Planet Sillicon

Greater perks

By blog on May. 9, 2010.

My workplace is considering offering us greater perks. Hmm…

I suppose they’re trying to combat the lingering economic crappiness and the not incredible rates of pay they give us, though to be honest the pay isn’t bad at all and is still competitive in the field.

It’s a small company, with two offices and some of us who work from home. I’m a web designer, and it’s good work that I enjoy and I can do it from home, which is fantastic, and as I said, the pay rate isn’t bad at all. Basically, they’re saying that at the beginning of the new economic year they won’t be able to offer us a pay rise – a small pay rise each year is the general norm for this company, usually just matching inflation rates – because of the world economy woes, but they do want to offer us a greater group health insurance package as well as better pension schemes for those of us with the company long enough.

I have to say, it’s a fair enough offer. I didn’t expect a pay rise this year as we’ve normally had the last few years, as we didn’t get one last year and I figured they’d address it at the beginning of the financial year after this one. It’s been common water cooler talk for the last few weeks – when I go into the office, anyway – that something other than a pay rise was going to be the incentive to work that little bit harder for the company, and honestly I like the two plans they’re offering us.

I’m hoping that, at the onset of the 2011/2012 financial year the company once again offers pay raises to match inflation rates, as that would just be nice and tidy and, well, they can’t really offer another even better health care plan every year. I think by that point the world economy should have bounced back fully, or at least well enough to justify our little company going back to their regular business practices.

Thinking about life insurance

By blog on Aug. 10, 2009.

I’ve been thinking about life insurance, as my regular insurance just came up for renewal.

This is something that most of us should have, especially later in life or if we partake in any extreme sports, neither of which apply to me. I’ve tried taking a look at life insurance news sites, or having a look at a few life insurance blog sites, but I just can’t get interested. I think I would have to get one of those broker companies that search out life insurance policies that best suit you.

I just find the whole topic somewhat depressing, and I’d rather not invest a heck of a lot of time into delving into it. That’s why I’d rather have the issue taken care of for me; I don’t mind paying for it, because I see good sense in it, like with any insurance, but I don’t want to spend valuable time in going through all the different options.

Thinking on this has made me rather philosophical. I wonder who the first person was who came up with the idea of someone paying them a monthly sum, on the off chance that they would find themselves in trouble with their health, or even dying. Hmmm, I’m going to look that up. There you go, insurance pretty much came about when human society did. Though insurance the way we know it today really started around 1750BC by the Babylonians, where a caravanner who took out a loan to fund a shipment would pay an extra fee which meant that if the shipment was lost for whatever reason, the caravanner wouldn’t have to pay back any of the loan. That little five minute look over the history of insurance was so much more interesting than anything I read regarding taking out insurance. Isn’t that funny?

It’s still something under consideration. I’m pretty sure in the short term that I will extend my healthcare insurance to cover life insurance, but as I said, I will be having someone else do the work to find the appropriate deal for me.

Still have that whiplash

By blog on Apr. 25, 2009.

Not too long ago, I was involved in a small car accident with a very mean and very small old lady. In her effort to leave a supermarket car park too fast, she drove into the rear end of my car. I am still feeling the after effects of this indecent, even though it sounds ridiculous, when I say it like that, but there it is.

As I mentioned in that blog entry, I got out of the car and went over to make sure she was okay. She was such a tiny old lady, rather frail looking too, that I didn’t think of myself at all. Well that was a mistake, I didn’t realise just how much damage could be done with that one bump. I am still having issues with my neck, I don’t have a normal range of movement and going to the chiropractor twice and week is time consuming, I am just lucky that the NHS covers it because of the accident.

I said that she didn’t have insurance, so when I made the insurance claim to my company they were none too pleased about it. She happens to be among many people driving around uninsured at the moment, I have noticed the greater amount of that mentioned in the news, but still. I hate making insurance claims too, half the time you feel like you are presumed guilty of doing the wrong thing and you have to prove yourself innocent. I know insurance companies are especially like this at the moment due to the current economic turmoil bringing out less than the best in some, but it still makes for a largely unpleasant experience.

So yes, I am seriously considering filing a whiplash claim against this woman, not something I look forward to, but seriously, this could be the thing to get that horrid driver off the road. I have actually had to have multiple telephone conversations with this woman, as she is paying for half of the damages to the car, and not once has she asked me if I have had any adverse effects. I am at a loss whenever I get off the phone with her, as she fits into the ‘randomly mean’ category I mentioned in a previous blog entry. I am as yet undecided for sure, but that whiplash claim is looking more and more likely. Being in pain whenever I work – I am so glad I can touch type or it would be much, much worse – is almost too much. I think I am talking myself into making that claim right now.