about how many calls have you made on this system
uh i've originated only a a few
oh okay yeah
but i've received quite a few
i uh i only started doing it after uh i started getting calls and said oh heck that's right i'm supposed to make a few calls so i started
about month ago and i this is getting close to twenty here which i think is about all
uh-huh
uh our little gift book goes up to but i don't really know
oh yeah
i've got about twelve tickets in the mail do you have you've a few
yeah i've been getting mine
okay uh medical go ahead i'm i'm medical that's mine
uh you pushed the record button we're supposed to be discussing the subject
yeah i i'm benefits go ahead you first
yeah uh well i'll tell you i've
been around for quite a few years and worked for a lot of different companies and uh it's hard to beat any of the benefits that or salaries either
um-hum
that we get from TI i'm quite pleased with it
course there's a few things that uh i think i could do better if i was sitting up in the CEO's seat but um
oh yeah
i think Jerry's doing a pretty good job as it goes
the one it's kind of like uh automobile insurance the ones uh that i think are the highest and important to me
uh i hope i never have to use them really per se although i've used medical a little bit uh
uh-huh
that well that one certainly is high i i worry that it's weakening rather than strengthening so i like to reverse that trend and say i'd like to get those to strengthen you know be better and better
then salary salary salary continuance i've never used that one i hope i never will but that's kind of like an insurance thing i sure like that one
well
ah yes
that's like automobile insurance you never want to get in an accident but it you like to have it there
um-hum
well uh
like i say i worked for several different companies and there's nothing to compare with uh TI here
um-hum
now i really got caught up back in eighty five i got caught up in the oil layoff
uh i wasn't with GSI but i was connected with uh
uh oil
uh exploration
right
with TI or somebody else
no with TI
uh-huh
but i say i wasn't connected with GSI
oh right yeah
and i got caught up in a layoff now
um-hum
uh course you get six months
uh unemployment from the state
yeah
but what TI did for us is is uh i i've never heard of it before
they fixed us up with an office with uh telephones access to long distance
uh computers
a secretary to take messages for us or type uh letters for us
right
uh they had out of town newspapers
and then the company
and outside consultants didn't they have an outside consultant too
i beg your pardon
did they have an outside consultant like a
uh yes they they did have uh seminars every once in a while
the employee
yeah
uh cause that was not uh restricted just to just us
right
but the most important thing was that uh they had
made up the difference between
uh unemployment pay and seventy five percent of my net pay
and they then TI paid me that
oh really
so uh i was able to uh not just exist i mean i i lived just as comfortably as i did before i was laid off
yeah they seem to be doing doing a good job of that i'm in facilities and and our organization built builds those facilities over in Park Central now
uh-huh
and i guess they've been using them for six months now and i've known several engineers that got laid off and they said
it's like getting a PhD almost they the much they learn over there you know after they've been laid off uh one engineer said it was really an education he he just learned like you he said
he learned a tremendous amount that he never would have able to pick up on his own he was very thankful for that too
well this was not a learning thing by any means it was just a uh
uh an assistance trying to find another job
to have an office yeah
yeah well he said he learned so much and how he thought he thought he had a PhD in how to get a job after he was through the whole process for for several months he did eventually get a job
oh uh-huh
well course i went through this uh what about five years ago they may have improved it considerably
yeah apparently it's very sophisticated and i guess it may be one of the best uh that anyone's doing
well that's one of those little uh
uh little extras that you don't see in the uh the the the handbook you know
right you're absolutely right that's a good one
it
what do you think about pensions anything on that or
well now i have uh uh i'm getting close to retirement
yeah
and of course i've been looking into it but uh
since i'm only a yellow badger i won't be getting a whole heck of a lot from TI as far as retirement is concerned
um-hum
right
what do you think of a pension that goes from one company to the other like an account like a 401K account i i've been thinking about that for years uh
i've never heard of such a thing
i know that's what i'm saying that that pensions you see just like you were you're saying you've only got uh so many years say you work for two three companies if you take your pension with you after you're vested
um-hum
and then just add the money together like you do with a 401K account you know
uh yeah
uh it's your account period it doesn't matter where you go or anything that's your account to roll over
i that that sounds like a hell of an idea i didn't know there was such a thing
no no there isn't i i'm saying that's the question what do you think could be better and i'm saying that pensions say in the year two thousand or more when social security goes away which it probably will
i think they ought to have a pension at least that you'd never lose you work for a company seven years
yes by all means well what would be the difference between that and social security
uh well social security's going to go to way i think and you can or you can invest your own money you have no control over your social security and it's not paid for by the current
like when say we retire after the year two thousand
social security's paid for by the twenty five year olds you know they may rebel
and you won't have any social security where if your money was in your account i mean you can never lose it it's there you don't have to depend on anybody to be putting that money in for you you know
yeah yeah
that's just a thought i mean i
uh-huh no i i like the idea course that's that's some something like an IRA
if they say which
yeah
yeah and instead of having a a socialized pension it just would be really money that you and your company maybe you had to put some money in it too i don't really know
uh-huh
but i i can see where they'd need to do something on that because
the statistics are you don't work for a company twenty years through no fault of your own you know
you work for five six seven and you you a lot of people i know guys
yeah that that's what i've done i i've bounced around about every ten years i change
yeah i have too but not not quite that often but uh yeah i've only got uh
i've got fourteen now here at TI and i hope to make twenty five but say if something happened to me i mean
you know they lay me off uh you have a pension but then you'd have to try to get a pension in another one it would be nice if they could get them together
um-hum
i do worry about medical though again knock wood that uh
i haven't used it i guess you i'm sorry you really do use it throughout the year because you get your teeth fixed and all that i mean i but i'm not i'm talking about major items i haven't used it for anything major
uh-huh
i'm glad it's there though
well knock wood i haven't used mine anything for anything major just doctor visits and
well i i have the uh the Homa i use Homa
yeah
and i like that uh a lot better than Aetna
i have the regular i again i just i haven't i can't complain about it because i haven't used it and every time i needed it it it it's uh you know
uh-huh
fallen right in line for the the minor things i guess i'm the one just supporting most of the others
well doesn't it work you don't see uh uh anything until you spend the minimum
don't you have to spend the minimum of two three hundred
uh yeah yeah i think it's two seventy five for a family but the dental is right away if you exams uh
yeah well now i have the same dental you have
okay yeah the medical you have to have a deductible
uh-huh now see i don't have a deductible
yeah right
i pay a straight five dollars for anything a doctor visit or drugs
well drugs are okay now i'm on that uh
plan where i take blood pressure medicine if you take an allergy medicine so anything you need a prescription for for more than six months you get it for used to be six bucks they just raised it to twelve
oh that one i haven't heard about
yeah that's a typical that's a typical one that's in there
the forms are right in personnel
uh-huh
fact you may be able to take care of take advantage of that it's through Baxter Labs
uh
yeah i have high blood pressure problems myself
well maybe you still can do that do you do you buy your pills one at a time
every thirty days at a time
well turn turn in your forms go right to personnel i don't know whether you have to about an HMO i don't think so
you turn you get your doctor to give you a more than six months prescription
and uh they're twelve dollars again they just were six they just raised them to twelve this year
twelve dollars for a three months supply
hum
or whatever whatever the the amount is uh i don't want to say three months but
uh-huh
it's a lot cheaper allergy medicine's really uh expensive and that blood pressure medicine is fairly expensive i take two
go right to personnel they got the forms in personnel and maybe i maybe i've told you go something you didn't know about in benefits there
um
yeah
yeah i just might do that
i do it yeah i you know it's a very common thing
it's through Baxter Labs tell yeah
well thanks thanks for the tip Jim i i shall look into it
yeah
what else i'm sure we're getting close to our five minutes whatever here
yeah
uh let's see we discussed uh uh medical and dental
what other benefits
uh retirement
yeah the salary continuation i think that's a great one but again a hope i never use that one that means you're really sick if you have to use that one
uh-huh
what about vacation
i'm satisfied with the vacation i don't know what else you know you nice to say you get another week
uh
and when i'm well i only got fourteen years so i'll get another week when i hit fifteen
uh yeah that's right
so that's that's fair i mean it's reasonable if four weeks is a lot i think
i know some people who have twenty five years and thirty and they want more but uh you know
um-hum
uh
well i'm uh i'm here i've got just eleven years
and i don't think i'll ever see a a silver badge i won't i won't be around that long
um-hum
well the way things go i think i'm going to have to work till i'm seventy five whether i quit and uh uh or when i retire get a part-time job