The Rechabite
Alan Latham didn’t like me very much; he resented me for sure! I’d been foisted upon him by Mr Bucknell as his deputy and he’d had no say in the matter. Mr Latham was the ‘Claims Manager’ and a very highly qualified man too, on paper. He was a Fellow of the “Chartered Institute of Australia” an FCIA or something like that and he liked that sort of thing. I’d been in Insurance in Australia since 1951 and hadn’t bothered with the Institute and their exams. He set great store by them.
And here I was, suddenly dumped on him, his new Assistant Claims Manager, with no qualifications as such, 22 years old looking 15 or 16 and a drinker; and who was for some unknown reason Mr Bucknell’s blue eyed boy. Well that part was true, my eyes certainly are blue, probably a bit watery by now but blue nevertheless.
My first meeting alone didn’t go over too well, I had no idea how a Lloyds broker handled claims, I’d only worked for tariff companies like the Royal and Hartford, except for 3 weeks at a non tariff mob the N & G, I gave them notice after one week because I didn’t like the way they operated; when I handed my notice into the boss there she; yes a female boss in 1956, and told her that I didn’t want to ruin whatever reputation I had in the business she had the temerity to say that she needed people like me to give the company a good appearance, nowadays I suppose they’d say profile.
Anyway I told her I’d work out the 2 weeks required but I’d be leaving.
Done it again off on a tangent, back to my first meeting with Mr Latham, I said to him when we were alone something like ” I suppose you want me to look at a claim and see how we can get out of paying it!” he came back “If that’s the way you think and work you can walk out the door right now” (I told you he didn’t like me) “we don’t work like that here we look at a claim and say ‘can we pay this’ and if we say yes; we pay it. We don’t look for a way out we look for a way in”. And that was true, never ever did I look for a way out of paying any claim while I was there!
I’ll describe another time some of the more memorable claims I handled just for fun and some were believe me!
Being the ACM I was required to deal with ‘Loss Assessors’ ‘Solicitors’ and senior claims management at other companies, tariff and non-tariff and strange as it may seem a lot of this work was done and settlements reached over a couple of drinks. I’d learnt to drink a half scotch and water which I could handle a lot easier than beer. ( I was known as a 2 pot screamer on beer).
And this was the advantage I’d brought to Harvey Trinder; I could go out and negotiate a fair outcome over a quiet drink in neutral surroundings when the need arose. Mr Latham couldn’t; he was a “Rechabite” .
I had an interesting couple of years at Harvey Trinder’s so I’ll probably come back again and bore you some more 🙂
LordBeariOfBow 
Reblogged this on LordBeariOfBow and commented:
Thought perhaps now is a good time to bore what few that are left; some more 👿
Bit more Harvey Trinder trivia, sort of ……. 😛
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Great read. More please.
Ira
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I’ll do my best Ira, might do some more on this subject. 😛
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Still cannot click LIke. Not just on your site either. It’s a fault affecting other bloggers too.
I love this story Brian, just as I enjoy reading all your posts. 🙂
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Thinking of getting back into the swing of it Sue, been busy getting the stuff for the girls ready, got probably 80 pages worth now
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You had found probably the only company that willingly paid claims!!
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We represented Lloyds of London, GP and they were, I’m not sure if still are, but I believe so, honourable organization, probably because they are not a company, basically they are bookmakers, Might do a post on that.
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Sounds like a plan!
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These are all fascinating stories Brian, keep them coming. My friend stopping with me at the moment lived in Port Hedland for many years from the 70s. I showed her your Shay Gap video last night. She was very interested, and marvelled that she hadn’t heard of the place, event though she lived so “close”.
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I’m trying valiantly to educate the masses Gwen but finding it’s getting harder, perhaps I should increase my booze intake
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That’s okay. I can take care of that part for you.
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How come I’m not surprised? 😅🍻🍺 🍸🍸 😜
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A great advantage!
(I’d love to hear more!)
You are you and I love that! Everyone should just be 100% themselves in their life!
HUGS!!! 🙂
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and you probably will Carolyn 😛 🍻🍺 🍸
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YAY!!! 🙂
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I completely understand the frustration of
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(Well that’s weird) I will start again. I understand the frustration of having experience and skill but not having the prized little piece of paper. A great story.
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I was never frustrated, and if I write further on this you’ll understand why, toying with the idea of Rechabite 2, not to me confused with Rocky 2
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Why I never made it big in life . . . not a drinker, am I.
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