The Frank Funny Farm

so some of you are aware of my dad's current situation, so you can skip a bit i suppose. anyway, the short recap i guess is this: four weeks ago he had surgery to straighten his big toe, which was so crooked it was laying on top of the two toes next to it. since he's on his feet all day and it hurt even to put his shoes on, he really needed to have the surgery. he can't go back to work until he's 100% with a doctor's note that says so, as he can't work in the orthopedic boot thingy due to OSHA regulations (he's a corrections officer). however, his (insert expletive here) company gives them no sick days, so he had to save all his vacation days and use them. i think that was 13 days. after that his "disability" kicks in. his "disability" is supposedly half the regular pay rate. thing is, they still take out all the tax witholdings, health insurance, life insurance, and whatever other stuff they normally take out. he got his first paycheck for the two-week cycle today. $9.98. no, that decimal is not misplaced. he has a minimum of two weeks before he can go back to work, possibly as many as four. what do these bastards expect people to do? how can you have so little regard for your employees? (the company is a government contractor by the way, and they certainly aren't small).

it's so frustrating all around. partly on a universal level in that anyone is treated that way, but mostly because they're my parents. my mom is not in good physical shape, to put it mildly. she gets a little disability from the government, which thankfully pays their mortgage and their other loans, most of which is debt leftover from the farm going under 10 years ago. too bad no one was putting corn in their cars and every foodstuff known to man back then. anyway, it's just stressful and infuriating. silly things like electricity and gas for cooking and hot water heating and house heating if it gets cold enough, and lots of prescriptions are apparently not important enough for his employer to think they might need them while he's recuperating and PHYSICALLY UNABLE TO DO HIS JOB, for which the pay is crappy to begin with. at least due to my dad's endless gardening and mom's resulting canning and freezing and that southern habit of feeding people to death in the event of even the slightest infirmity, they are in no danger of starving. ever, i dont think. which means, that my parents, really are in better shape than a lot of my dad's coworkers would be in the same situation. what about the single parents, single people, people with a non-working spouse or parents or something like that? it just makes me so angry i can't even speak. good thing i can type i spose. it's even more frustrating because i can't fix it, which i know is completely absurd, but it's true nonetheless. i'm also not helped by the fact that i can't even be there to help with whatever and give my mom a break from the world's most impatient patient so she doesn't murder him and / or have a nervous breakdown. it's frustrating to see - not even see, hear - my parents who are both genuinely good and decent human beings (not without their flaws obviously) having to deal with so much more than anyone should. daddy is 64 and has spent his entire life working to take care of mama and me, mama's spent her life working to feed us and cart me around to various sporting things, lessons and whatever else i was into - which was a lot - so that i had every opportunity i could. they both are truly good and caring and giving people who've never said no to the chance to help or give to anyone and what to they get for it, what have they gotten for it for so many years? shitpiles on shitpiles with shit sandwiches to eat.

and i can't do one damn thing about any of it.

Tags: health insurance, parental units, rant