Management likes to talk about what a great team we are. When we all pull together we get great work done and our little corner of the corporate world shines. The way it works in practice is that 4 or 5 workers do an efficient and wonderful job, pick up the slack for the other 9 and the slackers and idiots get to bask in the reflected glory.
One of the idiots had a case and fucked it up royally because he’s mentally deficient. I’m not joking-- I think the guy is brain damaged. Since he’s brain damaged he could not do his reports (mostly because all the claims were fucked up and he didn’t know how to fix them). I am drafted to ‘help’ him with his reports. Well, they can’t be done. The claims are all wrong and I tell my boss. My boss looks it over, agrees that it’s all fucked up and re-assigns the case to me. Project #1-- fix idiot co-worker’s fuck up.
In the meantime, one of my own cases is very small-- only about 200 claims. The projects manager tells me to put it on a back burner, but I’ve learned that this means “ignore it until we need it done yesterday and then let me scream at you to hurry, hurry, hurry”. So, being a person who learns from experience, I pre-audit the claims during in-between times. I tell project manager-- who sits next to me on Tuesdays only-- what I have done. He thinks that’s good. Only office manager, listening in on our conversation, runs to the lawyers and tells them the case is done. It isn’t done. She doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about, no one was talking to her and she should learn to mind her business.
The lawyers say, “Great, let’s get that wrapped up in 3 months!” Um, no. That’s not possible. We haven’t even sent out first letters yet and claimants have 20 days to respond to the letters, the information from the responses has to be processed and then we have to send out final letters which last 10 days. This does not take into account that the electronic claims haven’t even been uploaded.
Project#2-- process the electronic claims quick, fast and in a hurry.
Another co-worker (we’ll all her Fiona) cannot tell a short sale from short pants nor an option from lotion. Her case involves both. Fiona is having a problem. The head claim adjuster’s fix for this problem? Biggirl, of course.
Project#3-- Do Fiona’s short sale and option claims.
Project manager comes up with a bright idea to hasten the case in Project#2. There are only 33 bad claims. Why don’t I call them all and ask for the missing info!
Oh, I don’t THINK so! I’m not going to do it. It is a waste of time. I have enough to do and I’m not spending two days calling people who don’t want to talk to me about things they barely know about when, legally, we HAVE to send them the letter any way. I told Project manager exactly that. Don’t know why he was so surprised. It’s not like I’m the quiet, unassuming type.
“Are you telling me ‘no’?” he asked.
“Yeup. Nope. Not now. Or maybe now if you find somebody else to re-work idiot’s claims and do these here options. I know— why don’t YOU do any one of these projects?” Project manager answer THAT with a nervous laugh.
Man, did he make me angry. I’m still fuming. Which is why I’m now wasting valuable project time posting here. I’d also like to know what the two idiots who can’t do their own work are doing while I’m doing their work. Maybe they could be making useless and unnecessary phone calls.
Of course now I’m not a ‘team player’. Yeah, well fuck your team. It sucks.
My boss’s favorite trick: loan me out for some stats collecting project that she says/is told ‘this will take a couple of hours’. Two weeks later I’m presenting the clueless parties with an itemization of the 60 hours spent on this ‘little project’ thus far and requesting ‘leadership’ on how I might manage to do my own fucking job at some point this month.
and I have no idea what is in store other than about 14 accounts I pulled out on a fast brutal triage to see what was the most imprtant place to start.