Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Fear and Loathing, In Massachusetts.

Hello.

First off, before boring you further, I'd like to send warm wishes out to friends and family who are still without power in the aftermath of the Nor'Easter we had right before Halloween. Some tough weather we've had since June 1st this year:

Tornado!
Hail Storms!
Earthquake!
Weak-ass Hurricane, but still a hurricane!
Nor'Easter that wiped out power in half of Massachusetts!
Damn!!

I've also found some other tough shit to deal with in our shifty lil' state. Also, I'm rather fond of swearing and will do it often in this post, but first, a tidbit of information from 2004.


In 2004, my sweet ass was fired from a job I had held for 6 years. Yes it was bullshit of course, and had to do with a petty little newbie-manager who would cut the nose to spite the face. Anyway, I ended up receiving some unemployment benefits for a short spell in 2004.

Then the beady-eyed manager went to an unemployment hearing I didn't know about.

Then he fought the claim.

Then the state said I had to repay the benefits they gave me.

Okaaaay...that's also bullshit --but still very real-- now let's get back to the current times.


So, in August I got fired from a shitty job I held for 3 & 1/2 years by a petty manager who would cut the nose to spite the face. Wait. Either I am a shitty employee (nope!) or I just don't respond well for extended periods of time to petty-thinking, negative, micromanaging managers?

Naturally, I go file an unemployment claim and It all seems to go normally at first. No mention of any over-payment. No "red flags" come up at the filing or for three weeks of weekly claims. Good thing too, because the unemployment benefits would be my only income for a while.

Then a few weeks go by with no payment, as they said to expect.

Then another week...

Then the fun starts.

I call the unemployment department and sit on hold for approximately one hour. A man gets on the phone, sounds like he is half asleep, and I ask him about an automated message I heard when I filed my weekly claim. The message said "Your weekly benefit amount is being applied to an existing over-payment..." Fuck. The man from the state says not to worry, "the only reason you are getting that message sir is because someone is reviewing your account right now, sir. Someone will call you by the end of this week or next week to review your claim." He assured me that this was why I heard that message and the ONLY reason I had heard the message. After some basic qualifying of his answer, I reluctantly trust him. Why shouldn't I? He is a state employee after all.

No one from the state calls by the end of the week.

No one from the state calls the next week.

I called back at the end of this week, waited on hold for approximately 47 minutes and 17 seconds, and after getting bounced between departments for awhile I was introduced to the "Over-payment Department".

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy such as the Over-Payment Department.

A woman answered the line and slurred the words ..."over-payment...". I could barely hear her so I say, "hello"? She utters the words "over-payment" again. I could tell I had woken her up and in efforts to break the silence that followed her phone introduction, I ask if she would like my social security number so she can at least see who she is talking with? She says, "oh, yeah". I'm not making this up folks. After pulling up my account she informs me that my entire benefit is being applied to the 2004 over-payment! What the fuck??? That story is a BIT different from the story I heard a week and a half ago! I explain to her that I really will need my full benefit amount. We haggle. She tells me of a waiver form that I can send in which will take 2-3 months to process, of course. At the conclusion of the process it will either find me "not liable" or "liable" for the 2004 over-payment. I haggle onward and get "awarded" with the information that I can receive half of my benefit amount. That sucks but it's still better than zero. I ask if there is ANY option to get the full benefit. She repeatedly says "no". I resign to my fate and hang up. I assume she falls back to sleep.

A few weeks pass and the job market remains tough. No respectable job is found. I decide to review the over-payment paperwork they sent to me. I also review the waiver form again. The over-payment paperwork has a code of "NR" on it which translates to "Not Responsible". I research further and it hints at me not being liable for the over-payment in the first place. I read the explanations that accompany the waiver form. In a round-about way, it basically tells me that I am not liable. What. The. Fuck?? So why am I getting stuck with it??? I call the over-payment department. A man answers, half asleep, and greets me with "...over-payment, what's your question." I ask if he would like my social security number so he can know who he is talking with? He says, "oh, yeah." Readers, this literally happened again. I try to explain my situation but he repeatedly and aggressively asks what my question is, uninterested in anything but retorting to my question. I abandon my attempt to give him background information as to why I'm calling and ask if there is ANY way to receive my full benefit amount while I search for a new job. He deflects my question twice with dance-around "no" answers. I say to him that I have been directly lied to previously by a few people within the unemployment departments and that I really need an answer to whether there is ANY recourse for me to receive the full benefit amount.

He explains that when they receive the waiver form, it goes into "process" and at that point I would receive my full benefit amount until a decision is reached. What??? That is exactly opposite from what the sleepy woman in the department told me last time!!!

I send in the form that I once viewed as futile. I file my weekly claim to find that I'm getting the full benefit amount now but I am furious and awestruck that: 1) The state where I live, pay taxes, fees and etc won't support me when I find myself unemployed by no fault of my own? 2) That they would "mislead" me when I ask for accurate information pertaining to my options for this?? --Repeatedly?!? 3) If not for my research and my repeated phone calls --resulting in different answers each time, I would have continued to sacrifice benefit money that it seems I may not even have to be paying???

My mind was blown.

But things got even sillier when I applied for insurance through the state. I sat with an informative employee (who works for a non-profit) who's job it is to guide citizens through the labyrinth of the Massachusetts insurance "system". She repeatedly joked how confusing it is. She asked if I pay child support? I told her I do. She then explained that the state does not consider this to be a debit. What??? It debits from my checking account each month!!! We continue...I am still trying to understand this part. Eventually she explains that, because of my current income, I will still have a formidable deductible to pay off on my new insurance when I need to use it. Like for very expensive prescriptions to control asthma, for example. Funny, the child support that the state does NOT consider a debit but DOES consider a credit for those receiving it, put me over the "line" and caused the formidable deductible. While completing the application, the cheerful and informative employee and I jokingly go back and forth with the "logic" to this. She finally says to me, "It's not fair."

"It's not fair." That's the best and most honest answer I've heard as to why things like this exist in Massachusetts.

And no, it isn't fair I guess. Anyway, I appreciate you sacrificing five minutes of your day to read this ranting drivel about my incredibly exciting life. The good news through all this is that I went from furious and awestruck, to genuinely impressed with the state of Massachusetts. They have confusion and double standards down to a science and they have even hired the right employees to pull the whole thing off! Kudos!! I mean, what other business can can you call and get a different answer each time??? What other business would honor a credit but not the corresponding debit??? You're right my dear reader, not many places of business would be able to pull this off consistently like the state of Mass can!! I do appreciate the public services we enjoy in the "Commonwealth", but then I remember that I/We are paying for this with our taxes and fees and etc's so it provides little comfort.

Cheers! And no, I'm not moving out of the state. I am a glutton for punishment.


~ZFJ

3 comments:

Zero Fun John said...

I only wish you loved me enough to run a full marathon. Thank you kindly by the way...got me to thinking, should I get a new banner for The Bastion Of Despair?

MikeMcGarry12 said...

A full marathon would kill me dead. Hell, so would a half, who am I kidding? And no John...don't get rid of the banner. But on non-gamedays, store it in your oven.

Zero Fun John said...

Bah doom bah!