|
Post by valkyrie on Jan 28, 2010 16:42:56 GMT -5
"I think its a safe bet I'm not buying drinks for these two."
We get a little pissy and lose our free drinks? Oh the humanity!
|
|
|
Post by privateatty on Jan 28, 2010 18:26:53 GMT -5
"I think its a safe bet I'm not buying drinks for these two." We get a little pissy and lose our free drinks? Oh the humanity! Aw val, ya know I'd buy you a drink or three any day in the week. And my friend patriotsfan and you can argue to your heart's content. ;D Or maybe not... Few things would make me happier.
|
|
|
Post by newbee on Feb 3, 2010 12:25:06 GMT -5
Patriotsfan, I sent you a private message.
|
|
|
Post by privateatty on Feb 3, 2010 20:09:19 GMT -5
"I think its a safe bet I'm not buying drinks for these two." We get a little pissy and lose our free drinks? Oh the humanity! See, and people think Val and I can't agree on anything. I'm with you on this one baby! "Priorities" are becoming an ALJ on this Board. I can speak for myself and a bit for pf that the relationships made on this Board and information gleaned therefrom were instrumental, if not determinative. val and pf hunkered down and soldiered on despite what she deemed almost insurmountable odds and he, a total dis and got the job. All along the way we bickered and yes, supported each other, even with sarcasm and harsh words... priorites are hardly the drink, but the bending of the elbow.
|
|
|
Post by valkyrie on Feb 4, 2010 7:32:36 GMT -5
The beautiful thing about this board is that it allows you to at least feel like you are doing something during a process in which you are subjected to extended periods of anxious waiting.
At this point the application is over in 48 hours, the SI and written are each a day, the cert information packet takes about a day, and the agency interview is a day, but the entire process from application to selection notices takes almost a year.
So, while you anxiously wait, you can peruse or spread rumors on this board, or have even more fun poking sticks at crazy people.
|
|
|
Post by privateatty on Feb 4, 2010 8:49:44 GMT -5
The beautiful thing about this board is that it allows you to at least feel like you are doing something during a process in which you are subjected to extended periods of anxious waiting. At this point the application is over in 48 hours, the SI and written are each a day, the cert information packet takes about a day, and the agency interview is a day, but the entire process from application to selection notices takes almost a year. So, while you anxiously wait, you can peruse or spread rumors on this board, or have even more fun poking sticks at crazy people. There's alot of folks on this Board who started in May, 2007 and have been three-striked and passed over. It took me a year to get my old pre- May 2007 app together (long story) and then another two years after that to finally get hired. Didn't it take you longer than a year, val?
|
|
|
Post by valkyrie on Feb 4, 2010 9:56:37 GMT -5
The beautiful thing about this board is that it allows you to at least feel like you are doing something during a process in which you are subjected to extended periods of anxious waiting. At this point the application is over in 48 hours, the SI and written are each a day, the cert information packet takes about a day, and the agency interview is a day, but the entire process from application to selection notices takes almost a year. So, while you anxiously wait, you can peruse or spread rumors on this board, or have even more fun poking sticks at crazy people. There's alot of folks on this Board who started in May, 2007 and have been three-striked and passed over. It took me a year to get my old pre- May 2007 app together (long story) and then another two years after that to finally get hired. Didn't it take you longer than a year, val? May 2007 to September 2009, and three-striked on three certs.
|
|
|
Post by privateatty on Feb 4, 2010 18:17:21 GMT -5
May 2007 to September 2009, and three-striked on three certs. Actually you were NOT three-striked or you would not have been selected as an ALJ. I don't want anyone to get confused by this. You get three-striked once, not on each certificate. Once you are three-striked, you never are considered again on any future certificate. Val may have been considered more than three times, which is possible at SSA's discretion, but she was NEVER three-striked. Yes, val was not considered or she was passed over, but not three-striked.
|
|
|
Post by lawdog98 on Feb 6, 2010 14:46:50 GMT -5
All I'll say from sources who were insiders and became ALJ's to some who have resigned from the agency is be careful what you wish for and be realistic about yourself and the job.
|
|
|
Post by privateatty on Feb 9, 2010 8:36:42 GMT -5
All I'll say from sources who were insiders and became ALJ's to some who have resigned from the agency is be careful what you wish for and be realistic about yourself and the job. This is true. I know 3 ALJ's from the 2008 class who left to return to their former jobs. I know another 3 who have moved on to other agencies. And it is interesting to talk to former ODAR attorneys who got this job. They have gone from the opinion that "ALJ's don't have to work" to "I can't believe how busy I am." It's a great job but not the end all be all. The last real "job" I had before this one was as an associate. A long, long time ago. And I don't hear anyone complaining about the demands of being an ALJ after coming from private practice. It would be a joke. This is the first time in 30 years that I get to have two whole days off each and every week! And paid vacation without clients calling and emailing and crying about how they have no $! And filling out a malpractice app every year? Don't get me started! The Judge who hired me in our little agency told me that ODAR three striking me was their loss and his gain. People give me tons of respect and shower me with kindness. But the thing that irks me most about these posts is that the privilige in becoming part of the ALJ Corps is really and truly a profound one. pf and I get that, partly I think from our associations with other ALJs. You begin to see that while ODAR is the 300 lb gorilla in terms of hiring they have a very limited impact outside their own strange and peculiar world and that there are many scores of other Judges in lots of other agencies doing all kinds of important, interesting work.
|
|
|
Post by nonamouse on Feb 9, 2010 13:00:09 GMT -5
This is true. I know 3 ALJ's from the 2008 class who left to return to their former jobs. I know another 3 who have moved on to other agencies. And it is interesting to talk to former ODAR attorneys who got this job. They have gone from the opinion that "ALJ's don't have to work" to "I can't believe how busy I am." It's a great job but not the end all be all. The last real "job" I had before this one was as an associate. A long, long time ago. And I don't hear anyone complaining about the demands of being an ALJ after coming from private practice. It would be a joke. This is the first time in 30 years that I get to have two whole days off each and every week! And paid vacation without clients calling and emailing and crying about how they have no $! And filling out a malpractice app every year? Don't get me started! The Judge who hired me in our little agency told me that ODAR three striking me was their loss and his gain. People give me tons of respect and shower me with kindness. But the thing that irks me most about these posts is that the privilige in becoming part of the ALJ Corps is really and truly a profound one. pf and I get that, partly I think from our associations with other ALJs. You begin to see that while ODAR is the 300 lb gorilla in terms of hiring they have a very limited impact outside their own strange and peculiar world and that there are many scores of other Judges in lots of other agencies doing all kinds of important, interesting work. You know to each person who is hurting and hoping for some medical care or medicine or a few dollars to prevent the loss of everything that they worked for all of their life, I'm sure even us poor slobs at ODAR are doing "all kinds of important, interesting work." Since you have have not done hearings at our agency, please don't compare what we do to what you do based solely on 3rd hand info from this board. The vast majority of ALJs don't post here, but many do read it from time to time. We may not get the respect that we should from management at some of the agencies or attorneys appearing before us all of the time, but can we agree that the position deserves respect no matter the agency assignment and stop the comparisons? We all get it that you don't like SSA, but guess what, the ALJs hearing their cases are not the SSA management. Even if we don't agree with you about everything that happens there, we have a much better idea of what happens on a daily basis and the importance of the work to the American people than someone who never worked there. Our ALJs see the faces of many hundreds of people whose lives we impact every year. We frequently have to make heartbreaking decisions to deny benefits on the facts while knowing that these people have little hope of getting help elsewhere for things that will devastate them sometime in the future. Some of us choose to work more directly with people rather than dealing with more remote regulatory issues and the like, but the implication that it is less "important" than hearing fewer adversarial hearings at another agency is really irritating. SSA is not a mere stepping stone to most of the ALJs hearing its cases, so I'm just as thankful as you are that you were spared the unimportant and uninteresting work of serving the American people in our midst.
|
|
|
Post by valkyrie on Feb 9, 2010 13:51:47 GMT -5
"People give me tons of respect and shower me with kindness."
That shower is also known as "pissing down your back."
|
|
|
Post by decadealj on Feb 9, 2010 13:54:35 GMT -5
I think the real issue is that in no other federal agency do non-attorney managers control ALJs, from selection to the hearing process other than ODAR. It hasn't always been that way- it started with HPI, the renaming of OHA to ODAR and SSA, via the hiring process and selection of regional chief judges, Ebiz et al. In doing so SSA usurped a judicial function, the APA and redefined due process. The worst thing is they know not what they do- they don't have a clue.
|
|
|
Post by privateatty on Feb 9, 2010 15:37:28 GMT -5
The last real "job" I had before this one was as an associate. A long, long time ago. And I don't hear anyone complaining about the demands of being an ALJ after coming from private practice. It would be a joke. This is the first time in 30 years that I get to have two whole days off each and every week! And paid vacation without clients calling and emailing and crying about how they have no $! And filling out a malpractice app every year? Don't get me started! The Judge who hired me in our little agency told me that ODAR three striking me was their loss and his gain. People give me tons of respect and shower me with kindness. But the thing that irks me most about these posts is that the privilige in becoming part of the ALJ Corps is really and truly a profound one. pf and I get that, partly I think from our associations with other ALJs. You begin to see that while ODAR is the 300 lb gorilla in terms of hiring they have a very limited impact outside their own strange and peculiar world and that there are many scores of other Judges in lots of other agencies doing all kinds of important, interesting work. You know to each person who is hurting and hoping for some medical care or medicine or a few dollars to prevent the loss of everything that they worked for all of their life, I'm sure even us poor slobs at ODAR are doing "all kinds of important, interesting work." Since you have have not done hearings at our agency, please don't compare what we do to what you do based solely on 3rd hand info from this board. The vast majority of ALJs don't post here, but many do read it from time to time. We may not get the respect that we should from management at some of the agencies or attorneys appearing before us all of the time, but can we agree that the position deserves respect no matter the agency assignment and stop the comparisons? We all get it that you don't like SSA, but guess what, the ALJs hearing their cases are not the SSA management. Even if we don't agree with you about everything that happens there, we have a much better idea of what happens on a daily basis and the importance of the work to the American people than someone who never worked there. Our ALJs see the faces of many hundreds of people whose lives we impact every year. We frequently have to make heartbreaking decisions to deny benefits on the facts while knowing that these people have little hope of getting help elsewhere for things that will devastate them sometime in the future. Some of us choose to work more directly with people rather than dealing with more remote regulatory issues and the like, but the implication that it is less "important" than hearing fewer adversarial hearings at another agency is really irritating. SSA is not a mere stepping stone to most of the ALJs hearing its cases, so I'm just as thankful as you are that you were spared the unimportant and uninteresting work of serving the American people in our midst. What an AMAZING misunderstanding! I agree with EVERYTHING you say nonamouse! Of course you and the ALJs at ODAR do important work! My God, try to say otherwise to a Claimant with a favorable in his or her hand. What I was TRYING to say was that for ODAR ALJs to quit being an ALJ based upon their experiences at SSA seemed short-sighted. Also, that y'all need to get out and around a little--like at FALJC. I was also championing being an ALJ! And truth be told I was probably seen as a potential troublemaker at my SSA Interview. There. Feel better? No, you get nothing but a big hooray from me! And val, the only thing I want to pour down your back is pf's drink--by mistake of course!
|
|
marathoner
New Member
"The race belongs to the person who takes the first step."
Posts: 8
|
Post by marathoner on Feb 13, 2010 15:08:11 GMT -5
Now let's get back to the topic of this thread......who likes the idea of a new drink called "Priorities" with the person buying the drinks determining what goes in it? I'd love to be with PF, Val, and PrivateAtty when this is accomplished, regardless of who is buying the drinks and determining the content! Can you just imagine the arguments and chivalry that would ensue? Best of luck to all in the race! Marathoner
|
|