Saturday, November 10, 2012

Just another day of drug running down south


 
It was such a good plan, having our drugs handled by Wal-Mart.  They are everywhere, it’s easy to get in and out and we can shop while the prescription is being filled.  That was the plan anyway.

I tried to do this at the last location and after waiting for an hour they told me it was too soon, I would have to wait until November 6th.  No problem.  She had already destroyed my bottle and label, so she wrote down the prescription number and store number for when we arrive in Deming.

On November 6th I confidently dropped off the prescription, did my shopping and returned to pick up the pills.  Nope.  The other Wal-Mart refused to transfer the prescription.  Hmm, are there some territorial issues going on here?  After a half an hour wait while they called the other store, it was transferred but declared to be too early.

I had to wait until November 9th.  Perhaps the last person has an upside down dyslexia problem?  Oh well.  I’ll try it again on the 9th.

On November 9th we made a stop once more and when I saw the ten people waiting in line I decided to go get the other stuff on the list and return at the end of the shopping.  With my cart full of stuff now I returned to the scene of the crime and what good luck!  Only seven people ahead of me.  But the good news is that it was filled and ready to go.

Off I raced to the check out and again…such luck!  There was only one man ahead of me and with a purchase of one small pot – no lid even.  This can’t take very long.  Not so.  The clerk was waiting for the previous customer to return with the rest of the money owed, so the till was tied up.  Now I have an old man with an oxygen tank behind me, accompanied by his two grandsons.

We all waited patiently and during the delay I attempted to get cash from the ATM, the old guy said he’d save my spot for me.  After several tries it finally gurgled and spit out a receipt and said the PIN number was wrong.  Crap.  I gave up on getting cold hard cash and went back to the line.  I hadn’t missed anything yet.  No forward movement at all.

Now the line behind me has the old guy and the grandkids, a harried looking woman who is quickly losing her patience and a couple of other guys that looked stoned.  It’s just your normal day at Wally World.

Finally the debtor showed up with the rest of the money…what!  A handful of coins were all she needed?  I’d have gladly settled up her debt just to move the line along.  Okay, breathe…breathe…let it go.  She’s ringing up the guy’s pot…that didn’t sound right.  He paid for his small cooking utensil and she bagged it up and moved on to me.  Finally.

But not yet, ladies and gentlemen.  The person who held us up previously had left something behind, so our cashier sprinted out the door after her.  I’m ready to cross off the frozen part of my frozen yogurt by this point.  We all waited in line and stared out the door to watch the drama unfolding.  The old guy is in good humor, the cranky lady is now beet red and the two other guys, well…they may actually be coming down off their high by this time as they look a bit peeved also.

She came wheezing back to the check out and stood to catch her breathe.   Apparently she does not sprint often.  The old guy offered her a hit on his oxygen tank but she said no thanks and whipped out her inhaler.  Then she launched into a story about the machine she has for breathing treatments but she hasn’t used it in two years because she ran out of medicine for it.  Oh crap, this doesn’t look good.  I’m having visions of her going down on us here.

But after a short break she caught her breath and starting bagging up my purchases.  I kept smiling and nodding at her story and put things into the cart as quickly as she bagged and tagged them.  I swiped the credit card and got outta there!  Left Brain was waiting in the car and wondering what was going wrong.  I told him I was too tired to talk about it and we went home.  When I unpacked the groceries and set down to put the pills into their organizers I was a little concerned about having three bottles of pills.  The prescription is for a 90 day supply and they packed the order up in three bottles of thirty pills each.  Now these are not large capsules, ninety and many more would have fit in one of the bottles.  Sigh.  Oh well, at least I have them now.

Maybe I’ll see if I can find my drugs in Mexico when we land in Yuma and stockpile a bunch of them to avoid this happening again as I won’t be back to see my doctor until after the prescription expires.

 

Long Live the Queen of Pills

2 comments:

  1. What a beautiful sunset. As for your adventures at Wally world, it sounds like the new normal for many of their stores. At least your pills are in a bottle. Our store has changed how they package the pills. A lot of them are now in pre-wrapped cards, where you have to puncture the foil to find your pill. They are also elderly proof (I guess) because it is difficult to get the pills out. Progress? Hmmm. You have a wonderful night, hugs, Edna B.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Is this supposed to be your sunset years? If not, you might reach them just waiting in line at Wally World. That guy behind you actually didn't need oxygen before he got in line . That poor cashier, bless her heart . Yep I don't think that you'll ever short of material for your blog.

    ReplyDelete