posted
So, Steve started doing a savings plan through his work similar to a 401k. We'd talked about it and it was cool with me. He filled out the paperwork a while back, it was supposed to be $50/paycheck.
Well someone down in Springfield (all requests like this for IL state employees have to go through Springfield) typed in an extra zero, that is nowhere to be found on the original paperwork. So instead of deducting $50, all of a sudden there was $500 missing! And on the first runaround they gave him when he inquired, they said, that it would take 2 paychecks to fix the mistake. Well he raised a ruckus at that and climbed up the ladder of authority. This morning they told him they will actually add an extra $450 back to his next paycheck and it will be the Next paycheck not two down the road.
It was an interesting feeling though to realize that money you were counting on vanished. I mean yes, we have savings and we will be fine, but still, the thought that we might not have enough money in the account to pay the house payment was a bit of a shock.
On another subject, as of last night we have a new addition to our household, a year and a half old, one-eyed Doberman Pinscher named Lazarus. He is owned by the handler that is showing Jake, and I'm going to be training him in obedience for her. He's reasonably well mannered and housebroken and he knows his name, but that's about it. It is going to be an interesting challenge, especially because he only has one eye. He caught an infection as a puppy that destroyed one of his optic nerves. The reason why his name is Lazarus is because they revived him when they thought he was dead, so many times! Right now I'm still letting him get comfortable in his new surroundings, but basic obedience is going to be starting soon!
I'm sure glad they are going to be able to fix this by next payday -- does he get paid twice a month or monthly? Still it seems like a long time to wait.
If something like that happened to me and my paycheck, it would totally mess me up because I have almost all my bills paid by automatic withdrawal from account. So if my paycheck wasn't the full amount and all those bills tried to draw on it -- I would be one ANGRY person!
posted
I tend to not do straight automatic withdrawal, but actually manually go in and authorize things online each month. Though I had several bills scheduled to withdraw from that account on the day he got paid. And even though I checked the account online yesterday, I didn't know he had actually been shorted, because I assumed the bills that I had scheduled had already gone through.
I guess if it had to be any paycheck that it happened, this was as good a time as it could be. We'd built in a bit of leeway at the end of this month and were planning on making a large credit card payment. So now we will only pay the minimum payment to get by until the next corrected paycheck comes through.
posted
That would drive me crazy! Our bank would likely be the one to make that sort of mistake, bunch of morons. Good luck with the new dog! My mom had an ornery one eyed poodle when I was a kid. She had been stung by a hornet in the eye, though. Guess that would make you a bit grumpy...
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
No, Lazarus is very sweet, if untrained and currently confused since he's at a new unfamiliar place. I was planning on waiting a couple of days to let him settle in before actually starting a training routine, but I think the first session will be tonight, just because having an untrained dog will drive us all crazy. He picks up things very fast. He's still a little unsure of himself in the computer and a couple of other rooms I think because there are so many obstacles and he only has the one eye to use.
posted
Don't worry - having one good eye didn't make the poodle mean, she was born that way. It just made her have a hair trigger.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
It kills me that they said it would take 2 paychecks to get corrected. Did it not occur to them that shorting you $450/paycheck for 3 checks might screw up your finances? This is one of those things where you shouldn't have to raise a fuss to get things done.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
It's the State of Illinios, bureaucracy at it's finest.
This is where they sit around waiting for people to die because even though an interstate desperately needs expanding, the people whose houses they'd have to public domain in order to put it through, have too many political connections so it's easier to wait for them to die, or a political upheaval to happen.
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Yup, I thought you knew. He works for IDOT. Why do you think I comment on sexy civil engineers all the time?
I think his district is the third largest in the country behind the Cal-Trans district that does Los Angeles, and the one for New York City. As a result they get to play with new kinds of concrete and new techniques pretty frequently. They do three 1-year rotations before they pick where they want to be assigned permanently. He started out in Materials, going to the plants and jobsites to check concrete and asphalt specs, then he went to Design, but was bored out of his mind because it was a slow funding year. Now he's in Local Roads (also known as Turfs and Greens for the perks) and dealing with city bureaucrats that want to cut corners to save money but they can't if the state is adminstrating the Federal funding.
He wants to end up back in Materials, though they are feeling a pinch for engineers in Construction. Both Materials and Construction have virtually unlimited overtime during the summer. Construction is more brutal though, and vacations are strongly discouraged from March through October because of the workload.
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Stupid DOT workers actually getting paid for their overtime.
I'm concerned for his engineeringness based on my experiences with FDOT. The engineers here have devolved into report checkers and rarely engineer anything themselves. Very little is done in-house by the FDOT anymore.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Lol, considering the horror stories he tells about the contractor's engineers I suspect the feeling is mutual. It really depends on what department they are in as to how much of what type of engineering they do.
In local roads he does do a lot of proofing of submitted plans. The egregious errors he's told me about make me think an engineer is necessary even if it is tedious work, to keep everyone else honest. For example, among other things, he's seen plans where they managed to lose an entire interstate and route a bike path across an off ramp of said interstate. Since, of course they didn't acknowledge the interstate existed, he only found out about the off ramp difficulty when he went out to actually inspect the site. (And yes, a P.E. had signed off on the plans!)
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It just made her have a hair trigger.
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