Insurance supervisor on phone: "That's actually a really good idea. I can propose that."

The response of someone who has no authority to initiate anything like that but has to say something conciliatory. The people in the call centers have no power to do anything.

We blame the developers a lot in my office.

I hate so much that our culture insists we are all salespeople of ourselves as the product.

I dislike that, in many instances, the default is to want to be promoted from worker bee to manager, and management is the only way to earn that gold-plated unicorn. I don't ever want to manage people, but my skillz have real value. It pisses me off.

(Also, good management is a skill [and, I would argue, somewhat of an art], and separates really good companies from average companies. I'm not in any way denigrating management -- I think people who are good at it are a tremendous asset and totally deserve their gold-plated unicorn. I just don't like that, in so many companies, moving from worker bee to management is the only real track for promotion, and it leads to people getting into management who NEVER should have been allowed near it.)

Why don't you have a system that the patient, the doctor, and the insurance company can all access, so we don't have these problems?

There's a natural incentive to make getting health care painful. Having people actually getting health care isn't in the best interest of health insurance companies.

Health insurance was a good idea when it started. Then some greedy capitalist sociopath saw the potential for immense profit in the idea.

I hate so much that our culture insists we are all salespeople of ourselves as the product. Men! And their sales!

I hate this so much. I'm an introvert. I can't do this even if I wanted to. This is one of the big reasons I haven't ever tried to publish a book. Knowing that I'd have to market and promote it myself just kills me.

And I wholly agree with Steph on the subject of management. I know so many people who are utterly unsuited for managing people end up in management because there's no other route to promotion.

I keep getting accused of not having ambition, of not wanting to leave my comfort zone. What the hell is wrong with my comfort zone, if it's doing a job well, with confidence and experience? I'm happy being a sergeant, why do I have to want to be an officer?

I don't ever want to manage people, but my skillz have real value. It pisses me off.

Me too. I have mentioned it in some of my meetings with people higher up the foodchain but I think it comes across as "I don't want to move up" when that's not really what I mean - I want a different path to move up and I don't see one.

and it leads to people getting into management who NEVER should have been allowed near it.

Yeah, have definitely seen that. Worked under it, pretty miserably. Had such mixed feelings when she was laid off because while she was not a good manager she had a lot of knowledge and was an asset in other ways. So it goes.

At 4:30 I read an email that gave me a rage blackout, but I can't do anything about until tomorrow, so I just left the office and came home via the liquor store. Now I have wine. I should think about how I'm actually going to handle it, but right now I'm mostly still trying to get my breathing under control.

But what about the cheese, Jesse? Did you not get cheese?

WHY DIDN'T I GET CHEESE?? Now I'm right back where Steph was the other night, with only American and basic cheddar in the house.

Now I'm right back where Steph was the other night, with only American and basic cheddar in the house.

I feel your pain. You cannot make a cheese plate of any kind, much less a rage cheese plate, with American.