memorial

So, I have been on the lookout for a smallish bird statuette to put on Nichi's grave for about a year and a half.

(Nichi was my lutino cockatiel who shared my life for 25 years.  He passed away in the fall of 2011 when we had a cold snap, and discovered that the furnace in our new house didn't work.)

Dave finally found one on amazon.com that was affordable, and basically what I have been hoping to find,which is a non-descript bird statue. 

By non-descript, I mean that I didn't want a robin, or a cardinal, or a parrot... since I've never seen a statue of a cockatiel, I figured just a plain, artist's version of a generic bird would be suitable.

Anyway..... we received said bird statue last week, and it arrived broken.  By the appearance of the pieces, it had been broken inside of the box for a long, long time.  There was no way to fix it.  The edges around the breaks were worn away.

Dave went to the website, and arranged for a replacement.  He sent the broken one back, and we got a notice that a replacement had been shipped.

The replacement arrived today.  Broken.  Only this time,  the pieces in the box didn't even match.  How the hell do they explain THAT one?!

They just picked a couple of pieces, and threw them in the box.  Unbelievable.

So, back it goes.  And this time?  I want a refund. 

Back to square one.  Poor Nichi.  He deserves better!

Your moment of irresistibility

more meetings

So we had that devastating mandatory meeting the other day, and then yesterday, we had internal meetings that made things seem a little less dismal.

The upshot is that IF there are lay offs, they won't be until next year some time, most likely.  Not in September, like the guy led us to believe.

How so, you ask?

The fact is that there is going to still be so much to do in what is going to become the "central processing office" (instead of what it is now....the billing office), that, for anyone who wants to stay, who knows how to  or WANTS to do stuff OTHER than medical billing/coding, etc, there will probably be jobs.

Probably.

Now, as I mentioned previously,  these jobs will not be anything like what any of us are doing now, but they will provide pay checks.  Maybe smaller ones.  Maybe larger ones.  No one knows yet.

But it's not quite as dismal as it seemed originally.

Also, I got to ask if there will be severance for those whose jobs disappear, and the answer was "that's company policy,  yes."

Of course, it could all -- all of it -- be bullshit, too.

The office is currently in attrition, meaning anyone who chooses to leave now, rather than sticking it out to go through these intense and stressful changes, will not be replaced.

So, any of us who stay behind will have a temporary overload of work before that work goes to Boston.

It's all pretty much going to suck, and I haven't fully decided what to do yet.

At first, I thought I will just stick around and see what they offer me.  If I get cut, I get a break from working for a while....nice severance, take my time finding something I won't hate...etc....

I really don't want to have to pound pavement for another billing job.  Just going to another company to do the same thing won't improve things. 

So---let's see what ELSE they offer me eventually, right?  Wait.... what if they DO offer me something I would hate EVEN MORE than what I already do?  Namely, CUSTOMER SERVICE in the call center.

Oh. Dear. God. NO.

In which case, if they offer me something that I turn down, I am screwed out of any potential severance package, and am at square one....

So, what I have to decide some time in the next few months is : do I want to go through the upheaval (which includes a SOFTWARE CONVERSION--anyone who has been through one of those knows it's pure, living hell)  in order to wait this out and see where I land, and risk that I will have to quit anyway in the long run?

I see this process as a steam roller.   We have the choice to either grab onto the side of the roller, and see where it dumps us off down the road, or we get squashed under it--now or later--when our current work disappears.

Lots of pressure and stress...either way, which is exactly what my health doesn't need.

First Louie, and now this.  2013 has SUCKED ASS so far.  I have changed my mind.  13 is now OFF THE LIST OF LUCKY NUMBERS. 

Mandatory meeting

I had a feeling of dread when we got the email last week at work telling us that there would be a meeting today at 4:00 and that all of us were required to attend.  Even those who were scheduled to be off work that day.

My feeling of dread was not unfounded.

Corporate has hired a billing service.

Between now and September, billing operations will be transferred to Boston, and those of us who they decide to keep on board with actual jobs will have to do something else.

I actually hate doing medical billing.  Always have.  But it was necessary and paid my bills.

This could be a blessing in disguise...if they decide to retain me, maybe I will learn new skills and get to do something ELSE.

If they DON'T retain me, maybe I can find a head hunter who can help me figure out what job I CAN do for the rest of my life that I won't hate.

Since being a massage therapist in private practice isn't working.

Gawd.  Please pray that my stress response isn't over the top, and that this doesn't make me sick.  I don't need that.