"Hell has a third page!"

(Mike): Why was I mad as Hell? Because we could not tell our new landlord when we could move into the apartment. Because we could not tell our current landlord when we would be moving out of our home. Because we could not tell the real estate agent when to examine the Alexandria property, due to the turmoil running through most of the house. Because we could not determine when to fly to Albuquerque to view & take pictures of our (hopefully) new place to live. Because we could not tell the moving company when we wanted to rent a vehicle. Because we could not tell any of the current utilities when to stop billing us; or the new utility companies, when to stop billing us; or the new utility companies, when to begin.

That is why I was mad as Hell!

This has been a psychological nightmare! The darkness of the work area, the silence in the corridors, the absence of people, nobody in the lunch rooms, no one getting paged, everyone waiting until their name is called. It is, as I've said before, an experience that no one should endure. I know how to 'psych out' people and play clever mind games, but never to jeopardize a person's occupation! That was hell, pure Hell!

"5/11/01: 6 employees are axed! Another 3 who were on the chopping block continued in agony for another 2 weeks! 3 more were dismissed on 6/8/01 and another 3 on 6/15/01!"

What did I think of this entire mess?

In a nutshell, our organization (which had ranked very high in overall customer satisfaction for the last 3 years!) could no longer process their own claims. We no longer knew where or if a claim had been forwarded to one of our numerous vendors for 2001, nor could we get a definite answer from the people who were supposed to process these transactions. And finally...no one would return our calls, not that same day, not that same week; never, if possible. Priority E-mail didn't work, either!

And we were helpless to do anything about it! But in the shadows is OPM.

To escape from the third page of hell, click on the lightning bolt, or follow instructions below!

During the weekend of Friday, April 13, 2001 (how timely!), Brad's boss was given the axe via Certified Mail. It simply stated she was no longer employed. She had been out on Sick Leave.
4/23/2001: I spoke with my boss regarding the need to terminate employment in June, 2001, due to my housing situation.

4/30/2001: conversation with my boss (his last work day was Friday, 5/4/2001). Note: I was finding it difficult to decide what name to enter as my "reporting supervisor" on application forms. He advised me that I would be "RIF"ed as of Friday, 6/01/01. Therefore, I would receive severance pay. I was told not to tell anybody about my leaving. However, he mentioned it at a directors' meeting.

For a day or so I could not get a definite answer from the remaining person in charge regarding my leave date or my severence pay. At the end of 5/14/01, after numerous E-mails, phone calls & visits, it was determined that my co-worker would be staying; therefore, I could be released.

Finally, on 5/24/2001, Mike received the paperwork to terminate his employment as of 6/1/2001, and receive severance pay. That same day Brad & Mike were informed that their insurance premiums (plus everyone in their company) had been miscalculated. The premiums increased; in some instances, doubling the original amount. Coverage which had been offered as "free" now cost $25 per pay period. Which meant COBRA would cost more. A meeting on 5/25/2001 provided nothing by additional frustration.

Note: An employee, Philippe, asked to speak to the president before he was axed. On 5/14/01, the Monday after Philippe was let go, we received an E-mail from Philippe. As you can guess, the president never had a meeting with him. And we will never learn why this meeting did not take place. However, on 5/16/01, Mike was informed that the president was unaware of the staffing conditions in Mike's department (all the company's programmers had quit by early April; someone had to be found to replace them).

In late May, a letter was sent to our enrollees explaining how this company is trying to correct the existing problems. It is a series of percentages and facts, with no substance or explanations. Included is a time line for these improvements. To date, nothing has changed.

When asked "How are you?", Mike W.'s usual reply was "As good as can be expected under existing conditions!".

There is humor in all this mess...

1. A person applied & was hired as the manager of the "reorganized" area. This comes complete with a 90-day trial period for the employee. Every day more responsibility was added. Every day she discovered that there were no answers for any questions. Every day the number of complaints increased, as well as the number of phone calls, letters & E-mail. In April, she learned that 2 more people would be hired to answer the phones, and that "other duties as necessary" became "there is another area that you have to manage". More "areas" would be added in the future. The director moved into a larger office; the area where this manager sat got smaller. It had to, to accommodate the additional employees. Previously this space had held six people; now, it would have to fit twelve. On the last day of her trial period, the manager turned in her notice to resign from the position. Her director stated that the resignation would leave said director "in a bind". (?) The "ex"-manager would train the replacement (and someone was found who was willing enough to apply for the position; the ex-manager's husband!). When this training was complete, the original manager would be demoted and return to her original area, Claims; her husband would have a higher salary maximum (due to responsibilities added to the job description). The husband would be going for surgery in June. The day the "training" ended; said manager was told that her last day was the Friday following. (Surprise! Surprise!) Now this person works for the person who bailed out PBP!

2. One of the poeple leaving was given a farewell party by the postmasters at one of their conventions, called "Forum". This same person was given another farewell party by the organization itself. Two parties for one of the two people who was responsible for the company's "disorganization"! Ripley's should be contacted...believe it or not!

3. Most employees chose to be unemployed, than work for the remaining director. This was true for the technical area; the clerical position was easy to fill. Another ex-employee was hired. Five additional people, "temps", will handle call backs. These people were from companies who had been provided money (and downsized) by the same person who gave capital to PBP. Two became permanently employed. The usual company hiring procedures sped out the window! Currently an ally of Mr. Ernst is in charge of Member Services, and is doing a bad job. So bad, that his communication techniques have been brought to the attention of OPM!

Additional laughter (somewhat). Phyllis, Adoline & Valerie work for Tom Ernst. Adoline also works for ULLICO or Zenith; the same is true for Valerie, she is now a Claims Supervisor. Roman & Sintim were dismissed as of August 24, 2001. Kim went for surgery the first week in September. Tom has taken over the entire Claims Auditing bay. It is now furnished in trees, waterfalls & decent furniture. But the roof leaks above Helen McPhilomy. And the testing started for the new League PC system. Hari Persaud & Helen remain. As previously mentioned, Bonita left due to money allocated for 2 operators only until the end of August. However, PBP is paying John twice the amount that Yana or Bette would have earned! The end of IS is tentatively slated for October; if for no other reason than that they are only budgetted until that month. However, by that time, they have to update League copybooks, batch reports & on-line programs to handle the increase in NLP dues (because of the financial monetary loss suffered by PBP). And, the claims history has to be migrated to Zenith's system. The last item is not an easy task at all. And, it should have been addressed months ago. But this place has no plan, timetable or guidelines, so what do you expect? The staff is also being told to expect at least 5,000 new enrollees due to the reduction in premiums. It hasn't happened in previous years, so why will it happen now? The 2002 premiums are lower than 2001, but not lower than Blue Cross, our biggest competition.

As of the third week in October, 2001 Brenda Tanner appears to have lost the battle of control. Between personal & business issues, she was forced to join forces with Tom Ernst. The future should be exciting & unpredictable (in other words, just like before this event).