Well, it seems we may have accidentally created... a thing. Last month’s “mailbag” experiment — where we answered real questions sent to the Fund Office — has, rather alarmingly, sparked a bit of momentum.
Now, whether this is a stroke of genius or the administrative equivalent of poking a hornet’s nest is anyone’s guess. Possibly both. The best ideas usually hover somewhere between “that’s brilliant” and “please make it stop.”
There’s absolutely no rule that says I have to keep doing this — or, for that matter, write any newsletter. Yet, as you may have noticed, I’m a generous sort: naturally inclined to share, slightly compulsive about insight, and occasionally prone to turning even a minor misunderstanding into something mildly useful.
In short, if a question, an answer, or a happy accident can spark a bit of insight — or at least a knowing smirk — then I’d call that a reasonable use of everyone’s time.
So, the experiment rolls on. Here’s the next question that fluttered into the mailbag just before we went to print…
______________________________________________________________________
Q: I’ve noticed that some of the Funds monthly newsletter drift into subjects that are not benefit related. Like Octobers’ piece about shopping for new friends, and that fire drill story that somehow ended up with more golf than accountability. Why?
A: You’re right — every so often, the newsletter does drift off into subjects that don’t look like “benefits.”
Fair question: why?
Because your Local 697 benefits don’t exist in a vacuum. They live inside the same world we do — the one full of noise, uncertainty, connection, and the occasional absurdity. Pretending otherwise would make this newsletter little more than paperwork with punctuation.
Sometimes it’s good to zoom out. To notice how the same forces shaping our world — busyness, distraction, inflation, fatigue, humor — also shape how we think about our work, our savings, our Local and our well-being. The goal isn’t just to inform you about benefits. It’s to offer a small pause in a noisy week. A moment to think, to smile, maybe to see something from another angle.
So yes, I wander. On purpose. Because the world keeps barging in anyway, and sometimes the best thing we can do is make a little sense of it together.
And if you’re wondering whether it’s worth your time, I’ll ask you this: Do you feel even a little better off after reading it? Did it make you see something differently?
If so, then it wasn’t off-topic after all.