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
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.
ReplyDeleteIs 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.
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