MAGGI PICAYUNE

Our friends/co-workers Tracy and Dave are now the proud parents a baby girl named Leila, born on 9/22.

You can see the mother and daughter here! We hope to see the little lady at work in the very near future.

Hooray it’s her birthday today. On the downside, we have to go to work. But after we’re done, I think we’re going to dinner at a place of her choice…Texas Land & Cattle.

This birthday is very special because we’re both now prime numbers! Yeah, we’re pretty nerdy.

If you know her, drop a line via whichever means you know.

Meanwhile, I’m a little jealous since she shares it with Mark Hamil! The best voice actor to do the Joker.

Things are looking up a bit on the fiduciary part of my life. Last month I received that letter from those remoras about some delayed justice over my 1996 hospitalization. Then the cashing out plan with Chase as the MGM resort credit plan died.

Well, we had a brief setback courtesy of our mortgage holder, Wells Fargo. They once again tried to pay the wrong insurance company on the homeowner’s policy. So once again, I had to pay the correct company directly ($661) and fax a copy proving the house is covered should something terrible happens, the fat cats come out ahead and we remain homeless. Irritated, I called WF to request the money from the escrow account due to their oversight. Being someone who does work in a bureaucracy or bureaucratic organization in a Fortune 500 corporation, I know several key rules:

1. Don’t be a jerk, not matter how tempting it may be on the phone. Politeness gets you further along with tenacity than rudeness.
2. Press for ticket numbers, case numbers or anything to make sure what was discussed doesn’t fall into a black hole. Most of the time, it isn’t on purpose but it is your responsibility to remember so your request can be found more easily.
3. Keep copies of what was sent and follow through to make sure it is resolved. Don’t assume it’s all OK tomorrow.

Probably old news for most of us over 30.

Once I had plowed through the correct phone tree with WF, I got the right person, explained and instead the lady did a quick analysis of the escrow to make sure there would be enough when property taxes are due. Due to some rule or law (I’m sure somebody will post the answer), we’re getting the money we’d normally receive next Spring ahead of time (around $900) and lowered the monthly payment because WF can’t take out the exact sum I thought was fair. At least it’ll help put us ahead on the bills.

Meanwhile, my unclaimed $624 from the state comptroller situation soured. I got a letter last week rejecting the claim. In order to process it further, I would have to send proof of living at my old Hyde Park apartment. This quickly proved impossible. AT&T’s records go back just eight years. The City of Austin goes to 1990 yet I disappeared, the apartment had nothing before September 1997, the month I moved out. To make it even worse, I had a PO Box from 1994 until I moved to North Carolina on the advice of Doc. Why? I thought I would be moving every year like he did. The letter stated my handler’s name but no phone extension. I wrote an e-mail asking for more clarification on the rejection…and someone answered on a Saturday! The gentleman provided the handler’s extension too. This resulted in phone tag/voice mail pestering; should you not act, the other documents I mailed are destroyed by a specific deadline. The lady assigned to me called on Wednesday morning, apologized for the delay (she was on vacation recently) yet I was impressed, she said my surname correctly which is very rare for non-Europeans. I explained what I sent, apologized if I had seemed terse earlier on her voice mail and expressed my incredulousness over how I can’t prove who I am through my Social Security Number and state driver’s license. When a citizen owes a corporation or government money, he or she can be found relatively easily. She laughed and agreed. So she stated how the hospital gave very little details on the identity of the recipient which was weird, you give an SSN on many pieces of medical paperwork. Still she believed me by quizzing me over my identity: what does the middle initial stand for, how long have I lived in Texas and Austin and peered further through the state’s computer records. The lady concluded I am the right person due to my full name being quite unique and she approved my claim! I hope the government will allow me to send her a nice thank you gift for her assistance and pleasantness.

So, the bigger point I really want to make is that it doesn’t matter if a bureaucracy is run by the state, a corporation or a charity. Bureaucracy has its uses in addition to what annoys us. However, it is a human institution which keeps civilization running, thus making it mandatory and I hate it when people talk crap about the “government screwing the little people, blah blah blah” over such things. It’s an easy temptation to do too whenever something doesn’t go your way. Here’s to having success by working with my fellow bureaucrats instead of against them, especially when the checks arrive.