The Plot, She Thickens
Okay, I know I'm paranoid, but this is just utterly ridiculous.
Got in for my drug test at 10:30, and called the boss to ask for the contact number for the insurance company(wanted to ask why they were being adamant about the time limit of the next hour, though I suspected that time limit came from elsewhere). He passed me on to his boss, Lyn. She told me that I was not to talk to the Worker's Comp company, who I fortunately knew the name of from talking with the clinic's paperwork wizard. That all communications between me and the WC company would be moving through NCS, and WHY did I want to talk with them, anyways? I said that I was concerned that I might not have made it to my drug-testing appointment in time, within the hour from when Jerry had called me. She said "I don't know when Jerry called you, but if you are late, and it's only a few minutes, I'm sure it's not a problem. And if it is, I'm certain I can take care of it" in indulgent butter-wouldn't-melt-in-her-mouth tones.
Which kinda told me that the deadline was hers, not from higher up.
Anyways, prior to that little revelation, I reported the salient details again(and at no time in this proceeding has anyone been seeming to take any notes)to this boss, and she chastised me that I really should have taken my test the previous night. I'd told her that I had tried, but the clinic I'd been sent to was not testing, and the doctor's orders were to return for my WC-mandated drug test the following morning or early afternoon; that I'd gone to the clinic in the FIRST place, simply to get the drug-testing foolishness out of the way, before I realized how serious the situation was.
She pounces on this: "Before you realized how serious your back injury was, or before you realized how serious Worker's Comp claims are?"
I told her "my back" and said that I knew how serious WC claims are, that that was WHY I wanted to get the test done.
She asked what the diagnosis was, and I told her: muscle spasm: I'd suspected as much, as it was the same as when I'd done it before.
Interest again. "SO. You've injured your back in the same place before?!?"
"nooooo, it was down in the L3 and L4 region; this is around T-8 to T-10"
"What?" (confusion, not surprise. unfamiliar terms.)
"My lower back, when I had my worker's comp claim about a decade ago. This time it was in my rib area. Upper-middle back"
She chastised me again about the Not Taking of the Drug Test The Night Before, as it should have been the first priority, and it was then that I spoke with her on the timing of it, as to whether or not I was late, and received her Arch-Villian sickly-sweet reassurance that I wasn't.
So. Kathy the Drug Tester calls me in and starts filling out the paperwork, and asks me for my Authorization to Test. I tell her that I don't have it, that it should be arranged through the Worker's Comp claim.
It hasn't been. She calls my boss. He tells her he doesn't have it. She tells him he needs to get it to her if she is to test me.
As it's near her lunch time when this happens, I wind up sitting through the noon hour detailing EVERYTHING that has happened, including word-for-word transcriptions I've taken as soon as I've got off the phone, as this all has the aroma of hinkiness.
Fairly decent: the pain meds kept working until after I'd finished journaling, but started to flag around one, when Kathy told me that she had the authorization, it just needed to be entered into the system.
Tested about Two O'clock.
Got home, ached, and relaxed for a while, looked up Bridgefield Insurance WC company, and called their "claim" number to check on the status of things, to piss off the boss's boss, and to make sure that they knew about the lower-back claim from twelve years ago from me, rather than from Bitca(Boss's boss's new name).
Their website spoke of the fact that when an accident was reported, they called the employer, they called the doctor, and they called the employee, to make sure everything was going to everyone's satisfaction, so I figured I'd bypass the "calling the employee" process by calling them first.
No record in their system with my Soc. Sec number.
No record in their system with my name.
No record filed from NCS of Ft. Walton Beach, Tallahassee, or ANY branch of NCS in the last 24 hours. Would I like to file an accident report now, or would I care to talk to my employer first?
I elected to call my employer first. Called Bitca's office. she was gone for the day. I asked her lieutenant if by getting tested at 2:00, if I was covered by the WC company, since it wasn't within the "one hour" time limit that l'Idiot and Bitca had mentioned. I did my best to sound nervous and anxious, but lieutenant (whose name I unfortunately neglected to get) reassured me with what I'd already found out: that there is a 24 hour window from the time of the accident in which to be tested, under what appears to be Florida Law (and I'll be double-checking that). So I'm well within the time frame, no matter what the 24 hours is from.
So I call back the insurance company: right at Four O'Clock. "Closed for the day: if you would care to file an accident report, please fax your Accident Report Form to.... "
Tentative conclusions drawn by my paranoia: NCS is banking that I am an illegal drug user and will fail the test, and have not filed any record of the event until they find out whether I come up clean: if I don't come up clean, they will say I faked a worker's comp claim, and refuse it, as there is no accident report filed with the insurance company.
Actions to be taken.
1) Calm down, as I'm not gonna fail the stupid drug test, despite their convictions that I will.
2) Report the basics of the accident to Bridgefield ASAP: tomorrow at eight, by phone, if I need to, or tonight as a "To whoever handles claims for NCS"letter, if I can get access to a fax machine.
3) appreciate the fact that I can take more muscle-relaxants and anti-inflamatories in twenty minutes, and more painkillers as soon as I get done driving for a while.
Got in for my drug test at 10:30, and called the boss to ask for the contact number for the insurance company(wanted to ask why they were being adamant about the time limit of the next hour, though I suspected that time limit came from elsewhere). He passed me on to his boss, Lyn. She told me that I was not to talk to the Worker's Comp company, who I fortunately knew the name of from talking with the clinic's paperwork wizard. That all communications between me and the WC company would be moving through NCS, and WHY did I want to talk with them, anyways? I said that I was concerned that I might not have made it to my drug-testing appointment in time, within the hour from when Jerry had called me. She said "I don't know when Jerry called you, but if you are late, and it's only a few minutes, I'm sure it's not a problem. And if it is, I'm certain I can take care of it" in indulgent butter-wouldn't-melt-in-her-mouth tones.
Which kinda told me that the deadline was hers, not from higher up.
Anyways, prior to that little revelation, I reported the salient details again(and at no time in this proceeding has anyone been seeming to take any notes)to this boss, and she chastised me that I really should have taken my test the previous night. I'd told her that I had tried, but the clinic I'd been sent to was not testing, and the doctor's orders were to return for my WC-mandated drug test the following morning or early afternoon; that I'd gone to the clinic in the FIRST place, simply to get the drug-testing foolishness out of the way, before I realized how serious the situation was.
She pounces on this: "Before you realized how serious your back injury was, or before you realized how serious Worker's Comp claims are?"
I told her "my back" and said that I knew how serious WC claims are, that that was WHY I wanted to get the test done.
She asked what the diagnosis was, and I told her: muscle spasm: I'd suspected as much, as it was the same as when I'd done it before.
Interest again. "SO. You've injured your back in the same place before?!?"
"nooooo, it was down in the L3 and L4 region; this is around T-8 to T-10"
"What?" (confusion, not surprise. unfamiliar terms.)
"My lower back, when I had my worker's comp claim about a decade ago. This time it was in my rib area. Upper-middle back"
She chastised me again about the Not Taking of the Drug Test The Night Before, as it should have been the first priority, and it was then that I spoke with her on the timing of it, as to whether or not I was late, and received her Arch-Villian sickly-sweet reassurance that I wasn't.
So. Kathy the Drug Tester calls me in and starts filling out the paperwork, and asks me for my Authorization to Test. I tell her that I don't have it, that it should be arranged through the Worker's Comp claim.
It hasn't been. She calls my boss. He tells her he doesn't have it. She tells him he needs to get it to her if she is to test me.
As it's near her lunch time when this happens, I wind up sitting through the noon hour detailing EVERYTHING that has happened, including word-for-word transcriptions I've taken as soon as I've got off the phone, as this all has the aroma of hinkiness.
Fairly decent: the pain meds kept working until after I'd finished journaling, but started to flag around one, when Kathy told me that she had the authorization, it just needed to be entered into the system.
Tested about Two O'clock.
Got home, ached, and relaxed for a while, looked up Bridgefield Insurance WC company, and called their "claim" number to check on the status of things, to piss off the boss's boss, and to make sure that they knew about the lower-back claim from twelve years ago from me, rather than from Bitca(Boss's boss's new name).
Their website spoke of the fact that when an accident was reported, they called the employer, they called the doctor, and they called the employee, to make sure everything was going to everyone's satisfaction, so I figured I'd bypass the "calling the employee" process by calling them first.
No record in their system with my Soc. Sec number.
No record in their system with my name.
No record filed from NCS of Ft. Walton Beach, Tallahassee, or ANY branch of NCS in the last 24 hours. Would I like to file an accident report now, or would I care to talk to my employer first?
I elected to call my employer first. Called Bitca's office. she was gone for the day. I asked her lieutenant if by getting tested at 2:00, if I was covered by the WC company, since it wasn't within the "one hour" time limit that l'Idiot and Bitca had mentioned. I did my best to sound nervous and anxious, but lieutenant (whose name I unfortunately neglected to get) reassured me with what I'd already found out: that there is a 24 hour window from the time of the accident in which to be tested, under what appears to be Florida Law (and I'll be double-checking that). So I'm well within the time frame, no matter what the 24 hours is from.
So I call back the insurance company: right at Four O'Clock. "Closed for the day: if you would care to file an accident report, please fax your Accident Report Form to.... "
Tentative conclusions drawn by my paranoia: NCS is banking that I am an illegal drug user and will fail the test, and have not filed any record of the event until they find out whether I come up clean: if I don't come up clean, they will say I faked a worker's comp claim, and refuse it, as there is no accident report filed with the insurance company.
Actions to be taken.
1) Calm down, as I'm not gonna fail the stupid drug test, despite their convictions that I will.
2) Report the basics of the accident to Bridgefield ASAP: tomorrow at eight, by phone, if I need to, or tonight as a "To whoever handles claims for NCS"letter, if I can get access to a fax machine.
3) appreciate the fact that I can take more muscle-relaxants and anti-inflamatories in twenty minutes, and more painkillers as soon as I get done driving for a while.