[speaker001:] Well, what d-, do you think in terms of, uh, benefits?
[speaker002:] Well, personally, you know, I think, you know, of course I'm sure we're familiar with the exact same benefit package and I think that, uh, we've probably got one of the best around, you know, besides, they tend to offer ad-, adequate vacation, I guess. And the paid time off is wonderful, and, uh, one of the things that we were just talking about as a matter of fact this week at work was the CODA Plan that is offered and I think that is just a, a fabulous one, so. I don't know if you participate in that or not, but
[speaker001:] Absolutely.
[speaker002:] isn't it great? [LAUGHTER] It's just a, it's just a miracle that how fast that adds up, you know.
[speaker001:] Well, I have to agree with that. You know, I was thinking about, uh, importance of benefits and that kind of thing, other than salary
[speaker002:] Uh-huh
[speaker001:] while I was waiting for, uh, the system to find a, a respondent.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And I started thinking that over the years that importance has changed and I suspect that that's probably true for everyone.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] When I was much younger it was, uh, less important to consider retirement and less important to consider medical benefits. But as I grow older and my family grows, it, the medical benefits are more important and the retirement is more important.
[speaker002:] I had never really thought of it that way but I guess that's true, I guess that's true. I'm still young enough that, that, uh, the vacation's real important to me and the paid time off is real important to me and, and that kind of thing. But, uh, you know, I was just, as a matter of fact, I just, uh, celebrated my fifth year at T I the end of last month and, uh, kind of started looking through the, the book because of that, you know, now that I'm a hundred percent vested, you know, you kind of look through the book and see well, what exactly, what does that mean and what is the pension all about and, you know, when you're, when you're, you know, in your, I'm only in my late twenties now, so you tend not to think about retirement. But, uh, it's, I guess now is the time to think about it, so. Does T I have a pretty good retirement package, do you think?
[speaker001:] I think they have, uh, a-, one that we need to recognize that we're going to have to supplement ourselves.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And that's certainly one of the reasons that I'm sure that they've begun the, uh, CODA Plan.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] It's
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] certainly a, a supplemental way, uh, and I suppose if, b-, maybe in, in your instance, if, if you're started with T I in your early to mid-twenties, and happen to stay with them until you're sixty-five, then you'll have a very good retirement plan.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] But I had another career first and then came to T I a little later.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] So it's not, uh, all by itself it won't be adequate for,
[speaker002:] It's not going to build up,
[speaker001:] for my situation.
[speaker002:] quite enough, yeah.
[speaker001:] So, I have to find a way to supplement that.
[speaker002:] Yeah. Well, they just, they seem to make it so easy to save. You know, one of the things that we're doing which is probably the worst investment in the world, but I've got money coming out to buy savings bonds, just coming straight out of my check. And it's probably not a great investment, but if I wasn't doing that the money wouldn't be being saved anyway, you know. I kind of have to trade off, you know. If you never see it you don't spend it, so [LAUGHTER]. And it's,
[speaker001:] I unders-, understand though, it,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Uh, believe me, I do that myself.
[speaker002:] Do you? Yeah?
[speaker001:] And I disagree with you. I don't think it's the worst investment,
[speaker002:] Do you really not?
[speaker001:] in the world.
[speaker002:] I, I, fr-, you know, I, I debate about whether it's really good or not, you know.
[speaker001:] Well, it's, in terms of guaranteed return on investment and maybe you don't start looking for that word guaranteed,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] until later.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Uh, it's shown a history that, uh, sure beats anything else.
[speaker002:] Yeah, that's true. That's very true.
[speaker001:] Over many, many years.
[speaker002:] We went, uh, and did a, a thing through I B S which is a, like a financial consultant [NOISE] type thing here in Dallas and, uh, one of the things that we talked about with the counselor there was, [NOISE] you know, they work up this whole big, you know, proposal, profile for you, that, ev-, all the things that you need to work on and you need to do. And then one of the things that we talked about with her was, you know, the need to save for our son's education. We have a two year old, you know, and, and, you know, we can't start saving for college when he's sixteen, you know, we have to do that now. And, and uh, they have a way that they can figure, you know, what, you know, and he's two now, in sixteen years when he's ready to go to college, this is how much it'll cost, you know, and it's just really scary the thought of how much it's going to, it's, what it costs now is ridiculous, what it's going to cost sixteen years from now is just really scary. And they sat down and figured up that we needed to save like between fifteen and seventeen hundred dollars a year at a, oh, you know, six percent interest rate, to be able to have, you know, money for his college. And that's exactly what we have coming out in saving bonds, is, is, you know, about fifteen hundred dollars a year. So, I guess it, you know, in that way, at least we know that that's taken care of, you know. We, we can worry about other things so,
[speaker001:] I understand,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] that approach. That's,
[speaker002:] Yeah,
[speaker001:] what, that's exactly what's happening in my family.
[speaker002:] Is it really? Yeah.
[speaker001:] Un-, except that mine are a little bit older and, and I've shown them the numbers and said this is what's going to be available, all this is going to do is give you a little spending money while you're there.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] You better make sure that you've got a scholarship.
[speaker002:] That's right.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]. *slash error
[speaker002:] That's right. Well, that's what she said to us. She said, now, do you all want him to go to a, a state college or a private college? And, and our answer was, that, you know, we will have enough money available for him to attend a state college. And if he wants to go to a private college, he can get a scholarship to attend, you know. And that was kind of our view on it. It just costs too much, you just can't do it, you know. So, I don't know, it's, it's, I don't, uh, it just amazing, it amazes me how much the, the costs are going to go up over the next ten or fifteen years. I just don't know how anybody's going to do it.
[speaker001:] I know. *slash error should be 'aa' And boy, it gets really scary when you start talking to them. Uh, I have a, an eleven year old daughter now who's saying, gee, Dad, I want to be an allergist,
[speaker002:] Oh, goodness.
[speaker001:] and I said, that's wonderful. I applaud that. Let,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] me explain to you how you get scholarships to do that.
[speaker002:] Yeah. Exactly.
[speaker001:] {C And,
[speaker002:] Exactly.
[speaker001:] then } her little brother's only two years behind and he says, well, I don't know, I think that I probably want to be a veterinarian. And I said, that's great. Let me explain to you how you get scholarships [LAUGHTER],
[speaker002:] That's right,
[speaker001:] to do that.
[speaker002:] That's right [LAUGHTER]. Well, you know, T I, you know, T I offers some good stuff and then I think there's, I mean I think there's some negatives, but there's going to be some negatives anywhere, you know, no matter where you go. I have, you know, all, this is the first really large company I've worked for. I've always been involved in little small, you know, ind-, privately owned s-, owned firms and so I've never had the, the big benefit package. So, I really don't know how to compare it to other big companies, you know. It, when I came on it was great because I had never had anything even close to what, what they offered. So, I've been real pleased.
[speaker001:] Well, that's fantastic,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] and on whole o-, I would say that they're equal to, uh, most of our competitors.
[speaker002:] Think so?
[speaker001:] Uh, I can see some, some potential changes that probably are, are, would not cost very much but might, uh, make things a little easier.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Such as offering a, a smorgasbord. Having a larger variety of benefits but,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] but here's the amount, that, that T I is going to pay for it,
[speaker002:] Yeah, and you can pick what you want and, yeah.
[speaker001:] now it's up to you it's menu selection, so,
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] to speak.
[speaker002:] That sounds really good. I read a thing, I don't even remember if it was in the DALLASITE or the INSITE one, about uh, companies allowing you, and they said that T I was looking into it, to purchase extra vacation days. Which I thought sounded like a good idea. You know, if you've been there, you know, under five years and you get two weeks of vacation but that's really not enough and you want an extra week, then you can purchase an extra week of vacation by saying, okay, I'm going to want an extra five days this year and they'll take a set amount out of each paycheck, you know, and they're deducting it all along, so you, you can have an extra five days off and be paid for them at the time, you know, you're really not being paid for them, the money is actually coming out of your own pocket, but it's coming out a little bit at a time instead of all at once, you know. So, that is kind of an idea that, that a lot of people sounded like that they were really interested in and T I said that they were looking into something like that so,
[speaker001:] Well, I could certainly, personally stand seeing them go to a, a standardized compensatory time
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] for overtime.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And I don't believe any of us would have to purchase any extra vacation days,
[speaker002:] Well,
[speaker001:] if they did,
[speaker002:] true.
[speaker001:] that.
[speaker002:] True.
[speaker001:] Uh, and, and I would certainly support something like four to one or five to one or, or, you know, maybe they want to get generous and make it three to one.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Uh, a-, as a repayment for,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] every three to five days that I work overtime there,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] they should give me one day.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] But it should be a standard and, and not left up to either the whim or the current overhead rate t-, uh, that's running in each department.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh. Well, and, yeah, and, and a lot of that is left up to whoever your supervisor happens to be and what type of relationship you have with that person and, you know, I see a lot of differences, but, from one group to the next, you know, about who gets it and who doesn't get it, you know. But that's, and that's that way with a lot of things, you know, there. It seems like, it depends on what, what group you happen to be in, what, what you're going to get and what you're not going to get so,
[speaker001:] Well, that's for sure.
[speaker002:] Which is the same, but, but then it's probably that way anywhere, you know, that's,
[speaker001:] Oh, I'm sure personalities always come into play.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Uh, just in this size of organization,