WALMART SENIOR GREETER

Posted on August 10, 2012 by asknod

I received this also from Chip. It is a heartwarmer.

Charley, a new retiree-greeter at Wal-Mart, just couldn’t seem to get to work on time. Every day he was 5, 10, 15 minutes late. But he was a good worker, really tidy, clean-shaven, sharp-minded and a real credit to the company and obviously demonstrating their “Older Person Friendly” policies.

One day the boss called him into the office for a talk.

“Charley, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic, you do a bang-up job when you finally get here; but your being late so often is quite bothersome.”

“Yes, I know boss, and I am working on it.”

“Well good, you are a team player. That’s what I like to hear.

Yes sir, I understand your concern and I will try harder.

Seeming puzzled, the manager went on to comment, I know you’re retired from the Armed Forces. What did they say to you there if you showed up in the morning late so often?”

The old man looked down at the floor, then smiled. He chuckled quietly, then said with a grin,

 
“They usually saluted and said, Good morning, Admiral, can I get your coffee, sir? 
Posted in All about Veterans, Humor | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

THE ART OF THE APOLOGY

Posted on August 10, 2012 by asknod

Member Chip sends us this important “How to” on a sincere apology. Since this site advocates a strong DIY (do it yourself) philosophy, how to’s are always an interest of note to many.

 

Apology letter 

Hi, Sweetheart!

I am sorry about getting into an argument about putting up the Christmas lights.  I guess that sometimes I feel like you are pushing me too hard when you want something.  I realize that I was wrong and I am apologizing for being such a hard-headed guy.  All I want is for you to be happy and be able to enjoy the holiday season.

Nothing brightens the Christmas spirit like Christmas lights! 

I took the time to hang the lights for you today and now I will be off to the hockey rink.

 

 

 

Again, I am very sorry for the way I acted yesterday.  I’ll be home later.

Love you,

 

Jack

Her response 

Hi Honey, 

Thank you for your heart-felt apology.  I don’t often get an apology from you, and I truly appreciate it.

 


I, too, felt bad about the argument and wanted to apologize.  I realize that I can sometimes be a little pushy.  I will try to respect your feelings from now on. Thank you for taking the time to hang the Christmas lights for me.  It really means a lot.

 


In the spirit of giving, I washed your truck for you and now I am off to the mall.

 


I love you, too!

Barbara

Jack- formerly SSGT Jack ________________, USMC-(fast thinker)

 

Barbara-acerbic humorist; former member of Soroptimist Society; soon to be divorced from former loving Marine husband of 25 years.

“For those who understand, no explanation is needed.  For those who don’t understand, no explanation is possible.”

 

Posted in Humor | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

VA Aspire: Data indicates to speed up a claim, the Vet should die.

Posted on August 9, 2012 by joeaveragevet

Yep.  That is what it amounts to.  Since death claims are paid by vA insurance in 2-3 days, if the Veteran wants to speed up his claim, he should die or else wait 253 days and then have to appeal his claim 85% of the time by vA compensation.

Yesterdays article on Aspire  pointed out that the speed in which VA (Life) Insurance claims are processed indicates the backlog problem is highly solvable with a little “motivation” on the part of vA Executives, noting that we do not get complaints from VA execs that their bonuses were 253 days late.

This “motivation” would be that vA execs compensation be tied to the backlog.

Clearly, the vA management does not want to “sacrifice” their own pay or  bonuses to eliminate the backlog for Veterans claims, as this “performance” link has yet to be implemented by vA management.   Where is the “performance” in a “performance bonus” for VA execs?

It amazes me that the same computer”glitches” that cause 253 day delays for Veterans are corrected immediately for VA employees since the VA has accomplished its goal of 100% accuracy with employee compensation with “zero”  late days back in 1808 when the vA was called the Bureau of Pensions under the Secretary of War.

However, there is something amiss in the Aspire program.

Did anyone notice that vA Insurance keeps records of ” high client satisfaction rate” but vA compensation does not?  Why no “client satisfaction rate” with vA compensation?   The “high client satisfaction rate” for vA insurance   is 95.2%, which actually exceeds their goal of 95%.

This means that in order to achieve the Aspire vA insurance goal of 95% satisfaction rate, vA insurance would need to piss off at least .2% of Veteran “clients”.

I can suggest how this be accomplished.  Simply  Transfer these ” vA Insurance  clients” to “vA compensation” , where they will wait at least an average of 253 days for their widows death claim check, which is currently accomplished in 2-3 days.   If a widow waited more than  8 months on her death claim check from vA, (similar to the wait injured Veterans endure now)  surely she would not be a “highly satisfied client”.    Further, if about 85% of these widows had to endure  years of appeals to obtain their death claim check, many of them would be as angry as Veterans who endure these waits for their just compensation.

No, I am not recommending forcing widows wait 253 days for their death claim check, nor am I recommending 85% of these being denied requiring the widow to appeal her death claim check for years.  Instead, I can not see that Veterans who were injured serving our country deserve less than widows, and can not see why the vA compensation is not “upgraded” to be on par with widows death claim checks from vA insurance.

I will speculate the reason the vA does not keep records of “client satisfaction” for vA compensation is that they dont want us to know how bad it is.   I think most homeless Veterans already know how slow vA compensation is, but do they know that if they died, the widow would get a check in 3 days, according to aspire?

This would seem to be the vA’s answer to solving the backlog problem. If the Veteran  simply dies the family will get the insurance check in 3 days, and not have to wait for the long appeal process.

Posted in Guest authors, VA BACKLOG | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

ASKNOD– BOOK EXCERPT.

Posted on August 8, 2012 by asknod

Member Courtney of recent Air Force fame asks me for a book excerpt before she buys it.

I’ll bite. How about this:

Continuity

I don’t know if any of you have ever visited a movie set. There is a group of people labeled “Continuity.” Their assigned task is to keep everything in place from one shooting of a scene to the next. Every fork on a table must stay put, so they don’t jump around or disappear if the scene has to be reshot. Likewise, your claim must have continuity. A timeline must be constructed and verified for accuracy. It wouldn’t do to say you started to come down with this when you felt puke sick and reported to sick call in June 1978. What if the service medrecs show you went in for it in February 1979? VA will imply that your memory can’t be trusted back that far and will cite this as evidence of it. They usually do it the tricky way and say, “The records are silent for any entries in June 1978.” What they never say is that it shows up as February 1979. This is how they work. I’m serious. You will lose, and it will take a very long time, if ever, to fix it. Most Vets shrug and give up. They are not expecting it. Would you?

Continuity applies to the whole shooting match. Doctor’s names, places, dates, and more will be tested for a seamless tapestry of uniformity that agrees with your version. Complete this ahead of time. Construct the timeline on paper in a synopsis form. The more you recall it, the more you will be able to “relive” it and remember even more.

This may not be the most important thing you do in life, but it will have enormous financial rewards sooner if it is done by the numbers. You will start having dreams about this era of your life. Keep a notebook handy to write down a friend’s name that comes back to you or a place. Lucid moments are often like waking up from a dream. You will remember them briefly, so write them down before you lose them again.

To give you an example, I couldn’t remember the name of my pilot I was flying with when I was wounded. It was forty years ago. I could remember his first name—Chuck—but his last name escaped me. The harder I tried to recall it, the more it eluded me. One day I was driving up Meadowlark Street and turned left onto ENGLEwood Avenue, and there it was! Chuck Engle, First Lieutenant USAFR. Unfortunately, he was dead and unavailable to testify, but it was important evidence in the claim. Put your brain in neutral and let it idle. Your subconscious mind will retrieve it and post it on the desktop.

 

 

Posted in ASKNOD BOOK, NEW BOOK | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Aspire: How is the VA doing?

Posted on August 8, 2012 by joeaveragevet

As many of you know the VA keeps records with a system called Aspire.

You can also look at the individual RO’s Aspire, here.

I looked at the data for the past 13 months, which is all that is available through Aspire.  If I am incorrect, and any of you know how to access data from Aspire older than 13 months, please feel free to comment or contact Ask Nod.   Based on the VA’s numbers for the past 13 months, this is how the VA is doing:

1.  Veteran Homelessness.   Its getting worse.  It took the VA 96.1 days to process homeless Vets claims in May 2011, while in June, 2012 it had worsened 25.9% and takes 121 days.  It is unclear why Shinseki boasts that Veteran homelessness was reduced, when this would appear to show that it was getting worse, fast.

2.  Rating Claim Processing Time.  In May 2011 it took 170 days for the VA to process a claim. 13 months later:  253 days.  This worsened by 48%, so there is no good news there,  either.

3.  Insurance.  ******  Without a doubt the VA’s (life) insurance program is the best managed, fastest turnaround, in all the VA.   The VA actually improved the insurance program. Where it used to take 3.8 days to process a SDVI claim, 13 months later this was reduced to 2.6 days.  You are reading it right.  Insurance claims are processed in 2-3 days, while comp claims take about a hundred times longer.    And, look at the accuracy numbers…all well above 90% for VA insurance.

The big question is why the VA insurance program is sooooooo much better and faster than VA comp?  Do Veterans widows deserve their compensation faster than the Vets themselves?

I will admit that at least part of this is less complex with insurance than compensation.  After all, have you ever met anyone 30% deceased?    I sure hope I don’t get a 0% deceased rating, or would that be good after all?  A 0% compensation rating means that you have to appeal to get any benefits.

Yep. 100% deceased. Pay the Widow

However, the complexity would not be the whole reason.  After all, if someone had a leg blown off  via a bomb in Iraq, would that not be as obvious as if he were killed?  Why can’t that claim be processed in 2 or 3 days?

4. VA Executive compensation and bonuses.   I actually heard, once, back in the early 1970’s, where government employees pay was delayed because of a computer glitch. The delay was a weekend.  The following Monday…the VA execs made sure it would never happen again.   My question is why can’t we apply whatever the VA execs did to the employees who got their payroll out late to apply to Veterans compensation?   It seems simple enough to base the VA executive compensation times on how quickly the employees process VETERANS compensation.   No more 253 days..but zero days late.   The VA backlog problem really is resolvable .It is simply that there is no motivation for the VA Executives to get the job done, since they get bonuses for poor performance as well as good.

300+ days to rating to prevent fraud in case he’s faking it. May require field investigation to makes sure he’s not gainfully employed

Yep. No flies on VA.

Posted in Guest authors, Uncategorized, VA BACKLOG, vA news | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

FOOTLOCKER–SNAKE BITE KIT (AirAm ISSUE)

Posted on August 8, 2012 by asknod

Rooting through my reloading cabinet I found this. I swear I’d thrown it away forty years ago but it was with my hunting gear. We have no poisonous snakes here in Western Washington but I must have kept it for hunting east of the mountains. These kits were standard issue on all the Hueys we had up country in Laos. They were on the wall right beside the Morphine Styrets as part of the very limited medical kit. I know. That’s where I requisitioned mine from.

The Air Force Jolly Green HH-53 BUFFs  had them too but they were in O.D. Green cans with some M-21A4 designator and probably cost $150 more  for each.  We had Malaysian Pith Vipers and of course the dreaded Krate in RVN nicknamed the two-step for its lethality. It was said you kicked in 45 seconds from the Krate. I don’t know. I never saw one of those but the reason I have tinnitus is because my boss annihilated a viper by shooting over my shoulder to kill it in 70. My ear bled-a lot. The barrel was about a foot away.

The modern version is simple. “If bitten by poisonous snake, try to keep patient subdued and comfortable. Call 911. Use cel phone camera to take picture of snake for future identification purposes. Do not attempt to detain the snake.”

P.S. Whaa-oh! No gloves or eye/face protection from blood spatter? VA would not be able to explain this in the context of everything being peachy clean and sanitary while we were out playing soldier. This is classic evidence of how things got transmitted from one to another in a military environment back in my day.

Posted in From the footlocker | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

BVA–REDUCING TDIU NUMBERS VIA “FIELD INSPECTIONS”

Posted on August 7, 2012 by asknod

Squidly spotted this over at Hadit.com but discovered it had been abbreviated somewhat. He therefore set out to find it in its original form.  And find it he did. I highlight these paragraphs for any who might wonder what that black SUV with government plates is doing up the street from your hacienda every day.

Another method of monitoring unemployability status among TDIU recipients is through the VA Fiduciary Activity. This service conducts field examinations when it has been notified that a TDIU recipient might be pursuing a substantially gainful occupation. If the field examiner finds evidence of employment or if the Veteran is unwilling to cooperate with the examiner, then the examiner will forward this information to the Rating Activity. A decision must then be made as to whether the TDIU evaluation will be discontinued. The regulatory requirements listed above will be applied to the determination.

As an exception to the aforementioned procedures; if the veteran has certified no employment status in a VA Form 21-4140 and VA obtains credible information indicating that the veteran has engaged in gainful employment, continued entitlement to TDIU benefits may be terminated on the basis of fraud. The due process provisions of § 3.105(e) must still be followed. However, if a finding of fraud is confirmed, the effective date of termination of TDIU benefits will be the day preceding the date that VA received the veteran’s VA Form 21-4140 that fraudulently certified continuation of no employment status. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.500(k)

I think we can reasonably assume that the vA “Field Examiner” is going to recommend putting uncooperative Vets on double-secret restriction and take away that TDIU if at all possible. And you thought vA didn’t have a Gestapo?

vA Field Examiner’s Office

or…

vA Field Examiner’s Office

Frighteningly similar or just a coincidence?

Posted in vA news, Veterans Law | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

OGC-DENYING CLAIMS THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY-ONE AT A TIME

Posted on August 7, 2012 by asknod

Member John sends us this delightful tidbit about vA’s law dogs in the early 90’s. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’d say nothing’s changed from my perspective. What is interesting is the comments below the article.

Under guest (six days ago)

The problem is even worse, says attorney Craig Kabatchnick, who was the senior appellate attorney for the VA’s Office of General Counsel from 1990-95.

“Our job was to deny claims,” he says. “We celebrated beating veterans, especially those representing themselves.” There was no official policy, he says, but ranking attorneys instructed staff to fight and deny cases—even though the law mandated that they give veterans the benefit of the doubt. 

Kabatchnick is now the supervising attorney for the Veterans Law Project, a new legal clinic at N.C. Central University, where he and 19 students from NCCU and UNC-Chapel Hill are defending veterans and preparing their claims and appeals for free.

You see the problem ladies and gentlemen? vA portrays itself as a non-adversarial agency to the public (and Veterans). Craig clearly refutes this assumption. He left because his own father, a lawyer himself, asked him how he could sleep at night doing what he did for a living. I might have asked the same thing.

Posted in vA news | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

HCV drug clinical trial suspended plus insider-trading

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Laura

According to Bloomberg.com articles by David Voreacos and Drew Armstrong, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) has suspended a clinical trial for BMS-986094 because a patient developed heart failure:

“Bristol gained the compound in January with the acquisition of Inhibitex Inc. for $2.5 billion. The purchase was designed to put the company in a lead role in gaining approval of a new generation of medicines to treat the estimated 170 million patients with hepatitis C. The hepatitis C market is estimated at $20 billion for the new pills designed to work more quickly with fewer side effects for those with the liver infection.”

Meanwhile, on August 2, BMY executive, Robert Ramnarine, was nabbed for insider trading in New Jersey. He had material nonpublic information about Pharmasset, which was working on new oral drugs for HCV. A Bloomberg.com article says that the SEC was “so suspicious of the circumstances surrounding Gilead Sciences Inc. announcement it was buying Pharmasset Inc. for $11 billion that they opened an insider-trading investigation that day.” Ramnarine’s greedy actions playing HCV-related stocks, are made clear in the 22-page SEC complaint.  The short version of “dumb and dumber” is enough to make one cringe.  For example, he searched the phase “can stock option be traced to purchaser” on his company computer.   The answer, of course, is “yes!”

Posted in Guest authors, HCV Health | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

WHEN BEANS GO BAD

Posted on August 7, 2012 by asknod

Back in late March I called VA at their 800 number to see how my CUE claim for reducing my PCT scar rating was doing. I talked to a polite lady named Peggy. I’ve talked to her before and I think her voice has changed. The last time she sounded like a man and I was afraid to ask if she’s had a sex change operation. Perhaps it was that three day throat bug that was going around back then.

Peggy is very knowledgeable about all things VA. She’s also an avid gardener from what I can gather. I mentioned I’d planted my string beans and said it would be interesting to see whether the claim was resolved by the time they were ready to pick. She told me all about the 125 day/98% correct plan and how VA would redo my rating absolutely free if I wasn’t 98% pleased with the outcome. It’s called a DRO something or other. In fact, she went so far as to say VA is on my side and wants to make sure I get what’s coming to me. Sometimes I think they are more thoughtful than Oat Willie.

Well, I was out in the garden today and discovered to my horror that the string beans were out of control.  Yep. We’re way past 125 days and I haven’t seen any letter apologizing for their screwup yet. I was depending on that to let me know when to pick beans.  A bunch have gone rogue and were trying to convince the others to do so too. I quickly separated the ringleaders and sent them to the goat’s food bin. Feeding them to the horse is out of the question. He looks like a triple-wide manufactured home on hooves this summer. He can barely fit into his hackamore.

 

These beans are the mean and nasty juvenile delinquents. They use bad words and are troublemakers.

Seems as though Peggy was a little off on her prognostications. She mentioned she was a VSR when I asked her what her job title was.  I took that to mean she was a Vegetable Service Representative who was moonlighting at vA  but normally works for Burpee® Co. or one of the other big seed outfits. She seemed so up on veggies. I know better now. I guess the gentle reader can  figure out who’s responsible for this fiasco…

Let this be a lesson to all of you. You should never take gardening advice from the vA and especially not from Peggy. I think she may have been telling a fib about the VSR thing. Even Cupcake knows better than to plant them too close together.

Posted in Food for the soul, Humor | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment