Mental Health Thread #9 - Spring is Coming!

The entitlement mentality these days is ridiculous.

Today I had an employee who is turning 26 next month. She emailed us to find out why there isn't an open event in PeopleSoft. Evidently we were supposed to know without being told that she was covered on her parents' insurance; that it was ending on her birthday (as opposed to the end of the month in which her birthday happens, which is how we do it); what coverage she has; and automatically open the event for her without her having to notify us of anything.

Also today, I heard from an employee whose daughter turned 13 last fall; he signed up for a dependent care FSA anyway despite the fact that the OE materials spelled out that your child had to be under 13; his claims have been denied; and it is OUR fault because OUR system didn't pick up that he had an ineligible employee and reject his enrollment. HE had no responsibility at all to ensure that he qualified for the benefit.


And the helicopter parents who rant that their 26 year old should still be able to stay on the insurance because they don't make much and will now have to pay for their own. My standard response is now to point out that the parent is free to still pay the child for the premium, that is between them. Shuts them up every time.

But the dependent care FSAs make me crazy. We specifically state what it can not be used for, and yet every year get some employee who is upset that it can not be used for their teenager's Science camp, or private school tuition. The best was the Dad who wanted to use the funds to pay his girlfriend who was a SAHM. Basically, he was looking to use the FSA to cover his child support.
 
The 26 year old turned out to be just clueless; she was fine once the facts of life were explained to her. FSA guy is a royal pain in the ass.
 
You "guys" get to have so much fun! :)
 
Former employee (who did payroll and benefits for 3 years) picked up final paycheck. "Oh, I thought I would be refunded July insurance premiums." No you worked July 1st therefore you will be covered for the entire month. She didn't seem to appreciate that. "Oh. I don't get vacation." No, we don't payout vacation. It's in the handbook.
"Well, I thought this check would be more."

Sorry sister but you've been doing payroll for 3 years and we've never paid out vacation. And every time someone left we had the discussion about when their coverage would end and what to refund. I don't know what made you think you would be different.
 
Got an email from someone who has been hired to start NEXT YEAR who wanted to know about the benefits and what she would have to pay. Okay, I can tell her about the choice of health plans because if the vendors were going to change I'd know it by now. But sister, what you would have to pay will depend on what plan you elect, and I cannot tell you in July of 2015 what our rates will be in January of 2016. We're still in negotiations with the vendors AND the union contracts expire in October; our deductibles and co-pays and co-insurances may well change. You wanna ask me again in October what you're going to pay - I can at least give you a range depending on what plan you choose. But now, in early July? Forget it.
 
Hey CBG- Heard on the radio yesterday that the snow finally melted in Boston and they found all kinds of stuff that was plowed along with the snow and ended up in the mound!
 
They did indeed. But the thing that really makes me shudder is the fact that it didn't all melt till July!
 
We had one of the worst winters in living memory. Snowfalls measured in feet, followed literally only days later by other snowstorms also measured in feet. We broke the all time record for winter snowfall totals at 110.6 inches. For comparison, the average is 43.5 - we had 64.8 in February alone.
 
There's always that one employee who thinks they don't make mistakes, and jumps on anybody else who does (well we actually have two of them). Anyhow today, the person next to her says "hey, I have something on my schedule that belongs on yours". So she says all snarky "how does that keep happening." Well I had a good idea so I walked her through how to find out. Well lo and behold guess who made the mistake? Priceless moment.
 
Love it.

We have a "phone cop" who will let you know it if you were due to log onto the phones at 9:30 and you're not on by 9:31. The other day I caught her not logged in yet 7 minutes into her time. No, I didn't enjoy reminding her at all. (snicker)
 

I love these types of lists. If I hadn't experienced a few of these myself, I would think people were making them up!

I have to admit I'm also guilty of one of them myself...I sent my sister on a job interview that was set up for me. I can't believe now that I did it, but it was probably 35 years ago so I was pretty young and apparently pretty dumb as well! We were both looking for work, had very similar work experience, and she needed the job a lot more than I did, so I thought I was being nice by telling her to go ahead and go in my place. I guess it didn't occur to me how embarrassing it could end up being for her or how stupid it made me look to the employer...although I did find out how stupid it made me look to the state job service, because the lady I was working with there didn't hesitate to call and tell me what an idiot I was! :blush
 
It's bad enough I had to deal with the 6yr old boy all day Saturday who refused to do anything I said. If I said zig he said, "No I'll just zag instead." But WHY do I have to deal with this crap from adults at work? People that I supervise. People that I can fire. Just friggin do what I say!
 
I always ask nicely. Sometimes I do explain why it's important. Sometimes I expect them to understand that my 37 years of experience should be an indicator that I've got this stuff figured out. And even if I don't, well I'm the boss so just humor me.
 
Sometimes it's something simple. I asked a person to pull some files and put them on a certain chair. She says, Oh are you sure, you want them there, I could put them over here, or somewhere else or... PUT THEM ON THE CHAIR!

But over the years I can't tell you how many times somebody brand new on the job will do something completely different from how I taught them and of course it doesn't work right, they they're all "oh well I just thought." DON'T THINK!
 
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