The interview was done in my living room in Latham with my fiancé, Sara, on Monday night right after dinner at 8:00. We were both sitting on the couch with our legs crossed and facing one another. I was holding my notepad, and Sara was petting our fat, black cat Levvy, on her lap. Sara is 24 and has worked as an insurance underwriter in Albany for about two years. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, and to most average people with decent vision she probably still makes the Top 20 list. Her stunning big blue eyes gaze into mine as she lovingly obliges to let me interview her. Her brown curly hair is up in a loose ponytail.
What are some of your responsibilities and tasks as an insurance underwriter?
I set the rates for large group health insurance. Um, I run corporate reports to evaluate the financial performance of the company, and I assess the risk of taking on a new group, based on the demographics of their population.
And in layman’s terms?
It means I’m a nerd. [Laughs] No, really, it means that I’m Ben Stiller from the movie Along Came Polly. Except that I assess risks for groups instead of individuals. And I’m cuter.
Yes you are. And what do you like about your nerdy job?
Everything. I love playing with the numbers. And it’s a good place to work. Um, I really, really like getting a paycheck every couple of weeks. [Levvy jumps off Sara’s lap onto the ground and runs away. Sara looks sad about his departure.] My boss is a really good guy, and the people I work with, for the most part, are good people. There are a lot of benefits with the company, little perks—they’re really good to their employees. But I really just enjoy the work itself.
Is there anything you don’t like?
Um, there’s this girl that sits behind me I can’t stand, but other than that, not really.
You sound disgustingly in love with your job—it must make your fiancé jealous. [laughs] Don’t you ever have bad days at work?
Of course, everyone does. If I argue with a particularly difficult marketing rep, I get frustrated sometimes. But even that’s kinda fun. I get to practice defending my point of view, and afterwards I get to come home and tell my awesome fiancée how well I stood up for myself.
What makes a marketing rep difficult?
The way the system works, the reps are rewarded for bringing in new groups, regardless of their quality. The underwriters then assess the groups to see if it’s financially responsible to insure them. So right off the bat, we have conflicting interests.
There’s a joke. An actuary, an underwriter, and a marketing rep are driving in a car. The marketing rep has his foot on the gas, the underwriter has his foot on the break, and the actuary is looking out the back window telling them here to go.
Actuary?
They’re the people who look at the past claims to predict the future ones. I guess it’s really only funny if you’re an underwriter. Ben Stiller’s character would appreciate it.
[Laughs]
[laughs] OK, so how frequently do you get what you would call a “difficult rep?”
I don’t know. They’re all a little difficult. I think the ones that really like stick out in my mind are probably like twice a month, and, they’re probably all the same person, it’s just how often we have encounters.
And however often you have those encounters is however often you come home angry, right?
[laughs] Pretty much.
You said that your boss is a good guy. What makes him a good boss?
Well he’s just a nice guy—a huge nerd, so we have a lot in common. He’s not the kind of boss who thinks your job is the only thing you have, and you’re religiously dedicated to the company and you’re there because you couldn’t imagine doing anything but spending every waking hour assessing risk and calculating premiums; he recognizes that there’s more to life, and he’s really understanding when it comes to stuff like taking time off or when personal stuff interferes with your work.
I mean, he expects you to get your work done, but he doesn’t micromanage; as long as it gets done, he’s cool. Plus he always makes sure that you’re constantly learning something, so work doesn’t become stagnant.
And what made you want to work there in the first place?
They offered me a job. I was outta work for a while, and I was pretty stoked, again, at the prospect of getting a paycheck.
Do you eventually want a different job?
Um, I would eventually like to advance in my career, but it could very well be in this field; it’s something that I enjoy. I may or may not decide to go elsewhere at some point but uh, for the time being, I’m gonna just stay where I am and work my way up.
I think that’s pretty much it.
Do you need more?
I don’t know.
You wanna push stop for a second?
[end]
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