There is a general check-list of tasks that are required to complete when moving. I swear to God most of those tasks were fucked up by human error almost from the very moment I decided to take a new job with a non-profit, grant funded foundation, Veterans Assistance Foundation (VAF) who is my actual employer. We (VAF) implements several USDVA (US Dept of Veterans Affairs) and WDVA (WI Dept of Veterans Affairs) grants known as the Veterans Housing and Recovery Program.
I started working full time for the VHRP located at the WI Veterans Home in King. It's the 2nd largest veterans home in the country and the oldest veterans home in the US. My paternal grandfather spent the last years of his life at King. It's a beautiful campus full of trees along the banks of the Chain O' Lakes, has historical buildings such as the Commandants House, many cottages where couples who didn't need 24/7 nursing care once lived, and a church that tolls the bells at the start of each hour. There's a three lane bowling alley, fishing docks, and the local water skiing group provides free performances for all of the veterans throughout the summer.
My first day of full time employment as the Clinical Case Manager was Monday June 17, 2019. I didn't apply for this job. The VAF Executive Director found my resume on the Wisconsin Job Site and although King was 15 miles outside of my preferred work location, something in my resume struck her to contact me and schedule an interview. I was offered a full time position in King on my birthday, May 14, 2019.
On Friday, June 21, 2019. the last day of my first week of full time work all of the staff were told that the grant funding all of our services and salaries was ending on Monday, September 30, 2019. The day before, Thursday June 20th, I toured an awesome townhouse in Waupaca that Mark, Apollo, and I would love to live in. I told the realtor that we'd be back on Saturday to complete the applications. Before I left for home in Menasha on Friday, I called her and said why we are no longer interested.
From 06-21-19 until 09-04-19 I commuted from Menasha to King, or from Menasha to Green Bay. VHRP has a location in Bellevue and their Clinical Case Manager had submitted his resignation in mid-June. People from WDVA told the Executive Director of VAF and Site Director in Green Bay to "stand down" and not accept more resumes or interview candidates for their open position. Neither of them knew why until the week before I started at King.
So that wraps up the fucked up-ness of my work for while. There's more to come.
So that wraps up the fucked up-ness of my work for while. There's more to come.
On Saturday 08-10-19 I spoke with "the movers" to confirm a move date of Friday 08-16-19. I called to confirm the date and time on Monday 08-12-19 and was told that "The order was written up but not confirmed for a move on August 16th." The next time they were available to move us was Thursday, 08-22-19. Well that fucked up my work plans and I spent that night in Menasha, sleeping on a twin bed we kept in our second bedroom that I moved into what had been our living room. During the time between 08-22 and 09-04 I was driving from Menasha to King, or from Green Bay to King so it made sense to stay at my parents' house in Appleton on most of those overnighters. God forbid I work consecutive days at one location. If I spent two or three days in King, I'd stay at my parents' house in Appleton. If I spent two or three days in Green Bay, I'd stay at my actual house.
When we moved on 08-22-19, around 2pm there was a screeching sound of car brakes that could shatter glass. It turns out that a female driver in her early to mid-20s and a male passenger about the same age came screaming up Douseman Avenue, drove up between the sidewalk and our yard, sheered off the bark of a tree and plowed into the front of an RV parked in our neighbors yard. The passenger got out of the vehicle without any physical injuries. The female driver was turning a bluish-gray color so I performed sternum rubs while yelling at her to wake up and come around back to us. Thank God there was a nurse there to end the "should we pull her out/should we keep her in the car" debate that raged in the background. The police, fire department and paramedics arrived all within minutes of each other and I stepped away to let them do their thing. The police wanted to talk with everyone who witnessed the erratic driving and the end result of the driver plowing into the RV. I spoke with the Team Leader of the movers and agreed that 2 hours would be deducted from the total hours of our move because really, how often do 3 of the movers have to provide police statements??
During our move over Labor Day Weekend, we asked our neighbors in Menasha to help us pack up whatever was left from the professional movers. They totally agreed. On Saturday 08-31-19 Mark & I drove to Menasha and our neighbors were already at work, including a woman who our female neighbor said "Was a friend of mine who stopped by earlier and we just walked over." By the end of the day, I discovered that one of my prescriptions for ADHD was gone from where I stored my meds. The unknown chick had stolen them. Plus, after checking all of my other meds, she had taken a small handful, maybe 8 capsules, of an old, expired bottle of Gabapentin. Our neighbor provided all of the information she supposedly knew about her, as did I to the Menasha Police Dept. In order to get my shrink to re-order the Adderall before the refill date I had to file a police report which I had NO problem doing. One viewpoint, for those of you that know my experience with recovery, could be to pray/send out positive vibes to the Universe that she finally gets the help she needs. Another viewpoint, and the one I currently subscribe to, is I hope that fucking peroxide bottle-blond fat bitch gets exactly what she deserves and will soon be wearing orange smocks and pants for a long fucking time.
The last week of October it dawned on me that although I had set up our electrical and heating services with FSS, (the acronym has been changed to protect the guilty) on 09-02-19, we hadn't yet received a bill. I called FSS and spoke to a young woman who told me "Yes, I see here that you called on September second to have the account transferred into your name, but for some reason that order was not put through and your bill has been going to [insert our landlord's name here.]" The very next day we received our FSS bill from our landlord which totaled $300.
To be on the safe side I contacted the Water & Sewer Department just to double check that everything was in our name. The young woman I spoke to confirmed that the account was indeed all set up accurately, then told me that, although we had originally selected the "budget plan" which allows customers to pay the same amount each quarter, $156 for us. During the previous quarter the amount of water used was greater than the budgeted dollar amount so going forward our quarterly budgeted dollar amount was now $189.
I had been paying $1890 a month for COBRA coverage for me and Mark. An insane amount, I know but the American health care system truly has "one by the short hairs" if you don't have a plan with a third party payer. When I completed the insurance application for group coverage with VAF, I SO wished I had lied on the paperwork and stated that I was without coverage at the time I completed the application. Because I didn't, my new insurance carrier wouldn't provide us coverage until our current COBRA coverage ended. Well in theory I could carry COBRA for 18 months after my employment with LSS ended, which would be December 2020. In the end I chose to end our COBRA coverage on 10-31-19. I was assured by my Site Director that as of 11-01-19 Mark and I would have insurance coverage through VAF. Well, that didn't happen either. We received our insurance cards on Friday, 11-15-19. During the time from 11-01-19 to 11-15-19 I had an appointment with my shrink (which, God bless this man's heart he waived the fees for) and Mark and I both ran around greater Green Bay to get prescriptions refilled using GoodRx.
So, as a wrap up to the services we used while moving that were fucked up, include:
Cable & internet: Late, order for installation not put through by employee
Moving company: Late, order for move date pushed out because an employee didn't put the order through
Stable employment: Started at King on 06-17-19, was told on 06-21-19 that King program was closing and I'd need to work at both King & Green Bay while program closure happened; eventually began working in Green Bay full time on 09-06-19
Heat & Electricity: Late, contacted FSS on 09-02-19 but order to put bill in correct name was not completed by staff until I called in early October & current bill due is $300
Water/Sewer: budget plan originally set up at $156 per quarter but because last quarter's use was greater than $156, new quarterly budget payment is $189.
Ended COBRA insurance and pharmacy coverage on 10-31-19 but new group insurance and pharmacy plan not available until 10-15-19
Police Report: Friend of neighbor helping us pack in Menasha, stole my stimulant medication and I needed to file police report to get medication refilled before due date, insurance wouldn't cover early refill so used Good Rx and paid $69 when medication cost was $20 with insurance
Car Accident Tues 11-12-19: the weather was horrible here the morning of 11-12-19. It was icy with blowing snow, the roads were covered with black ice. Most of the roadways here are highways or really long on and off ramps. On Tuesday morning around 9:15am I hit a spot of black ice and my poor Buick spun hard to the left, then whipped around to spin even harder to the right and as hard as I cranked on the steering wheel, I knew the back end of my car was going to "kiss" the concrete barrier on Hwy 172, where the speed limit is 70mph and I was going 40mph. And a "kiss" of this intensity costs $2000 to repair so that's going to have to wait for a while.
The last week of October it dawned on me that although I had set up our electrical and heating services with FSS, (the acronym has been changed to protect the guilty) on 09-02-19, we hadn't yet received a bill. I called FSS and spoke to a young woman who told me "Yes, I see here that you called on September second to have the account transferred into your name, but for some reason that order was not put through and your bill has been going to [insert our landlord's name here.]" The very next day we received our FSS bill from our landlord which totaled $300.
To be on the safe side I contacted the Water & Sewer Department just to double check that everything was in our name. The young woman I spoke to confirmed that the account was indeed all set up accurately, then told me that, although we had originally selected the "budget plan" which allows customers to pay the same amount each quarter, $156 for us. During the previous quarter the amount of water used was greater than the budgeted dollar amount so going forward our quarterly budgeted dollar amount was now $189.
I had been paying $1890 a month for COBRA coverage for me and Mark. An insane amount, I know but the American health care system truly has "one by the short hairs" if you don't have a plan with a third party payer. When I completed the insurance application for group coverage with VAF, I SO wished I had lied on the paperwork and stated that I was without coverage at the time I completed the application. Because I didn't, my new insurance carrier wouldn't provide us coverage until our current COBRA coverage ended. Well in theory I could carry COBRA for 18 months after my employment with LSS ended, which would be December 2020. In the end I chose to end our COBRA coverage on 10-31-19. I was assured by my Site Director that as of 11-01-19 Mark and I would have insurance coverage through VAF. Well, that didn't happen either. We received our insurance cards on Friday, 11-15-19. During the time from 11-01-19 to 11-15-19 I had an appointment with my shrink (which, God bless this man's heart he waived the fees for) and Mark and I both ran around greater Green Bay to get prescriptions refilled using GoodRx.
So, as a wrap up to the services we used while moving that were fucked up, include:
Cable & internet: Late, order for installation not put through by employee
Moving company: Late, order for move date pushed out because an employee didn't put the order through
Stable employment: Started at King on 06-17-19, was told on 06-21-19 that King program was closing and I'd need to work at both King & Green Bay while program closure happened; eventually began working in Green Bay full time on 09-06-19
Heat & Electricity: Late, contacted FSS on 09-02-19 but order to put bill in correct name was not completed by staff until I called in early October & current bill due is $300
Water/Sewer: budget plan originally set up at $156 per quarter but because last quarter's use was greater than $156, new quarterly budget payment is $189.
Ended COBRA insurance and pharmacy coverage on 10-31-19 but new group insurance and pharmacy plan not available until 10-15-19
Police Report: Friend of neighbor helping us pack in Menasha, stole my stimulant medication and I needed to file police report to get medication refilled before due date, insurance wouldn't cover early refill so used Good Rx and paid $69 when medication cost was $20 with insurance
Car Accident Tues 11-12-19: the weather was horrible here the morning of 11-12-19. It was icy with blowing snow, the roads were covered with black ice. Most of the roadways here are highways or really long on and off ramps. On Tuesday morning around 9:15am I hit a spot of black ice and my poor Buick spun hard to the left, then whipped around to spin even harder to the right and as hard as I cranked on the steering wheel, I knew the back end of my car was going to "kiss" the concrete barrier on Hwy 172, where the speed limit is 70mph and I was going 40mph. And a "kiss" of this intensity costs $2000 to repair so that's going to have to wait for a while.
