “Lethal Weapon“

So, I ended up watching The Ref this afternoon.  And all was good.  🙂

!SNOWMAN