[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] are you a TIer
[speaker001:] no
[speaker002:] no
[speaker001:] no
[speaker002:] is somebody in your family a TIer
[speaker001:] no uh my fiancee works for the computers for the government and that's how he got it
[speaker002:] oh okay so who do you work for
[speaker001:] I just graduated from college
[speaker002:] so you don't have any benefits at all to talk about
[speaker001:] no
[speaker002:] you're just going to have to imagine what you would like as benefits
[speaker001:] or what I'm looking for
[speaker002:] oh okay okay well in in interviewing have you ever discussed benefits with some of the potential employers
[speaker001:] no huh-uh
[speaker002:] didn't get that far you normally just try to sell them on your uh aptitude and not you know well how much vacation do I get oh well
[speaker001:] no um
[speaker002:] well I'll tell you a little bit about what TI has as benefits we do have uh like most companies we have medical insurance although they're tending to try to really cut costs more and more um what they started with a few years ago is that they only would allow you to go to um set hospitals in the area they call it network hospitals they're hospitals
[speaker001:] oh yeah I've heard of that
[speaker002:] yeah they're hospitals that they're uh agreeing with uh TI that they'll be a certain rate you know for rooms and care and all that kind of stuff to keep costs you know costs down
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] now they're going to start to do the same kind of thing with doctors so it's almost like a um uh an HMO
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you know kind of thing that uh only certain doctors are you going to be allowed to go to and get the full coverage if you go to a doctor who isn't in the network then it will be less benefits that you get
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] we have some dental coverage now um but you have to pay a little more to really get something worthwhile Like I've had a couple of crowns recently and if you didn't have the extra dental plus um you only get like a third of your cost which can be kind of expensive with a crown so I I pay
[speaker001:] yeah it can
[speaker002:] yeah I pay for the extra dental plus so much more per month because it always seems like if you're going to have a crown or something major done it pays a little more
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] um we do have pension although I've realized recently that the pension doesn't seem to be too good and I know when you first start out working you're not thinking about that
[speaker001:] oh I like to think about that
[speaker002:] after you've been working for a while and you look at your pension account and you go is that all that's in there I don't think's it's going to pay too long when I get out um we do have a new thing that they've started a few years ago um it's not an I R A it's called a four oh one K plan it's kind of like pension you put in so much money and then TI um meets you half way up to a certain maximum so like I put in a dollar they put in fifty cents so
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] that grows pretty good and I think that will be more of something I can see of a pension than the regular pension plan
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] course you can buy stock in the company but you know that's not always a real for sure kind of thing course
[speaker001:] not always safe
[speaker002:] yeah especially with this one you know it kind of goes up and down I don't know if it's any different than other companies but you hate to have it fluctuate and like you know last year it was forty dollars a share and now this year it's thirty six dollars a share and you go gee I'm losing money doesn't quite feel as good
[speaker001:] um-hum yeah
[speaker002:] and we get you know vacation normally after you're here for six months and you start to get like five days every six months is kind of how they accrue it to you and it's one nice thing about TI is after you've been here uh for five years you get three weeks
[speaker001:] um-hum oh that's nice
[speaker002:] which a lot of places make you work like ten years or so before you get that much
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] and we get some we get uh decent holidays um we at Thanksgiving we always get the two days off which is nice to make a nice long weekend and at Christmas we always get two days at Christmas they float it around depending on which day of the week Christmas falls on
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] so that's nice so you always get two days at Christmas a lot of people just take you know that week I normally take that week somehow you know
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you only have to take three days of vacation and you get the whole week at Christmas time
[speaker001:] yeah well um I can just tell you like you know from my dad and my fiancee like my dad well there's twelve kids in my family
[speaker002:] whoa okay
[speaker001:] so uh the the dental was very important you know to my dad but um I think they took the dental away now he worked for United Telephone System it's you know it's just another you know telephone network
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and they took the dental away but now I think they're going to start getting into eye
[speaker002:] uh-huh oh yeah
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] yeah I think uh um I don't use the services but yeah I think sometime last year or just recently they started to give some kind of eye coverage you get discounts on uh glasses and I'm not quite sure there's certain places you can go to that have uh discounts for people that work here
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] so you can get glasses and contacts and stuff through those particular stores or something like that
[speaker001:] yeah and now for his pension he pretty much just has the stock but my fiancee he's on that same kind of pension as what you said only for everything he puts in they'll match it
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] up to a certain amount
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] like if he puts in a dollar they'll put in a dollar you know and then he's only allowed I think
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] I don't know if it's maybe five percent or something like that that he's allowed to put in and they'll match it so and um he works for the did you ever hear of the National Bureau of Standards
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] okay well he works for them they changed their name now but that's that's where he works and um
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] he his vacation is really nice he's going to be there three years at the end of this month and he'll be getting three weeks vacation
[speaker002:] gee that's pretty decent
[speaker001:] yeah yeah okay you know of course it's it's for the government and he has all the holidays off
[speaker002:] right and you get some extra ones federal workers always seem to get you know you get Columbus Day and Veterans Day and those ones that you couldn't really care about so much but you get the day off anyhow
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh he has it really nice it's nice where he works and um he seems to be very happy you know like his hospi talization and you know he has all that and with his doctors and stuff they have um a list of doctors that the employees can go to and it only costs a dollar as long as they go to that doctor you know and I think it works the same way with his prescriptions and stuff if he needs any
[speaker002:] oh yeah okay
[speaker001:] but you have to go you know to certain ones but still that works out really nice you know
[speaker002:] yeah we're doing an HMO right now um and when we go to get prescriptions it's five dollars so but so you know sometime sometimes when you go you know the prescription like my husband always takes which is kind of like you know contact stuff only better um you that's like a buck a capsule
[speaker001:] that's not bad either um-hum
[speaker002:] so if you've got thirty in there it normally comes out to about thirty four dollars so when you pay five it's a pretty good savings then there's other times that you know maybe the prescription wouldn't cost more than like seven or eight dollars and you pay five anyhow
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] so it isn't a percentage but sometimes you work you know you manage to make