On the 22 of this month I became officially unemployed. For the first time in my life, since I started working at the age of twelve, I deliberately walked off a job.
It is cold comfort that I choose this status voluntarily.
It is cold comfort that Pennsylvania is an “at-will” state and my contract allowed me to exercise an option to leave their employ without notice.
It is cold comfort that the majority of my coworkers were upset and threw a cocktail hour in my honor on Friday evening.
It is cold comfort that my former employer framed my resignation in such a way as to imply that I was fired and made a major error in the subject line of the email he sent out (1) to the rest of the company announcing my departure. I swiftly dispatched the notion that I was fired as untrue and requested that they tell anyone who believed that I was fired the truth.
It is cold comfort that one of the most libertarian, pro-business of my friends was the first to suggest, without having listened to any analysis of the situation from myself or J, that I was pushed out deliberately because I had a baby. He also, in all seriousness, suggested that I sue them into non-existence, pointing out that “they don't make enough money to settle and you'll bankrupt them if you sue”.
J and I don't have the money to sue, but it was interesting how to witness how quickly an individual's professed values change when it concerns people he or she knows in real life.
I can't prove that my former employer pushed me out. Instructions were always given verbally, never in writing. Negative feedback, on the other hand, was given in writing and usually involved some element of, for lack of better phrasing, “making shit up.”
It has been five days and I'm still emotionally and physically exhausted. The teeth grinding has stopped and the migraines are gone, but I feel achy and sore and bruised all over.
And I have no idea what I'm going to do next.
(1) He referenced an employee fired in January instead of myself.
Showing posts with label health hazards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health hazards. Show all posts
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Evaluation
I don't like changing jobs. I am proud that my employment history indicates a personality that is happy to stay around long term. I try very hard to work out differences. When I changed jobs two years ago, I agonized for several months over leaving, even though I knew intellectually that I was not challenged enough and could earn a considerable amount more somewhere else. But it was not until six months into my new position, when I learned that my former employer had fired everyone and closed the office that I breathed a sigh of relief over moving on to something new.
I've been trying for the past two weeks to wrap my brain around the fact that I will need to start looking again. It is becoming painfully apparent that I am not a good fit at this job and that I must find a new position before I find myself unemployed.
An implementation with a new client went terribly wrong and I am on probation, indefinitely. All the work I do must be reviewed by my supervisor on a weekly basis and by the VP on a monthly basis. If I fail to complete any task by the end of the week, I must give my supervisor a detailed explanation as to why it was not completed.
There is a long story behind this, but any explanation I have tried to come up with ends with me sounding as if I am incapable of taking responsibility for my failures. The VP is not interested in my perspective on what went wrong – if he was, he would have asked me about my perspective before announcing that I as going to have the hell micromanaged out of me. There is also a strong element of scapegoating behind the VP's decision. Conversations with the other actors in this project have revealed that I was the only individual disciplined.
So I'm looking. And considering my options.
I've been trying for the past two weeks to wrap my brain around the fact that I will need to start looking again. It is becoming painfully apparent that I am not a good fit at this job and that I must find a new position before I find myself unemployed.
An implementation with a new client went terribly wrong and I am on probation, indefinitely. All the work I do must be reviewed by my supervisor on a weekly basis and by the VP on a monthly basis. If I fail to complete any task by the end of the week, I must give my supervisor a detailed explanation as to why it was not completed.
There is a long story behind this, but any explanation I have tried to come up with ends with me sounding as if I am incapable of taking responsibility for my failures. The VP is not interested in my perspective on what went wrong – if he was, he would have asked me about my perspective before announcing that I as going to have the hell micromanaged out of me. There is also a strong element of scapegoating behind the VP's decision. Conversations with the other actors in this project have revealed that I was the only individual disciplined.
So I'm looking. And considering my options.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
If Not for You Meddling Kids...
Or, in this case, replace “meddling kids” with “meddling in-law”.
I'm glad for a little bit of minor personal family drama. It is something useful to escape from the non-stop attention Pittsburgh media has been paying to the quarterback formerly known as “Mr. Play for Jesus”, now better known as “showing up in the lyrics of Eminem's most recent song”.
Escape has not been as easy as turning off the television/radio and eschewing print and online Pittsburgh media because said quarterback's most recent travails have confirmed the bias I always held against him from the moment he was drafted – that this was a guy I would not want to spend five seconds alone with in a room.
Escape has not been as easy as turning off the television/radio and eschewing print and online Pittsburgh media because said quarterback's most recent travails have confirmed the bias I always held against him from the moment he was drafted – that this was a guy I would not want to spend five seconds alone with in a room.
End of digression Number 1. For further digressions, please see the footnotes, they are especially voluminous and verbose today.
J's mother, especially, can be a force to be reckoned with. During one of my less than finer moments in the past ten years I suggested that J's family has some Jewish members in the woodpile(1), such is the amount of passive-aggressive guilt that J's mother can pile on victims unsuspecting and otherwise.(2)
I have a thing about celebrating my birthday which can be traced back to the fact that I share a birthday with my brother, M. My twin brother. For roughly twenty years M and I had to negotiate our birthday celebrations. Some years he won and choose the dinner. Some years I did and got to eat chocolate cake. Some years (all occurring after I reached the age of 30) I've had to pretend that it was not my birthday at all and been yelled at by my mother for telling people that it was. I've had many a horrible birthday in my half-lifetime and have become stupidly neurotic about striving to have a good day.(3)
The thing that has developed with celebrating my birthday is that I want to be the one to plan it. Planning usually involves spending the day with J in some sort of fun activity, such as a visit to the National Aviary or Warhol Museum or making an elaborate and expensive meal for some of our friends. Some years I take the day off from work. Some years I plan for the closest Saturday. We get up, we go to breakfast, we go do something. This year I was looking forward to figuring out something that would involve Baby Alien(4) and toying with the idea of the Children's Museum, as there would be lots to look at and I could indulge in one of the fun things about being a parent – playing with children's “stuff” without fear of censure from other adults. And because doing something fun would remove the taint from the past two years.(5)
All my ruminations have come to a bad end, as my mom tipped me off during a recent phone conversation that my mother-in-law, gods bless her meddling little heart, was planning celebratory-type activities for my birthday and Mother's Day.(6)
My mother knew this because my mother-in-law called to ask her to come for Mother's Day, then attempted to pull a guilt trip on my mother because my parents will be on vacation in a location eight hours away and are rightfully reluctant to drive back in the middle of their vacation for one day.
The conversation moved from Mother's Day to my birthday and my MIL desire to plan my birthday celebration and her desire to gain my parents participation in the plans.
My mother reminded her that it was also my brother's birthday. I'm not sure if she did this because
- she still remains under the impression that my twin and I somehow coordinate birthday celebrations,
- my twin would be offended by my parents only celebrating with me,
- she could not conceive of celebrating our birthday without my twin or
- it was the easiest way to bring the conversation to a conclusion.
The more I think about the conversation, the more hilarious it becomes. My mother-in-law was bewildered that my mother would find driving back for one day unreasonable. My mother was bewildered that my mother-in-law was attempting to make her feel guilty and sat in awe of her powers of passive aggressive persuasion. Thinking about it now makes me laugh out loud.
She ranted, a little bit, about how unfair it was that I would not get to decide what I wanted to do on Mother's Day. In a spectacular display of tone deafness she also complained about my twin being excluded from any birthday plans she might want to make.
I, for what is worth, have resigned myself to rolling my eyes and allowing her to plan out both days, as they are taking Baby Alien for a night so J and I can attend a wedding - which is occurring the same day as the graduation party of J's oldest nephew. Payback.
(1) I admit that I put a toe across the border into heavy stereotyping with this comment. However, J's great grandmother was from Poland, came from a part of the country with a large Jewish population and immigrated to the United States in the 40's. It is not outside the bounds of possibility that family members converted to Catholicism to avoid rising anti-semitism, then immigrated. However, I have also been told (guilty of stereotyping again) that the only thing worse than a Jewish mother to pile on the guilt is a mother who happens to be Polish-Catholic. Additionally, the joke seems to be on me as J passed the Jewish suggestion on to his mother, who laughed then quietly admitted that there was a possibility that some of her fore-relatives may have converted.
(2) While I still can't completely suss out when she will strike, my reactions have gone from righteous annoyance to eye rolling, whining, mental shrugging and the occasional conciliation to her desires.
(3) As J expressed to me last night, one would think after almost 40 years I would give up trying.
(4) Going back to original nickname.
(5)The great [non] birthday fiasco of 2008 was followed by 2009, in which J was sick and spent most of what was possibly the only day in the first 20 something weeks of pregnancy that I was not unbearably nauseated, asleep. All I wanted was a card and a cupcake. I got neither. I did, however get a phone call from A in Switzerland (the same friend who sent me photographs of pregnant and newly postpartum supermodels to make me feel better about my increasing girth in late pregnancy. From anyone else this would have been considered highly misguided, as I'm certainly not the kind of pretty or thin that could be classified as “supermodel”. From A, who could never resist looking a beautiful woman, it was kind of sweet and did make me feel better in a weird sort of way) which rescued the day from becoming a tear-filled disaster.
(As a further digression, A revealed to me several weeks ago that he and his wife (who is supermodel- territory beautiful, brilliant and fabulous) are expecting their first child, thus providing a theory to explain his offbeat obsession with pregnant supermodels – his wife was in early pregnancy when he sent me all the photos and links.)
(6)I'm offering odds to those in the know on whether these plans include some way of getting me to go to mass.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Insurance Battle Number 1
I received a letter from Coventry Health Assurance today.
Coventry Health Assurance has decided, in spite of my diligent checking three months ago*, that the Midwife Center is an out-of-network provider and that I will be responsible for a $2,000.00 out-of-network deductible plus any overages above what Coventry Health Assurance feels like paying as reasonable cost to the Midwife Center.**
Oh, and I have a right to appeal, but it will not be considered an urgent appeal, so Coventry Health Assurance could, in theory, tie up the appeal past the point where I would be able and permitted to switch to an in-network OB.
The next person who tells me that nationalized health care will send the United States down the road to rationed care is getting punched in the nose.
* A phone call to the Midwife Center to confirm they were in-network and several hours digging through a provider search interface designed to create the maximum amount of aggravation with a minimum number of results. The search options are Find a Doctor, Find a Hospital, Find an Ancillary Service Provider, Find an Urgent Care Center or Find an Allied Health Professional. You can not search by clinic or practice name. You can not search by individual name if the provider is anything other than an MD, unless you try Ancillary Service Provider or Allied Health Professional and your guess about which category a CNM falls into is as good as mine. You can search by specialty, but the only names that come up are, once again, MD's.
** My interpretation.
Coventry Health Assurance has decided, in spite of my diligent checking three months ago*, that the Midwife Center is an out-of-network provider and that I will be responsible for a $2,000.00 out-of-network deductible plus any overages above what Coventry Health Assurance feels like paying as reasonable cost to the Midwife Center.**
Oh, and I have a right to appeal, but it will not be considered an urgent appeal, so Coventry Health Assurance could, in theory, tie up the appeal past the point where I would be able and permitted to switch to an in-network OB.
The next person who tells me that nationalized health care will send the United States down the road to rationed care is getting punched in the nose.
* A phone call to the Midwife Center to confirm they were in-network and several hours digging through a provider search interface designed to create the maximum amount of aggravation with a minimum number of results. The search options are Find a Doctor, Find a Hospital, Find an Ancillary Service Provider, Find an Urgent Care Center or Find an Allied Health Professional. You can not search by clinic or practice name. You can not search by individual name if the provider is anything other than an MD, unless you try Ancillary Service Provider or Allied Health Professional and your guess about which category a CNM falls into is as good as mine. You can search by specialty, but the only names that come up are, once again, MD's.
** My interpretation.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Into the Fire - Part II
I've never dealt with a personality like the individual I am dealing with now. I've never had the professional experience of sitting helplessly as my words are twisted and used as weapons against me. The last time I had a conversation with someone in which they asked me to explain myself, I explained myself, only to be informed that my explanation was “not an excuse and [unacceptable]” I was seven years old.
I don't understand this kind of management style. I don't understand what goes through the mind of an individual who indulges in this type of management style. It is not productive. It is not effective. It invalidates the legitimacy of any true criticism of my performance, as it is wrapped up on a series of implied statements, personal attacks and contradictory instructions about what I should be doing to improve the situation.
Anytime you preface or reinforce a statement by stating “I'm not saying you are [adjective of choice]”, you are, in fact, saying it. In the past 24 hours, over two meetings I have been called lazy, disorganized and told that I am not taking my responsibilities seriously. And I have a third meeting with this individual next Wednesday to discuss “next steps”. All indicators are that this meeting will be very much like the last two, in which suggestions on how I could improve the situation will be used to berate me about not implementing them to begin with.
This individual is not my immediate supervisor, but is in a position of serious authority. I have been informed that there is absolutely nothing I can do but to wait for their attention span to divert elsewhere, probably in two or three weeks, possibly several months, sometimes never. That no matter what I do or say, it will not be the right answer.
If this individual gives me instructions then decides on a different course of action, thus causing me to submit bad information, it is my fault for not reading their mind. If I send them something for review and do not send a reminder, I am the one who has dropped the ball. If I don't met unexpressed expectations, it is because I did not ask the right questions. This individual will never apologize, will never concede that anyone else's ideas are valid and will never take responsibility for their actions. Ever.
I've also been told, short of committing a sacrifice of small animals in the middle of the workspace floor, this individual can not fire me without going through both my immediate supervisor and his supervisor for approval. That there are multiple parties willing to step up and defend me if this individual decides that he wants to get rid of me. Additionally, since this specific duty I appear to be failing to perform falls outside my core responsibilities, the consequences would be minor* and there would be more than ample opportunity to work on other projects within the company.
The stress of this is making me ill. I am not sleeping. I am having trouble eating. The pit of nausea in my stomach is larger and I go to work each day praying that I can get to the end of it without triggering a migraine. I can not concentrate on my work, at a time when I need to be able to fully concentrate.
* Loss of stock options and bonuses that will not be paid out this year anyway.
I don't understand this kind of management style. I don't understand what goes through the mind of an individual who indulges in this type of management style. It is not productive. It is not effective. It invalidates the legitimacy of any true criticism of my performance, as it is wrapped up on a series of implied statements, personal attacks and contradictory instructions about what I should be doing to improve the situation.
Anytime you preface or reinforce a statement by stating “I'm not saying you are [adjective of choice]”, you are, in fact, saying it. In the past 24 hours, over two meetings I have been called lazy, disorganized and told that I am not taking my responsibilities seriously. And I have a third meeting with this individual next Wednesday to discuss “next steps”. All indicators are that this meeting will be very much like the last two, in which suggestions on how I could improve the situation will be used to berate me about not implementing them to begin with.
This individual is not my immediate supervisor, but is in a position of serious authority. I have been informed that there is absolutely nothing I can do but to wait for their attention span to divert elsewhere, probably in two or three weeks, possibly several months, sometimes never. That no matter what I do or say, it will not be the right answer.
If this individual gives me instructions then decides on a different course of action, thus causing me to submit bad information, it is my fault for not reading their mind. If I send them something for review and do not send a reminder, I am the one who has dropped the ball. If I don't met unexpressed expectations, it is because I did not ask the right questions. This individual will never apologize, will never concede that anyone else's ideas are valid and will never take responsibility for their actions. Ever.
I've also been told, short of committing a sacrifice of small animals in the middle of the workspace floor, this individual can not fire me without going through both my immediate supervisor and his supervisor for approval. That there are multiple parties willing to step up and defend me if this individual decides that he wants to get rid of me. Additionally, since this specific duty I appear to be failing to perform falls outside my core responsibilities, the consequences would be minor* and there would be more than ample opportunity to work on other projects within the company.
The stress of this is making me ill. I am not sleeping. I am having trouble eating. The pit of nausea in my stomach is larger and I go to work each day praying that I can get to the end of it without triggering a migraine. I can not concentrate on my work, at a time when I need to be able to fully concentrate.
* Loss of stock options and bonuses that will not be paid out this year anyway.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Debate
I've been following, with interest, the increasingly contentious debate over whether vaccinations cause autism. Last week's special court ruling denying three families compensation from the federal vaccine-injury fund is considered a significant victory by the pro-vaccination camp.
The ruling came on the heels of a February 8, 2009 article published in the Sunday Times Online, revealing that the leader of the never replicated, now discredited 1998 Lancet study concealed and falsified data to create the appearance of a link between autism and the MMR vaccination.
My interested in the debate is more than academic, as I am part of the 0.01% of the population who had a severe allergic reaction to the first dose of the MMR vaccination and, on the advice of the family doctor, never received the second booster shot. As such, I must rely on herd immunity to protect me from getting sick.
I can't say that my life has been complicated all that much by the fact that I have minimal to no immunity to these three diseases. But there have been several minor inconveniences over the years and the increasing number of otherwise educated and rational parents who have elected to not vaccinate their kids because they fail to understand the concept of risk, leaves me a little bit angry with them.
There has been the inconvenience of having blood drawn done my junior year of high school, after a classmate caught rubella* from a distant cousin. To protect the school population from a potential widespread outbreak, the members of my class were advised to get a booster shot.
Except I can't have the booster. Instead my brother** and I had our blood drawn and sent to the CDC to be tested for immunity. If our immunity fell below a specified level, we would be quarantined and not permitted to return to school for several weeks, as we were not only potential victims, we were also potential carriers.
The tests came back at the lowest acceptable level of immunity. We able to continue attending school.
A year later I had to submit a signed affidavit from my doctor attesting that I was allergic to the vaccination, in order to attend the college of my choice. Four years later I had to get a second affidavit in order to attend graduate school in a different state.
Minor inconveniences. As much as I would like to visit England, it is not an option right now because the rate of measles infections is steadily rising and herd immunity is falling, putting me at potential risk for infection. I have to commit to being more aware of the types of infectious diseases occurring in the places I would like to visit, in the United States and abroad.
Minor inconveniences. An outbreak in Pittsburgh would mean voluntary quarantine to protect myself and members of the immune suppressed population from exposure. Good thing I have the capability of working from home.
I understand and respect the arguments from those who elect to delay vaccinations until their children are a little bit older or spread out the shots in order to mitigate any potential reactions. I even agree with them. I might not have had such a bad reaction to the MMR if I had just had the M, then the other M, then the R.
I have near zero compassion for parents who outright refuse to vaccinate their kids. I believe them to be short-sighted and selfish with no sense of obligation to contributing to the greater good of the general public. Their demand for scientific absolutes is unreasonable. There is no such thing. In science or in life.
*Her vaccination failed. Which is rare, but does happen.
**My twin brother also had a severe allergic reaction to the first shot. Both of us had a high fever of several days duration and hives. He also had convulsions. Less you think a high fever is not a big deal, I must remind you that it lasted several days and we were 13 months old.
The ruling came on the heels of a February 8, 2009 article published in the Sunday Times Online, revealing that the leader of the never replicated, now discredited 1998 Lancet study concealed and falsified data to create the appearance of a link between autism and the MMR vaccination.
My interested in the debate is more than academic, as I am part of the 0.01% of the population who had a severe allergic reaction to the first dose of the MMR vaccination and, on the advice of the family doctor, never received the second booster shot. As such, I must rely on herd immunity to protect me from getting sick.
I can't say that my life has been complicated all that much by the fact that I have minimal to no immunity to these three diseases. But there have been several minor inconveniences over the years and the increasing number of otherwise educated and rational parents who have elected to not vaccinate their kids because they fail to understand the concept of risk, leaves me a little bit angry with them.
There has been the inconvenience of having blood drawn done my junior year of high school, after a classmate caught rubella* from a distant cousin. To protect the school population from a potential widespread outbreak, the members of my class were advised to get a booster shot.
Except I can't have the booster. Instead my brother** and I had our blood drawn and sent to the CDC to be tested for immunity. If our immunity fell below a specified level, we would be quarantined and not permitted to return to school for several weeks, as we were not only potential victims, we were also potential carriers.
The tests came back at the lowest acceptable level of immunity. We able to continue attending school.
A year later I had to submit a signed affidavit from my doctor attesting that I was allergic to the vaccination, in order to attend the college of my choice. Four years later I had to get a second affidavit in order to attend graduate school in a different state.
Minor inconveniences. As much as I would like to visit England, it is not an option right now because the rate of measles infections is steadily rising and herd immunity is falling, putting me at potential risk for infection. I have to commit to being more aware of the types of infectious diseases occurring in the places I would like to visit, in the United States and abroad.
Minor inconveniences. An outbreak in Pittsburgh would mean voluntary quarantine to protect myself and members of the immune suppressed population from exposure. Good thing I have the capability of working from home.
I understand and respect the arguments from those who elect to delay vaccinations until their children are a little bit older or spread out the shots in order to mitigate any potential reactions. I even agree with them. I might not have had such a bad reaction to the MMR if I had just had the M, then the other M, then the R.
I have near zero compassion for parents who outright refuse to vaccinate their kids. I believe them to be short-sighted and selfish with no sense of obligation to contributing to the greater good of the general public. Their demand for scientific absolutes is unreasonable. There is no such thing. In science or in life.
*Her vaccination failed. Which is rare, but does happen.
**My twin brother also had a severe allergic reaction to the first shot. Both of us had a high fever of several days duration and hives. He also had convulsions. Less you think a high fever is not a big deal, I must remind you that it lasted several days and we were 13 months old.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
You Know...
I was going to go off on a rant about the latest asinine comments coming out of the Vatican via the mouth of Cardinal Stafford, but I don't have enough energy to give it the proper take down it deserves.
Except to say that describing President-Elect Obama as "apocalyptic" is about as loud of a dog whistle as I have heard coming out of the church in a long time.
Except to say that describing President-Elect Obama as "apocalyptic" is about as loud of a dog whistle as I have heard coming out of the church in a long time.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
End of the Saga
I am hoping that this is the last post on the state of my health. I can't seem to find a way of framing what is happening to me in a manner that takes in the broader issues of class and income. It seems petty to whine about the time, the expense, the stupid lectures when there are so many people in the United States without access to decent health insurance and/or reliable doctors.
Except I could not turn off the interior monologue, which became louder when the forms to appeal company X's refusal to approve a chest CT scan arrived in the mail. Seeing the phrase “suspected malignancy” in print is demoralizing. Waiting for information on procedures is demoralizing.
The arguments with Insurance Company X over which procedures are medically necessary, the trips for consults, MRI's and CT scans, the lecture from my mother over refusing contrast, all of this is making me weary. In between I've also had annual visits to the dentist and the optometrist and a consult with a periodontist. I have spent more time in medical offices in the past six weeks then I have in the last ten years.
It is not over quite yet, but it is close. My scans are normal. My blood work is normal. My x-rays are normal. I have orders for physical therapy on my left shoulder, to strengthen the tendon. I have an estimate for two gum grafts, to fix the recession on two of my teeth. And I have a GP who thinks that I have been through enough – and that I am normal.
Except I could not turn off the interior monologue, which became louder when the forms to appeal company X's refusal to approve a chest CT scan arrived in the mail. Seeing the phrase “suspected malignancy” in print is demoralizing. Waiting for information on procedures is demoralizing.
The arguments with Insurance Company X over which procedures are medically necessary, the trips for consults, MRI's and CT scans, the lecture from my mother over refusing contrast, all of this is making me weary. In between I've also had annual visits to the dentist and the optometrist and a consult with a periodontist. I have spent more time in medical offices in the past six weeks then I have in the last ten years.
It is not over quite yet, but it is close. My scans are normal. My blood work is normal. My x-rays are normal. I have orders for physical therapy on my left shoulder, to strengthen the tendon. I have an estimate for two gum grafts, to fix the recession on two of my teeth. And I have a GP who thinks that I have been through enough – and that I am normal.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Flickr
When I started this blog I was using Picasa (now owned by Google). Then I switched to a Macintosh and was no longer able to access my account from a Macintosh. So I switched to Flickr.
I don't use it very often, now that Picasa has been integrated into the rest of Google's applications. I still have an account at Flickr, which I use primarily when I need access to digital images for work. The most popular photograph is also one of the worst I have ever taken - a candid shot of Sidney Crosby on the ice after the last home game of his rookie season.
I don't use it very often, now that Picasa has been integrated into the rest of Google's applications. I still have an account at Flickr, which I use primarily when I need access to digital images for work. The most popular photograph is also one of the worst I have ever taken - a candid shot of Sidney Crosby on the ice after the last home game of his rookie season.
As has been well publicized in the past several weeks, Microsoft is planning a hostile take over of Yahoo and all of it's holdings, including Flickr. Reluctantly, I have decided to take down the majority of the photographs in the upcoming weeks, including the Sidney Crosby photo.
Some would see this as a premature reaction to Microsoft's bid and that Yahoo will prevail. I'm not so sure. While the Federal Government has expended an enormous amount of time and resources in anti-trust lawsuits against Microsoft, there is absolutely no reason for me to believe that they are anything other than pro-business - the larger the business the better. Recent court decisions (Supreme and otherwise) do little to reassure me that the little people; whether that be a woman suing under EEOC or a small business, can prevail.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Health - Part I
I've had some time over the past several days to meditate on what it would be like to be genuinely poor, sick and missing even one of the resources I have available in order to obtain medical treatment. I have not experienced an epiphany during my mediations, just a re-realization of how difficult the health care system can be to navigate.
My first appointment was scheduled for 1:45 PM on a weekday afternoon. I have at least two follow-up appointments, also on weekday afternoons during working hours. In total I will be missing around 8 hours of work over a two week period, just to see my doctor.
I am not a salaried employee. I work for an hourly wage and taking time out of my required 40 hours is an inconvenience. However, I have options. I can take half a sick day or work longer on other days to make up the time. I can also elect to work fewer hours as my wage is high enough to offset the missing time in my paycheck. I will still be able to meet my bills.
My doctor works out of a clinic in a lower income neighborhood located outside the Pittsburgh city limits. She came highly recommended and makes seeing a physician a pleasant experience. She spends the first twenty minutes of every exam just talking. She is also half an hour away, no matter which form of transportation I elect to take, whether it is a bus, my car or a cab.
If I take the bus, I have to spend time studying the schedules, hope it shows up on time, hope that I don't arrive too early, hope that I don't wait too long, hope that I calculated correctly to miss the minimum amount of work. If I drive, I have to add in the cost of paying to park. If I take a cab, I have to calculate the cost of the trip. With any of these options I lose – either time or money. But it is my choice to make.
In addition to the prescriptions and the previously anticipated shoulder x-ray, my doctor order a chest x-ray, a blood draw and a TB test. More time spent, trying to get to a lab to get the blood work done, trying to find a location with decent hours to get the x-rays completed. Calculating how late I can arrive at work, how early can I leave, when can I make up those hours?
Filling prescriptions. First I am told that my doctor would have to call and authorize my allergy/asthma drug as “medically necessary”. Twenty-four hours later, via a phone call by the pharmacist, I am told that the doctor will have to file paperwork stating I have a formal diagnosis of allergies/asthma before the company will pay for the medication. Which will take at least two weeks, probably longer. If I want to start it right away I am going to need to ask my doctor for samples. Which means going across town again. For a medication that was unrestricted the last time I had the prescription filled.
What if I worked at a lower pay rate? What if my boss was not as sympathetic or flexible? What if the only option I had was the bus? What if I did not have a choice of doctor? Or labs? Or hospitals? Or pharmacy? What if I did not have enough money to pay for all those office visits? What would I do then?
My first appointment was scheduled for 1:45 PM on a weekday afternoon. I have at least two follow-up appointments, also on weekday afternoons during working hours. In total I will be missing around 8 hours of work over a two week period, just to see my doctor.
I am not a salaried employee. I work for an hourly wage and taking time out of my required 40 hours is an inconvenience. However, I have options. I can take half a sick day or work longer on other days to make up the time. I can also elect to work fewer hours as my wage is high enough to offset the missing time in my paycheck. I will still be able to meet my bills.
My doctor works out of a clinic in a lower income neighborhood located outside the Pittsburgh city limits. She came highly recommended and makes seeing a physician a pleasant experience. She spends the first twenty minutes of every exam just talking. She is also half an hour away, no matter which form of transportation I elect to take, whether it is a bus, my car or a cab.
If I take the bus, I have to spend time studying the schedules, hope it shows up on time, hope that I don't arrive too early, hope that I don't wait too long, hope that I calculated correctly to miss the minimum amount of work. If I drive, I have to add in the cost of paying to park. If I take a cab, I have to calculate the cost of the trip. With any of these options I lose – either time or money. But it is my choice to make.
In addition to the prescriptions and the previously anticipated shoulder x-ray, my doctor order a chest x-ray, a blood draw and a TB test. More time spent, trying to get to a lab to get the blood work done, trying to find a location with decent hours to get the x-rays completed. Calculating how late I can arrive at work, how early can I leave, when can I make up those hours?
Filling prescriptions. First I am told that my doctor would have to call and authorize my allergy/asthma drug as “medically necessary”. Twenty-four hours later, via a phone call by the pharmacist, I am told that the doctor will have to file paperwork stating I have a formal diagnosis of allergies/asthma before the company will pay for the medication. Which will take at least two weeks, probably longer. If I want to start it right away I am going to need to ask my doctor for samples. Which means going across town again. For a medication that was unrestricted the last time I had the prescription filled.
What if I worked at a lower pay rate? What if my boss was not as sympathetic or flexible? What if the only option I had was the bus? What if I did not have a choice of doctor? Or labs? Or hospitals? Or pharmacy? What if I did not have enough money to pay for all those office visits? What would I do then?
Saturday, December 22, 2007
If the Glove Fits
First, an administrative note:
Dear J,
If you are reading this entry, please do the following: Disable your wireless card OR unplug the CAT 5 cable from the router AND turn off one of your computers (work or personal is up to you). Alternately you could allow more IP's on our little home network, thus allowing you to have as many computers turned on and plugged and as you want and me to be online at the same time without using up all the IP addresses.
Love, Me.
A few weeks ago the Post Gazette ran an article about Jennifer Gooch, a MFA student who designed a website to reunite gloves with their lost mates. As part of a larger project, Gooch has placed collection boxes in some of the local business and intends to turn the gloves into an exhibit.
Today the Post Gazette ran a letter from an individual who, to use the vernacular of blogs and messages boards all over the universe, could only be “concern trolling” and apparently lacks a sense of whimsy. The writer finds the project “gross”, a potential “serious health hazard” because the “streets are full of germs” and “you don't know where the glove was found and who handled it”. She wants to know why Gooch does not use her creativity “for something more productive”.
A few months ago I was in the upstairs changing rooms at Filene's Basement, trying on some summer dresses. At the time the rooms were frequently left unmonitored when the store was quiet. So it was not a surprise to hear a couple take the room next to my own and begin having not-quite-quiet-enough sex. They were discovered and asked to leave the room. Which they did, placing the clothes they grabbed as a cover neatly on the rack before leaving the room.
Just something to consider...
Dear J,
If you are reading this entry, please do the following: Disable your wireless card OR unplug the CAT 5 cable from the router AND turn off one of your computers (work or personal is up to you). Alternately you could allow more IP's on our little home network, thus allowing you to have as many computers turned on and plugged and as you want and me to be online at the same time without using up all the IP addresses.
Love, Me.
A few weeks ago the Post Gazette ran an article about Jennifer Gooch, a MFA student who designed a website to reunite gloves with their lost mates. As part of a larger project, Gooch has placed collection boxes in some of the local business and intends to turn the gloves into an exhibit.
Today the Post Gazette ran a letter from an individual who, to use the vernacular of blogs and messages boards all over the universe, could only be “concern trolling” and apparently lacks a sense of whimsy. The writer finds the project “gross”, a potential “serious health hazard” because the “streets are full of germs” and “you don't know where the glove was found and who handled it”. She wants to know why Gooch does not use her creativity “for something more productive”.
A few months ago I was in the upstairs changing rooms at Filene's Basement, trying on some summer dresses. At the time the rooms were frequently left unmonitored when the store was quiet. So it was not a surprise to hear a couple take the room next to my own and begin having not-quite-quiet-enough sex. They were discovered and asked to leave the room. Which they did, placing the clothes they grabbed as a cover neatly on the rack before leaving the room.
Just something to consider...
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