Let's go to Kentucky!

No early morning calls from Sarah today, which is good news.

I got to work this morning, went to the kitchen, grabbed my first cup of coffee for the day and didn't even get to drink it. By 8:15 am I was on my way to Kentucky to investigate a fatality. If I could have picked a day to go, today would have been the day. It was gorgeous outside. The weather was perfect. I stopped at McDonalds, grabbed a coffee there and headed over the river into the Land of...what is Kentucky the land of? To my husband (who is from Kentucky) it's the land of the Wild Cats. To me, it brings to mind one of the hardest tests I've ever had to take in my insurance career. Holy cow. An adjuster has to really know his/her stuff to be licensed in Kentucky. I have licenses in Connecticut, West Virginia, & Rhode Island but none of those hold a candle to the Kentucky test.

There are a couple of things I need to point out about that test.

1. The study materials are FULL of misspellings and errors. Even some of the practice test questions have incorrect answers.
2. There aren't very many large cities in Kentucky. Like southern Indiana, once you get outside of the "city" you are truly in hillbilly country.

This begs the following questions:

1. Did anyone in Louisville or Lexington proof read the materials?
2. If I answer the question correctly on the actual test will I get it wrong if the answer is wrong in the study questions?

Don't get me wrong. there are many nice people in Kentucky (and Southern Indiana). But I seriously doubt if many of them could pass this test. Heck. There are people in my company with college degrees that had to take it 3 times before they passed. Luckily, I have uncanny test taking skills, and I've passed all my licensing tests the first time. Which brings me to another quick story.

We have had 7 "educational" sessions where I work to learn how to investigate accidents over a period of the last 7 months. After the last session, we had to take a test so the "big boys" would know we were paying attention, and prove that we learned something. (Interestingly, I passed, my boss didn't. HAHAHA!) Did I do any of those things I learned at the scene today? Ummmmm...I took photos. It was a SERIOUS waste of my time to go today. There was an attorney, a reconstruction guy from Canada, and independent adjuster, and me, all tripping over each other. The attorney talked to the driver and I got to ask a couple of questions. The independent adjuster will get the witness statement. The recon guy will do a very detailed analysis of the vehicles and the scene. So, I took some pictures. I stood around and admired the nice day and talked to the tow driver, ate at McDonalds twice, listened to almost an entire book on tape on the drive there and back, and will get paid for driving about 350 miles in my personal auto. All in all, not a bad deal for a day out of the office.