Wishful Thankful Furious Forgetful Friday

[mdlbear]

It's Forgetful Friday, because I forgot Wishful Wednesday and Thankful Thursday. We'll get to the Furious part later. Before I forget again...

... I could really use a job in the Seattle area, that uses my skills, pays well, and will pay for relocation. Or half a million dollars. I can't afford to be picky, though I'd greatly prefer the latter. (And if wishes were horses, we'd all be up to our necks in manure by now.) (And no, I don't want my Mom to die and leave me the money; I love my Mom, and you can take that damned monkey's paw and shove it up...) But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I'm thankful for...

• My friends
• Colleen
• An occasional sense of adventure (though mostly I'm of Bilbo's opinion on the subject)
• The difference in rent between San Jose and Seattle
• Being almost far enough out of middle age to retire
• Good benefits

I would grateful to the company that manages those benefits, but that's where the Furious part comes in. (I told you we'd get to it.) Both my 401K and my defined-benefit pension plan are managed by the same company, AON Hewitt. The part of Hewitt that manages the 401K also manages my other benefits; and apart from having one of the crappiest websites in the known universe I can usually get things done there. (Part of the fury is about their recent redesign, which leaves me with no obvious way to find out what documentation they want for the stupid FSA. Another part is spending 10 minutes on the phone going through menus and listening to idiotic messages telling me that I could use the web, and by the way did I want to stay logged in?, only to get to the part where they tell me they closed for the weekend half an hour ago.)

That bit came after finding out that the other part of the company, the one that manages my pension, has my social security number wrong. Now they want me to mail them a copy of my card. Which I haven't seen for two decades. So I'll have to apply for a new one. For which I'll need either a birth certificate (which might be in the stuff I got from Mom a dozen years ago), or a passport (which expired a year ago and might be lost somewhere on my desk waiting for me to renew it).

Furious doesn't BEGIN to cover it.

This all happened between 2pm and 2:30; I am still not really back to normal, eight hours and a glass of gin later. Oh, and add an hour or two of something that felt a lot like depression, between 4 and 6. Probably was depression, considering. Ya think?

Comments

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Oh, Cheezes Kay Reist, bureaucrap is the WORST invention of civilization.

[danceswithlife]

A couple of ideas:

Generally your employer needs a copy of your SS card to employ you*--so maybe see if your present HR department has it on file, and if so, make a copy of it. BUT...since your pension is probably linked to your job, can your benefits dept just straighten the pension people out?

*Which means you should probably request a new copy anyway since your new job will want it as well. They will need to see the original if my employment experience is any indication. Which sort of re-creates the problem from a different need. :-(

[fractalwolf.livejournal.com]

*sympathy* Aon was the worst company I ever worked for -- so bad that I quit after 6 months, with no other job prospects in sight. I wish I could say that I'm surprised the terribleness extends to their customers, but... at least when you get a new job, you'll hopefully have a different benefits company?

On a different note, are you interested in odd jobs? As in "I need this done, it should only take a day or so, can you do it?" types. If so, you can email me at this username at yahoo.com.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Oh that sucks. I hate that kind of snafu too.

I'm sure it will be possible to sort it out. Just a PITA you didn't need, is all, but these things pass.

It ain't paranoia if they really are out to get you

[capplor.livejournal.com]

Similarly, I don't think it's depression if you've got a good solid reason to be bummed out. (Unless it started before and doesn't end after, of course) Heck I'm bummed out for you.

[jcfiala.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear all that - having to deal with bureaucracy drives me up the wall as well.

[mdlbear]

I'm hoping the HR department can get it fixed. I used my passport, 19 years ago, because I couldn't locate my SS card. As I said, decades.

Re: It ain't paranoia if they really are out to get you

[mdlbear]

I think it probably qualifies as situational depression or something. Definitely not clinical or chronic, both of which I'm all too familiar with (and being treated for).

[roaringmouse.livejournal.com]

Steve,

Your tax page has your SSN. If it is wrong on your 401K, then it was wrong for your W-2 which is probably not. So call your HR and ask them to fix their mistake since they were the one to give the pension part the wrong SSN.

2nd... If you were born in CT, go to http://www.ct.gov/dph/cwp/view.asp?a=3132&q=390652. Which is the state website...

3.. Breathe, it will get fixed. I know what you are going through. I am stressing out and fixating on things that are stressing me out. I think it is the fact that I can't tolerant stupidity because of my weight loss and the food comfort thingy. I have started to think out loud telling myself to stop doing this stress thing because I am adding to the stress. It is like vicious circle.

[mdlbear]

It's right on my 401k, W2, etc. -- that's the weird thing. It's just the pension that's wrong. Why the pension and 401K are on different servers, managed by different parts of the company that won't talk to one another, is unknown.

[mdlbear]

And I'm definitely going to request a new one, ASAP.

Re: It ain't paranoia if they really are out to get you

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if the symptoms fit, it's depression, regardless of what the cause or duration are.

[roaringmouse.livejournal.com]

TD Bank did this with my father's and mother's Money market accounts. One side does money market funds and the other side does stocks and bonds. In addition, TD bank has switch everything in to National Financial for the money market stuff and TD Ameritrade for the stocks/bonds... Too crazy for words. After two years, I am still straighten things out.

[mdlbear]

I was born in NY. But I probably have a copy of my BC around. HR will attempt to get the problem fixed next week, but I'm not going to count on that happening.

[mdlbear]

Sorry to hear it, but not at all surprised.

Possibly interested, but not until mid-April at the earliest; I'll definitely keep it in mind.

[mdlbear]

Thanks. Yeah, it'll pass. I needed to get a new social security card anyway.

[jcbemis.livejournal.com]

weird that you're talking about your SS card - I just ran across mine cleaning stuff

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

You can just go to the Social Security Office, prove who you are with your driver's license and your passport and request a copy of the card. You only need the birth certificate to get a NEW Social Security Number. You have the number, you just need a copy of the card.
The passport is just in case they decide you need to prove you are a US Citizen.
The website with the answers and forms is here http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/251
*hugs*

[mdlbear]

*hugs* Thanks. As it turned out, when I read the instructions carefully, all one needs for a replacement card is proof of identity. Didn't even need the passport, just my driver's license.

Which makes sense -- I already have the number, so they just needed me to prove that they were mailing the card to the right person/address. I just worry a lot.