Great Expectations

Lest you think that I'm really on the gravy train since I can (sometimes) sleep in late:

Here are the expectations for the "Rehabilitation Job Placement Plan and Agreement." I had to sign and agree to these in order to receive Worker's Comp payments:

* Full Time job search 6-8 hours per day/5days per week.

* Job search radius is within 50 miles

* 2-3 applications per day

* 2-3 contacts with Job Placement Specialist per week

* Legible daily job logs need to be submitted weekly

* Job Leads followed up within 48 hours

* 2 interviews per week, if possible

* 4-10 cold call job searches daily

My job logs are inspected and questioned. If I don't fulfill the agreement (above) they can cut some or all of my weekly WC payments.

When I mentioned this to friends, they nearly all exclaimed, "But all I had to do was call in every week!" Yes, my dearest pals, but that was for Unemployment Compensation, not Worker's Compensation. The two are different animals. The bright side is that WC pays out higher than EUC. And if my WC ever did disappear, I also managed (in those dark days immed following my firing) to become eligible for UEC.

Something I didn't know, and maybe you don't either is that if you get FIRED from a job, you don't get Unemployment Compensation!!!!!! And I had worked at the job for six years.

I nearly fell over when I received the UEC denial in the mail and wondered what on earth I was going to do--no job, no money and an injury besides. But every week UEC sent me three thick envelopes with essay questions about what had happened, which I completed and returned diligently. In time UEC made a ruling that I was NOT fired for cause, as my ex-employer was declaring and that I was eligible for UEC. Whew! It was a long hard road.

By the time UEC finally was preparing to kick in, the Worker's Comp person at their main office also declared that I was still eligible for WC. She had been appalled that my former employer did not call WC and let them know that I was to be fired. It took a bit of time but she had me reinstated on WC. So guess which one of the Compensations I selected? WC is enough for me to pay the bills while UEC would have been a blessing, for sure, but my housing costs are so high that I would have lost the house. So all is well and I am VERY grateful to the nice woman at WC who fought the battle for me. There are some good people out there who are interested in justice!

Some things are great

Another day of job hunting looms ahead. But usually I don't start off all that early, since I don't have to. Even if I wake up (or get up) at 6:30, I often don't get showered, dressed and ready until closer to 9:00 AM or even 10:00. (Sorry all you working people. I DO know what it's like to have to get up at 5:00 AM every freakin' weekday morning--and did so my entire adult life, until now.)

Today one of the Worker's Comp people called me shortly after 8 AM. I was awake but still in bed thinking about getting up. When I saw the number on my phone, I quick took a sip of water to avoid the "just woke up" voice. But it didn't work, I had to keep clearing my throat for the first five minutes of conversation. And the conversation went (like WC conversations always do) on and on. Soon I was talking normally but dearly wishing for a cup of coffee and a bathroom pit stop!

The lack of coffee and bathroom break was making me impatient. I actually interrupted the caller twice during our long conversation--not a good thing to do. WC people are the ones holding my fragile purse-strings, it's not wise to tick them off.

Anyway, I was denied a second doctor's opinion and will return to the first, totally uncaring, bone doctor in October. I had wanted a clearance to go to a podiatrist. In the past 3 appointments the bone doctor looked at the X-rays, pronounced the bones all healed and that I should be able to walk around now. He didn't even look at my actual foot, swollen, deformed and purple. I showed him photos of it at one appointment and at each appointment I've come in with crutches and now a cane and was sure to mention the problems I'm still having with it. But the appointments last about a nano-second and they are done. In the past someone had told me that Worker's Comp doctors can only bill a small portion of the actual services, that there is a cap on the fees and so they don't go out of their way at all. At the time I thought that couldn't be true, but now I think it may be a possibility. Oh well. I can't dwell on all of my problems.

Actually, some things are really good, like the sleeping in thing! I get to watch the "Today" show in the morning, which I never got to do. I can stay up really late, if I want to. Finished the 14th Stephanie Plum book, another book by Alexander McCall Smith, "Sex, Lies and Handwriting: A Top Expert Reveals the Secrets Hidden in Your Handwriting." That last book was really good, I've always been really interested in the handwriting = personality thing. And now am working on a basic Philosophy book. I can pretty much pick my own schedule, which is sweet. That schedule does have to include 6-8 hours of job hunting per week day, but now that my computer is repaired I can do a lot of that at home. Like I said--sweet!