At one point, I couldn’t find a job in my field so I figured I’d do something else as a stopgap. One of the positions I stumbled across was a vaguely worded want ad, but I gave it a try.
It turned out to be for selling insurance. The “application” asked for me to list 20 people I knew who might need insurance. Phone numbers, addresses, the whole bit. Yeah, like I’m going to sell them out. “I don’t remember the numbers, addresses, etc.” Thankfully cell phones weren’t a thing yet.
These kinds of one-size-fits-all, allow us to treat you like a number, let us make your life difficulty with irrelevancies…geez! My nephew works for a big supermarket company and he couldn’t transfer without physically going to the store he wanted to transfer to and jumping through the same hoops again.
Maybe this pandemic will let workers tell some employers how far to stick those applications. Fingers crossed!
I somewhat understand this one. Like I only see my dentist twice a year, because I have good teeth that normally only need cleaning. But if I had some change in my overall health (and this applies to md’s, too) since the last time I was in, I can see answering some questions. It’s usually only one page though. I’ve never had to fill out more.
We fill out a one-pager at the vet every time we go (and we go a lot), but our dog can’t answer any questions, so I can see that being necessary – especially in the lockdown days when we waited in the car.
Not a physical form, but when I have a doctor appointment I am requested to fill out an online form prior to coming in. What’s annoying is that the form is pre-filled from my existing medical record, so all I’m doing is checking a box confirming that “the above information is correct”, then going to the next page, rinse and repeat. (no, my insurance info hasn’t changed in the past month, yes, I’m still taking the same medications, yes, I still have the same medical conditions, yes, I still have the same allergies, no, I still don’t smoke or drink, etc etc etc).
I don’t mind the form when it’s a doctor I see once a year or less , but I do get kind of annoyed when I was just there a couple of weeks ago - if my address/phone/insurance has changed in the last two weeks, I’ll remember to tell them. There seems be something that pops up telling them I haven’t filled out a form in the last X months. And it doesn’t even ask about medical conditions or prescriptions - I get asked about that in the exam room.
My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
Sing the whole song and then curse them for depriving you of your child.
You probably couldn’t tell by looking at him now but your daddy used to be a real charmer. And that night in the ladies’ room of the Rustler Steak House, he chose me.
“People don’t want to work for a living any more.” is the mindset I’ve heard. We discussed my different point of view but I doubt it sank into my acquaintance’s brain.
Mine doesn’t ask about contact information, but does ask about insurance, drugs and current health. I go every 6 weeks to get my INR checked, but it only takes 15 seconds to fill out, since I just have to say current information is correct.
I can see them doing it to check if something has changed. It is kind of like the drug ads that tell you to be sure to contact your doctor if the drug causes aliens to pop out of your chest. You’d hope it would be automatic, but I assume they have counterexamples.
True, but the lower level managers who have to tell this to their staff probably had no input at all in setting the policies, and no visibility in how they were set.
I worked in tech and never had a problem with HR in hiring since they never even pretended to be able to tell a good candidate from a bad one. But I’ve heard plenty of horror stories.
Oh, and then when I’m at the doctor’s office they read off my list of medications and ask me to verify them again.
The week before last I was at the ER; chest pain, which turned out NOT to be my heart which was verified by several tests. But since it had been two years since I’d seen my cardiologist, they set me up with an appointment for this past Wednesday. Last Monday I had a previously scheduled visit with my Hematologist, where we went over my recent tests and medications. Then did exactly the same this with the cardiologist on Wednesday. This Wednesday I’m seeing my Primary, where we will once again review all my medications. Trust me, docs, if I suddenly decide to stop taking any of my meds I’ll let you know.
I’d be fine if that’s what it was - but it’s two sheets of paper that I actually have to fill out because they want the whole form with today’s date. Which means I have to start pulling things out to get my health insurance membership number and the company’s phone number and the pharmacy’s address and phone number.
You know, my healthcare network has terrible administration, but they just ask me if my health insurance has changed since the last time i was there. And i say “no”, and they hand me a form that asks “does anything hurt today” and other relevant questions.
I guess it could be worse.
(The sucky part is that they have 22 different patient portals, depending on which doctor i go to. If i get a mammogram ordered by my primary care doctor, the results will be in one portal. If i get a mammogram in the same room, but it was ordered by my gynecologist, the results will be in another portal. Their billing is also confusing.)
Plenty of prior simply live their social lives online now. This isn’t even oversharing their personal lives. There is a larger movement to publicly shame employers for their shitty, demeaning, and miserly hiring practices. I’m all for it.
My husband works in IT and is on the leadership team at a midsized private company. He was part of a panel that recently interviewed a number of folks for an open position on his team. They are entirely remote. They had a few candidates for a first and second round, and had one make it to a third final round before an offer. “John” accepted the offer and started last week!
Except … it’s not the John my husband remembers. My husband was confused and said the following things were odd:
– John has different hair and now wears glasses.
– John is talking extensively about working in a garage because his three children and wife are home. In the interview, he made references to being single and was visibly in an indoor desk area.
– John can’t answer a number of questions that they previously discussed in the interview, things pretty pivotal to the position.
– Husband describes John as being aloof and pretty timid whereas John was confident and articulate when they interviewed him.
He is convinced this is not the person they hired. I agreed that all those things taken together make this very odd but each one could have a valid explanation. I told him the most likely explanation is the hiring committee simply mixed up the candidates (or HR did) and the wrong John was offered and accepted. He agreed but said since only one candidate made it to the third round, that is really unlikely (other candidates had already been sent rejections before the third round even occurred). He’s confident they couldn’t have been mixed up.
Amazing situation, although the line “(other candidates had already been sent rejections before the third round even occurred)” leaves me feeling like the whole story might be bogus.
What company ever gets around to sending rejection letters, much less in the middle of the hiring process?
