A couple of examples of people being shady and not doing honest business on a handshake. The first is:
Because I am no longer a full time employee, there are benefits I no longer receive. One of them is insurance, so I just bought life insurance on my own. We don’t have a lot of debt, so two months ago, I got a small policy: $100,000 of insurance. I applied and got several offers from different companies. One of them came up with a quote for $1300 per year and received a letter that I would be covered for $25,000 until my physical exam, after which it would be increased to $100,000 unless issues were discovered. I paid the first year in advance, lump sum. This morning I found a letter in my mailbox, dated two months ago on the face of the letter, but postmarked three days ago. It said that due to my diabetes, they can insure me, but at a higher rate, and they would bill me for the increased rate. I disclosed the diabetes in my application, and I still haven’t had the physical exam.
Maybe the fine print gives the company the legal right to do this. That isn’t my point. My point is that the company knew about my diabetes when it quoted the price, accepted my payment, and told me the rate could change if the physical uncovered a problem. No physical ever took place, and no new problem was discovered. Changing the price under those circumstances feels less like underwriting and more like bait-and-switch. The problem is insurance policies are long, complex legal documents backed by a large insurance company with tons of lawyers on staff. You take what they give you, and don’t fight. Any fight will be long, expensive, and will involve some sort of legal exemption buried in the 40 page legalese of the policy. They are free to screw you as they see fit.
The second involves my employer. First, an explanation of how nursing scheduling works. This is how it works at every hospital I have ever worked at: The schedule comes out for 6 weeks at a time. When the new schedule opens for bidding, nurses can begin bidding for days on the schedule, full time first, then part time, then PRN. You can place bids for available to work, want off, PTO.
That is, for two weeks, full time employees get to ask for schedule changes. Let’s say you are a full time and normally work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, but your kid has a dentist appointment on Thursday, so you request M-T-W this week. You would put in a bid for available to work Wednesday, request off for Thursday. As long as there is a spot, you get it. Alternatively, you could request PTO for that day, but that’s burning vacation for nothing.
Then for a week, the part time nurses bid for days that are left. Finally, the PRN nurses do the same for a week. After the four weeks of bidding are done, the schedule closes. The scheduler spends a week balancing and filling slots, then the schedule is posted. Once the schedule closes, no more requests are allowed. If you are assigned to work a day and can’t work, you either have to call in sick or find someone to swap shifts, which almost never happens.
Alright, so that’s the background.
You also know that recently, we haven’t had enough staff. It’s a regional problem- three different ED’s in the area that are part of the same hospital chain are critically short of nurses. They started offering bonuses for working extra shifts. I piled them on, and wound up working eleven bonus shifts in a single schedule. I collected nearly $5,000 in bonus money for picking up extra shifts.
When bidding began on the new schedule, I signed up for a total of eighteen extra shifts in a six week schedule- that’s 24 days of work in six weeks. One week, I am working five 12 hour shifts. Hey, I figured the bonuses wouldn’t last forever, and my wife is back to school as a teacher by then, might as well make some extra money. That would wind up being more than $23,000 in a six week period.
The day after the schedule was closed, my employer made an announcement: No more bonuses until you’ve worked 36 hours in a week. In other words, any full time employees get bonuses for every extra shifts, but part time and PRN dont get any unless picking up multiple extra shifts.
Whatever, I knew bonuses wouldn’t last forever. The prolem is the schedule is closed, so you still have to work the days you signed up for, but aren’t eligible for the bonuses that made you take them in the first place. Here is the closing of the email we got:
If you are interested in increasing your hours or exploring full-time opportunities, please reach out to management to discuss available options. Thank you for your continued dedication to our patients, your teammates, and our community. We are grateful for your commitment and the important role you play in delivering exceptional care every day.
I don’t care that the bonuses went away. We all knew they would eventually. What makes it shady was removing the bonuses AFTER people had volunteered to pick up the slack and telling them they can’t cancel the extra shifts. I value time off enough that I’m not interested in full time. I’m mercenary like that.
It’s enough of a “screw you” to anger everyone, but not enough of one to make you quit. What it does mean is that I won’t take one hour of extra shift unless I already have the details in writing, lest the deal get changed.
The part time and PRN nurses are all of the opinion that management deliberately waited until the schedule’s bidding process was closed. That locks the nurses into extra shifts for the last two weeks of the current schedule and the entirety of the next six week schedule, but without the employer having to pay the promised (and now retracted) bonus money. Eight weeks of nurses picking up extra shifts for a fraction of what it would cost to pay the promised bonuses.
Dishonest. Unethical.
OK, you got me. I am not going to quit over this, it’s not that big of a deal, as I still get my regular and overtime pay for it. However, it also means that I am highly unlikely to do you any favors in the future.
And don’t call us a team, because teamwork is a two-way street. Your employer isn’t your friend, they aren’t your buddy. This is a business arrangement, and I don’t come here because we are friends. I’m here for the money.
Both organizations made representations designed to influence my decision. After I relied on those representations, in one case by paying the premium, and committing to extra shifts in the other, they changed the terms while treating my commitment as irrevocable. Maybe their paperwork allows it. Our legal system means the fight is harder than the reward justifies. That does not make it honest. Nor does it make you ethical.
This is just how business is done nowadays. Get money however you can, and screw the other guy if he doesn’t like it. That’s his fault for being a gullible rube and trusting you at your word.
7 Comments
Joe Blow · July 21, 2026 at 6:52 am
That is the way things work now. Counter-party risk is a bitch. It’s why I’ve taken to stacking physical more than anything else. How do I know the life insurance is going to pay out after I’m gone, or not point to a technicality in some fine-print? When you have to SUE your medical insurance provider to get them to cover the procedure, you know you’re not dealing with the world we were sold/grew up in.
I think that was a big part of waking up for me? Accepting that things just ain’t like they ‘spoda be. I was raised in a world that worked a certain way (or appeared to), I was taught my world worked a certain way and how to navigate it… That isn’t how it actually is. I no longer am surprised when something goes Tango Uniform. Now I’m surprised at how long it takes for something to do it.
Steve · July 21, 2026 at 7:28 am
My experience with whole life insurance was awful. I bought it to use as a bank. Years later I found out I was not the only one with that idea. But since there were so many of us, they altered the terms through the years to the point that it no longer served the purpose I wanted. And the premiums had risen to the point I could no longer justify having the policy, and after looking through the alternatives, decided to let it lapse. So, naturally, the IRS hit me with a mid 5-figure tax bill, plus a high 4-figure penalty.
I’m not sure anything other than term makes sense anymore. They can and will unilaterally change terms over the years and screw you. Might as well take the lower premiums if you are going to get screwed anyway.
Sorry to hear that the lawyers have screwed up nursing, too. Here in Outer Midwestistan, they haven’t made too big of a mess yet, but it’s coming. More local businessmen are using on-line business management tools, so what used to be more or less honest boilerplate contracts have become urban shyster verbiage just short of outright fraud.
Kentucky Headhunter · July 21, 2026 at 8:48 am
When my father passed away a couple of years ago, my sister (his executor) had to threaten to sue one of the banks he had accounts with to acknowledge said accounts existed (she had 20 years of statements) and were now my mother’s (suffering from dementia and my sister was her POA) property. The fucks obviously have a policy of trying to hide/steal the money of dead clients from their estates.
Trust no one.
JBB · July 21, 2026 at 8:51 am
I worked for a large construction materials company for over 30 years. The last 15 as a salaried supervisor. We had meetings and all sorts of morale boosting events and incentives, but at the end of the day, no matter how much they say they love you and you’re such an asset to the team, screw up once or push back on a policy and you’re out on your ass before you can blink. Two things I learned. If it’s not in writing it didn’t happen and they are not your friends. What is best for the company rules over all.
Don Curton · July 21, 2026 at 9:26 am
I get dead tree mail, maybe 5 or 6 times a week, about supposed great insurance deals – life, house, auto, etc. All promising great rates that are way better than what I’m paying. The few times I actually followed up it was all bait-n-switch bullshit. I don’t trust any of them one fucking inch. I’ve had legitimate claims denied before too. So I pretty much assume they won’t pay up if there’s any way out of it. I only carry what I’m legally required (auto) or required by the financial institutions (home loan). Otherwise fuck’em.
JiminVA · July 21, 2026 at 9:49 am
Life insurance is nothing but a scam. Face the facts, all you need is enough for the pine box and excavation. Why bother with anything else. I see these ads on TV where the funeral home is packed with memorabilia from the deceased, food and drink, etc. Then you get to buy a nice $20,000 casket and that “Strongly recommended” steel vault plus the granite or marble headstone. Talk about burning money. You’ll soon be forgotten as though you never existed, believe me. Most of the time these days the life insurance company looks for an undisclosed hang nail to deny coverage. Put away just enough to get you into the ground, nothing more.
Divemedic · July 21, 2026 at 10:26 am
My life insurance is enough to replace the income my wife won’t be getting once I am gone. I already have made it known that I dont need anything fancy. Funerals are for those left behind.