… of this was to pay out... $34. And even better, after I confirmed that, yes, my address was the one on file that they had used to send me a letter, they said that the check would be sent out in... 3-6 weeks.

Ahh, Rube Goldberg devices are so amusing, aren't they?

#RubeGoldberg #Finance

7/7

… did mention this discrepancy to the representative, who was dutifully concerned and promised to bring it up with someone.

After proving myself to both silicon- and carbon-based individuals, I finally got to the point of the letter. Apparently they had tried to pay out the remainder of a 401k for a company I had left *five years ago*. A 401k that I had rolled over to my new company. But there were some dregs, and they needed to balance their books. So all …

#RubeGoldberg #Finance

6/7

… stream of invective that is produced by programmers and IT personnel. That's different.

So anyway, after proving my identity to the AI and then convincing it that, yes, I really did need to speak to a representative like the letter told me, I was directed to a person. And this very nice person had to verify my identity *again* - by sending me a code. I was highly amused. At least this time the notice with the code didn't say not to give it to anyone. I …

#RubeGoldberg #Finance

5/7

… someone was trying to scam me and steal my money. At best it was bad design. But I figured *I* called *them*, the number was in a certified letter from a financial institution that they made me *sign* for, and "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." Stupidity and incompetence seemed to be the theme of the day, so I rattled off the code.

By the way, I *hate* talking to computers. Unless, you know, it's the normal …

#RubeGoldberg #Finance

4/7

… representative.

So I called them. I of course got an AI agent. The AI agent told me it needed to confirm my identity by sending me a code. The message with the code said "Do not give this code to ANYONE! Representatives will NEVER ask for this code! Please, we beg you, be smart about this and DON'T give it to someone else! If you do it means you're being scammed!" (I may be paraphrasing here.) Now, this did actually stop me for a bit. At worst, …

#RubeGoldberg #Finance

3/7

… about it, but they didn't have it and said I had to go pick it up at the post office. Being lazy, I didn't. Friday, my doorbell rang and the mail carrier delivered the letter after getting my signature.

The letter was from a financial company, telling me that they had the wrong address for me in their records. This letter, delivered to my house, at my address, was telling me they had the wrong address. And that I needed to call them and ask to speak to a …

#RubeGoldberg #Finance

2/7