dilemma day

The day started off well enough, but after the first hour in the office, the proverbial shit began to hit-eth the fan. The whole point of an internship is to adapt and learn from the environment you are placed in, and use that knowledge gained to flourish in future career placements. So, since the beginning of this internship I have followed every example my boss has set, which for the most part has proven to be a great learning experience. However, despite my better instincts, I took my boss' lead on how to work with PAC documents. All PAC accounts require 2 document submittals, a copy of a voided check and a payment info form. We mail the payment form out to customers and request they send it back with a void check. At least 75% of the time customers only send back that payment form, with no voided check. This doesn't seem like a big deal. But, if the SFPP office does not receive copies of BOTH of these forms, they take the account off of PAC to Monthly. A switch to monthly means that customers have to make 2 months payments at once, and it does not come directly out of their account. This can be especially bad for customers who are difficult to contact, because they can go weeks/months under the impression that their account is fine and that they have full insurance coverage, when in reality they may have already incurred a lapse (resulting in a fine from the state of MD). So, to avoid this problem, my boss has told me that when I get a payment form in the mail, if there is no void check with it that I should just submit a random check that has already been submitted for another account so that the policyholder will not be taken off the PAC, saying that the office never looks closely at those docs anyway. This is obviously NOT true, because one of the guys in our office found a payment of $290 taken out of his account. Upon further review, they found the payment had been taken out as a payment on another policyholder's account. The payment plan office had tried to use the banking information given for her account, but when that did not work, they looked to the supporting check, which happened to be my coworker's account information. I would bet that this is probably not the first time something like this has happened, and I can't help but feel like it's my fault. I should have questioned my boss the first time he had me doing this to the accounts, because it seemed illogical that the payment plan office would require these documents and then never need to use them. It just makes me upset that I was put in this situation because I feel like I am at fault, when I was only following orders. The quote "it's not personal, it's just business" comes to mind at a time like this, but honestly business IS personal, and it is stupid to try and reason that it is not. I take it PERSONAL that my co-worker got screwed, and I take it PERSONAL that other regular people I don't even know could be getting screwed as well. UGHHHH. This is the first ethical dilemma I've faced at work and I really don't like the tense feeling left in the pit of my stomach. I'm hoping me and my boss can sort out some new system for what to do with policyholders that don't submit void checks, because I will not go along with the current system anymore.

tuesdays make the world go round

soooo, this has been quite a week. my boss finally returned from vacation, which basically means i can no longer sit in the back of the office coloring sesame street coloring pages while making late payment phone calls. tragedy? most definitely. and yesterday i got a call from a guy that i had gone to dinner and a movie with at the end of the semester. i hadnt heard from him since that night, hence the super random. and its just something i really dont feel like dealing with at the moment, so i didnt answer. what's odd is that ive spent so much of my time looking for a relationship, yet as soon as guys start to talk to me i choke. i dont know whether its just my general nervousness around guys, or a fear of rejection, but im just horrible with this whole thing. the thought of telling a guy i like him or asking one out generally sends me into hysterics comparable to what i would imagine an arachnophobe would experience in the face of that huge spider in harry potter. i still feel that at some point though, everything will click, i wont have to try so hard, and i wont question everything that is happening, ill just know its right.

back in the burnie

And so the epic journey comes to a close! I am back from the upstate NY family vacation, which was a lot of fun despite a few chaotic moments. Not all of the week's events went exactly as planned, but then again they rarely do with our crazy family. Two tragedies of the week: Yettys pizza and White Rose bakery were both closed! Sadness! I was so excited for that, and they decide on the very week we are in NY to close up shop and go on vacation! How dare they! haha. Oh well, then Monday we hung around with Grandma, and me and Mandy stayed up til 4am doing a black bear puzzle. Why? Because they said it couldn't be done, and we were determined to prove them wrong. haha. Tuesday Katie, Joe and their crew came up, we did a little exploring around the house, then later in the night we went to Turning Stone Casino (an indian casino). The casino was beautiful, and at one point I had actually won money!! However, I kept playing and lost all of my money. haha. On top of my tragic losses, the casino had no drinks for us! Apparently you were allowed to bring alcohol in and they would keep it at the bar for you to use, but they couldn't legally serve you alcohol. Crazy! It wouldn't have been as crazy, had there not been 10 bars around the casino, all serving NONALCHOLIC beer! Silly Indians. Then Wednesday we walked around the Erie Canal, which was so nice, it was the perfect weather for it. Thursday, we did a whole bunch of shopping around Cooperstown, went into the baseball hall of fame (which was AWESOME, lots of Yankees in there ;) ), and had a family poker game ($10 buy in, I def lost). haha. By Friday, we were all pretty exhausted, but we went out to Sylvan Beach, did some bumper boats and a bajillion arcade games. Saturday we packed everything up and headed on home! I love vacations, but I am definitely more exhausted than relaxed after this busy week. But, I do have today to recover before the work week begins again, thank goodness.

Headed for NY!

Let's seeeee.... its Saturday night, and I am just about done packing for the family vacation to NY, wheeee! hehe. Last night, me and Lena went out with Angela to Cheeseburger in Paradise for dinner, then hung out at her house for the night and played some card games. It was one of those really great, gossip filled, laid back but hilarious nights that I haven't had in awhile and I loved it! It was like a middle school flashback all over again, except we just added a few beers to the mix. haha. Then I hung out with them for most of the day today, came back home, went to church, wrote a little paper for my online class, and here I am: procrastinating finishing packing up the last bit of stuff for the trip, as usual. I'm so excited for this trip to NY this year, because this is the first time in awhile that the whole family (well, whole family except for Dawn and Co.) has been able to make it up there together. I've been there at least once a year since I was little (with maybe one or two exceptions), but usually the whole family never makes it up at the same time, its usually two of my sisters one year, my brother and 2 sisters the next year, etc, but this year its the whole crew! Little Falls is like a second home to me, I remember always walking downtown with my brothers and sisters to go to White Rose Bakery and hoping we'd made it in time for Mcdonalds breakfast, haha. I remember walking up the secret stairwells all around the house, trying to find where they led, and late night poker games in the upstairs kitchen. This year could either be great or hectic, because it is not only us siblings and the parents, but also my sibling's kids, whom I love to death, but they may not necessarily enjoy our plans for the week quite as much as we will! The plan for the week pretty much looks like this:
Sunday: Get there. Get Yetti's pizza.
Monday: Hang with grandma.
Tuesday: CASINO! possibly Harry potter at midnight if we're not ridiculously exhausted.
Wednesday: Boys go golfing, girls go to Canal Place
Thursday: Cooperstown
Friday: Sylvan Beach, Lake George, or Old Forge
Saturday: No idea
Sunday: Go home!
At the very least, this week should be a great break from work, so I can't wait!!! Not necessarily excited to wake up at 7am tomorrow to get on the road, but being in a sleepless haze is half the fun of the annual adventure anyway! haha. Alright, time to pass out, NIGHT!

viva la vida

The way I figure, Thursdays must be a pretty good day if a group of people chose to name their band after it. So far today, that theory has not been proven wrong yet. I had a great day. To start: Sara brought me a Dunkin Donuts coffee at work, lol. This would not usually seem to be a big fuss worth getting happy about, but it was just so sweet that someone at work actually thought about me enough to get me a coffee on their way to work! Maybe it's dumb that that created such a good start to the day, but it did! Then I got off work early, which was nice, because I was able to salvage part of the beautiful weather we had outside today on the deck. Then I went out to get a pedicure with Katie and Tina, Kris was supposed to come too (as an escape from the insanity that is motherhood), but there was a little bit of miscommunication. Anywho, after the pedicure, we decided to go to Ruby Tuesday's for food and drinks, which was a lot of fun. The bartender was pretty funny, and gave all of us his business card with the hours he works on there, as well as a promise for a free appetizer next time we go there. Haha, my brother also ended up stopping by after his "team outing" with his co-workers to Dave and Busters. It was a great night, and I'm happy that I'm finally old enough to be part of their world!

a day in the life

It is a lovely Wednesday night in the Drap household, a couple years ago that might have meant a much more chaotic scene, but these days, it consists of me and my parents laying on the couch watching America's Got Talent and gawking at the embarassment that is the majority of these contestants. Granted, I admire the moxy these people have, the amount of confidence it takes to actually gets up on that stage and attempt a hiphop career via a flute solo or let someone staple dollar bills to their chest, but WHY?! I would really love to know what is running through some of these people's heads, are their perceptions really so skewed that they truly believe they are the next Aretha Franklin or Gene Kelly? Sometimes madness is genious, but other times, it's just madness. I'll stick with my deskjob before I'd ever consider going on TV in front of millions of Americans. Even looking back at the 2 or 3 dance recitals I've done in my life, I remember how sick I felt before going on stage, before the blinding lights blurred out the judgmental faces in the crowd, and that was a crowd of maybe 100-200 people, never mind millions! I feel like the ability to perform on stage is one of those gifts a person is just born with, there's no developing it out of nowhere, it's that one specific "it" factor. Your brain has to function in a certain way, just like mathematicians and scientists view things rationally with facts and numbers, performers and artists work with what they feel. Where does my brain fall between the extremes? I have no idea. I wish I had some kind of clear direction in life. I change my mind about what career I want to pursue on nearly a weekly basis. From the restaurant business, to insurance, to government, I just want to find a field that inspires me. Right now I work with insurance, which to be honest has probably been one of the best job experiences I've had so far, in terms of experience. Granted, there are ignorant customers (hard to avoid) and a large amount of pressure to get things done right, but it's worth it for the few customers that I actually am able to help out of a sticky situation. It is also nice to be trusted with as much responsibility as my boss delegates to me, it makes me feel like an integral part of the company. However, I am not exactly the sales person "type", I am pretty positive I could never be completely happy cold-calling people that request quotes and trying to pitch them reasons why they should join our company when they will most likely just end up like the other 20% of customers we already have that never pay on time, if they pay at all. But, for the mean time, it's good experience and it's a job. Which, in our current economic state, is a small miracle. Talking with customers who've been laid off or received wage cuts only make me appreciate the opportunity given to me more. There are people out there unable to afford rent, healthcare, or even food to put on the table as I sit here in my parent's air conditioned house with a klondike bar by my side. It makes me realize that I shouldn't take anything for granted, because the tides can turn in the blink of an eye. As the Nickelback song goes, "each day is a gift and not a given right, leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind and try to take the path less traveled by."

First post!

I started a blog!