{"id":909,"date":"2010-10-05T20:20:30","date_gmt":"2010-10-06T01:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/2010\/10\/finding-answers\/"},"modified":"2010-10-05T20:20:30","modified_gmt":"2010-10-06T01:20:30","slug":"finding-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/2010\/10\/finding-answers\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Answers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday, 03 October 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n

You know what I like about the Twin Cities\u2019 Marathon? Well, nothing actually. But you know what I don\u2019t like? The fact that it bisects the city in half.<\/p>\n

I commented about this on Facebook last year \u2013 when I went to work to get some overtime that Sunday, only to find I couldn\u2019t get home (I waited in a parking lot).<\/p>\n

Today, I somehow forgot about this vivisection of the city, and we tried to drive to Target which, unfortunately, means we have to cross Summit Avenue.<\/p>\n

But Summit was closed.<\/p>\n

My wife smartly thought up taking Ayd Mill Road, certainly one of the strangest roads I\u2019ve ever driven on, but at least it goes under Summit instead of through it. The problem was, everybody else had the same idea. In time, though, we made it to Target.<\/p>\n

Man, it\u2019s too bad there\u2019s not any parks \u2013 including an enormous regional park that stretches into Fort Snelling State Park and then up into Minneapolis \u2013 that the marathon could traverse. It\u2019s so much better that they totally disrupt traffic over a several mile stretch for hours. Makes perfect sense.<\/p>\n

Monday, 04 October 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today I paid a visit to that time-sucker known as \u201cThe Department of Motor Vehicles.\u201d If you ever have the displeasure of visiting the Maple Grove location, let me key you in on a few things: first, it\u2019s set up like an airport terminal \u2013 you check in with someone at the front desk, who then prints out a number and tells you to have a seat. The seats are arranged theater style, so you can watch a muted TV screen that plays snippets of movies. I was privy to a fun flip-flopping between good vs. shitty films (Casablanca, then Goblet of Fire, then The Incredibles). Anyway, I usually like to see what number I have, and then gauge my wait based on what number they\u2019re on (\u201cHmm\u2026I\u2019m number 83, and they\u2019re on 71 right now\u2026and there are 5 employees, so\u2026\u201d). But Maple Grove\u2019s location rips this pleasure from me: I was number B128, but then they called D260. Then D261. Then A233. Then C119. I couldn\u2019t detect a pattern.<\/p>\n

Anyway, when my \u2018number\u2019 was finally called, I went up and told the guy I needed to renew my tabs. He started typing away and then pulled out new license plates.<\/p>\n

As an aside: I also dislike new license plates. They\u2019re a waste; the ones I have are just fine. Also, I was once detained by a cop for a half hour (on the way to a meeting as other congregation members passed me) because my new plates weren\u2019t up (it\u2019s a long story \u2013 ask me in person).<\/p>\n

So I asked the DMV employee: \u201cWhat determines if someone gets new plates, and not just the tabs?\u201d<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe computer tells me.\u201d<\/p>\n

I just kind of stared at the plates, not replying in any way. Detecting that I wasn\u2019t happy with his answer, he added: \u201cWell, it\u2019s kind of like a 10\/10 thing, you know? If you\u2019re vehicle\u2019s year plus age adds up to ten, then you get new plates.\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded politely, but I\u2019m fully flummoxed by this. Who wouldn\u2019t add up to ten? Think about it: If your car is one year old, then that means it was made in \u201909. So 1+9=10. Similarly, if your car is eight years old, then it was made in \u201902. And 8+2=10. In my case, it\u2019s 7+3=10. Who doesn\u2019t add up to ten? I\u2019m confused.<\/p>\n

Tuesday, 05 October 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today there was a \u201cbenefits fair\u201d at my job, which means that representatives from our various benefit providers were on hand to answer questions and pass out swag. Delta Dental was there, Blue Cross was there, LifeWorks was there; the whole gang!<\/p>\n

When I came up to the Unum table, I decided to ask the woman: \u201cSo how come, a few weeks ago when my daughter was born, I had to go through you guys to get my time off?\u201d<\/p>\n

I should probably explain that I had to call Unum last spring and tell them of Isla\u2019s impending birth. They sent me five sheets of paper over the course of the next two months that all said the same thing: I was approved. Then, while I was on leave, I didn\u2019t get my full pay when my paycheck arrived. I called Unum, but they said the problem was my company\u2019s HR department. I called my HR department and (spoiler alert!) they said the problem was Unum. Long story short, all three paychecks I received while on leave were incorrect, and no one took any responsibility for it.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the woman answered: \u201cWell we handle all the paperwork for your company.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat paperwork?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s very confusing, and so your company outsources it to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I said, \u201cbut when I take vacation time, I just tell my supervisor I\u2019m taking time off, and he adds in my vacation time. So why couldn\u2019t I just call my supervisor when my daughter was born and tell him I was gonna be taking some time off. As it is, using a third-party just created a bureaucracy that was beyond the abilities of anyone in our HR department.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d she agreed, \u201cit\u2019s complicated. They get it wrong a lot. But you know, it\u2019s for longer leaves than vacations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know about that,\u201d I said, \u201cBecause I could take a four-week vacation and I don\u2019t need to involve you, but if I take even just one week off for the birth of a child, I have to contact you. What\u2019s the difference?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d she said, \u201cIt\u2019s complicated.\u201d And then I began talking again, but what I said doesn\u2019t matter, because the woman jumped at the opportunity to say hello and dish out paperwork to the lady that walked up to the table.<\/p>\n

So much for finding answers.<\/p>\n

Complicated indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday, 03 October 2010 You know what I like about the Twin Cities\u2019 Marathon? Well, nothing actually. But you know what I don\u2019t like? The fact that it bisects the city in half. I commented about this on Facebook last year \u2013 when I went to work to get some overtime that Sunday, only to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}