okay well are you still there
 	
 	
 		yeah i'm here
 	
 	
 		yeah uh we got real good benefits where i'm at although they're becoming uh less and less every year so that they're taking a little bit more away uh especially when it comes to health care benefits
 		do you guys uh have full coverage where you're at
 	
 	
 		yeah well we do um it's
 		it's funny that uh that you mention that because health care benefits are really a big issue nowadays because of the skyrocketing costs
 		in general yeah our benefits uh
 		we we have a choice between an HMOs between various HMOs or just straight uh straight off major medical Blue Cross Blue Shield
 		and um
 		seems like the main idea of insurance companies is to try as hard as possible to deny benefits and collect uh premiums as much as possible
 	
 	
 		
 
 		yeah yeah i i i agree uh you you pay a lot of money into them and then when you finally do have a claim they uh they really stick it to you they say that it doesn't meet their uh
 	
 	
 		they're
 	
 	
 		you know their their minimum amounts or something like that they've always got these uh these plans set up where they they've got a certain amount benchmarked for like a certain operation or something but when you go to that doctor it's always like ten or fifteen dollars more than what they'll pay for
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		and uh that's one thing that really bothers me down here they say that uh
 		the the primary or the the customary fee should be fifty dollars but then the most of the doctors around here charge seventy five so it doesn't really keep up with what they
 		actually have so it's kind of a
 		they they kind of take from you a little bit there and uh the uh
 	
 	
 		yeah absolutely
 	
 	
 		other thing about Pratt's benefits uh when i first came here five years ago they really had like the best i thought that i'd ever had
 		and since then you know they've the staggering skyrocketing uh medical costs like you've said uh they've really had to cut back on what they give people because it was just taking too much money out of the company
 	
 	
 		yeah it's expensive uh it's very expensive for the company to uh to pay all the benefits out uh
 		if you want to talk for a second about non health benefits uh at my office we have free drinks free beverages
 	
 	
 		wow
 	
 	
 		and uh that's really popular that's very uh a lot of people like that where we have uh all kinds of uh
 		uh well
 		here we call it pop i guess on the east coast you'd call it soda and uh juices and
 	
 	
 		oh you have soda
 	
 	
 		oh coffee and tea and uh uh spring water hot and cold and soups and that's
 	
 	
 		well that's pretty good benefit then
 	
 	
 		yeah it's very nice uh often if you're
 		just having trouble thinking and doing your work you can just get up and walk to the kitchen and uh make yourself a cup of tea a fresh cup of tea herbal tea or whatever and
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		well i didn't i guess i never really thought about that as a benefit we we can get up and go to our cafeteria and you know and pay to get something to drink but i guess i guess that is kind of a benefit just to have a place to go do that
 	
 	
 		yeah oh definitely it gives you a chance
 	
 	
 		yeah we we have a real nice cafeteria we can go to that anytime during the day and it's always it is always nice to go down there and get a coffee or a tea or a juice
 	
 	
 		sure absolutely and get your and give your mind a rest
 	
 	
 		yeah that that's that's always good
 		uh do you guys have like a savings plan
 	
 	
 		uh well the company offers a 401K but they don't contribute at all
 	
 	
 		uh our uh we we're really lucky in that respect our for every dollar we put in Pratt Whitney'll match us sixty cents
 	
 	
 		so
 		so that is great
 	
 	
 		that that that that's real good and that's that's one reason why i why i really like that
 	
 	
 		yeah that that that is a very nice benefit
 		one of the things that we have lacking is the number of vacation days we have uh only two weeks vacation a year
 	
 	
 		does it depend on how many years you've been there
 	
 	
 		no it's just across the board
 	
 	
 		wow that's really something uh at Pratt it's uh if you're there eight years or less it's two weeks and as soon as you get your eight year in you get three weeks and then when you get uh fifteen years you get another week so
 		you know a guy who's been out been out there for like twenty five thirty years get about uh you know five weeks vacation paid a year
 	
 	
 		yeah well in the technology industry it's such a young industry that there aren't very many people that have been in it for a very long time so they don't have the same uh
 	
 	
 		oh okay
 	
 	
 		scale although at other jobs i've had i've i've had three weeks vacation
 	
 	
 		ah
 	
 	
 		so uh so stripping down to two was uh
 	
 	
 		how are your how how how important is that you know your benefits when you sound like you've uh done some job hopping you've had more than one job then
 	
 	
 		uh three i've had three
 	
 	
 		oh okay with that how many how much time did you spend with each one
 	
 	
 		very short
 	
 	
 		oh okay
 	
 	
 		the first the first job with the first two were a year and a half each
 	
 	
 		okay
 	
 	
 		and uh and after that i worked for two years
 	
 	
 		wow
 	
 	
 		at the company i'm at where i plan to stay for a while
 	
 	
 		okay and and that's up in in Pittsburgh you said
 	
 	
 		that's right
 	
 	
 		okay
 	
 	
 		that's right but you know in the the computer the computer industry is a little bit more liberal with benefits in general
 	
 	
 		hm
 	
 	
 		i think than other industries um
 		in terms of uh flex hours and just the you know the whole attitude of the work place
 	
 	
 		ah that's another that's another benefit i forgot to mention we have flex time
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		you also have that
 	
 	
 		that's right
 	
 	
 		that's one of my favorite benefits uh
 		ever since i've been ever since i graduated from school in eighty six
 		every job i've had has always