Grant told me this morning I should take the afternoon off. To lie on the sofa by the fire with my book. To cuddle cats and cool my nerves.
Some days it feels as if everyone gets out of bed that day with the sole purpose of annoying you. And this would be one of those days.
Except it isn’t really people who are annoying me. It’s just “things”.
It’s that time of the month again. No, not that time. I am 72 after all. Or I will be momentarily. No, its time to fight the system to acquire my monthly supply of OMG, not, not a CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE.
That time of month. I know I talked about it before. Well it hasn’t got any less annoying and this month I really thought I had done everything right. But no. Total FAIL.
We were going to Hannaford’s one day last week, and it was precisely one month since my previous prescription was issued, so, bearing in mind that the Medical Center voice instructions (not allowed to speak to actual person. No, no.) say “for better service (meaning don’t bother us) contact your pharmacy and have them send us an electronic request”….I thought, “right, I’ll put it all very clearly on a piece of paper and hand it to the nice little chap at Hannaford’s Pharmacy.”
Which I did. Nice chap said “OK, I’ll do that for you, no problem.”
HA!
Knowing not to panic, I waited. Yesterday, after 3 days, I called the pharmacy just to see if possibly anything was “in the works”. Their website is supposed to tell you this, but it’s a snarky website and it’s choosy about what info it will supply and when, so you have to call and bother someone which they obviously don’t appreciate, but c’est la vie.
“No,” said the frosty lady “we haven’t had an answer back yet”.
Which, according to the Medical Center, was because they never sent the request. In other words, – they lie????
I was obliged to physically go to the medical center to obtain this info, because the only way you can speak to an actual person is to go in there and grab someone by the neck. No, I didn’t, of course, but one day soon…I may not be responsible for my actions….
But Medical Center lady also told me: “Oh, you can’t do that, – have them request the prescription for you. You have to do it yourself.” So I said “even though your voice instructions say…”
“Yes, because otherwise how do they know it’s you requesting it?”
I am still scratching my head about that, because if I call them up on the phone and say “hello, it’s me, can I please have my drugs?” How in the …. do they know it’s me then????
Besides which, my insurance company, never mind Hannaford’s, is most certainly not going to sell that prescription to anyone who cannot supply all the right answers to all those questions…..
OMG. I think I’m getting brain damage.
My instructions then were to call Hannaford’s “this afternoon”, and I was about to do so when I remembered their interminable LUNCH HOUR.
So in the meantime I figured I would pay some bills and all that exciting stuff but it’s cloudy out. The satellite that I am forced to have because my house is in the one part of Cambridge where you can’t get anything more efficient, can’t cope with clouds so now I may have paid one bill twice.
After I typed in my details the screen said “Wait….” but after a while you ask “for what, the Apocalypse?” So, bad, bad me, I couldn’t wait anymore.
I started working with computers in 1970 and have been typing in numbers all these years, numbers and more numbers. I used to find myself counting in my sleep because that’s all I did, count calories, money (mostly that I didn’t have!), weights for aeroplanes, passengers through the gate….
For a while they had me issuing tickets, and then I had to count miles, because a passenger is only allowed a certain number between point A and point B and if they exceed their allowance, now you had to calculate a surcharge and God forbid you travel on a weekend…..when ticketing went computerized I had to abandon the whole thing. It was one of those programes my brain could not assimilate.
In general I had an “issue” with ticketing. I viewed it as the airlines’ devious way of extorting every last penny out of the travelling public. What really used to piss me off was that “surcharges” and “upgrade fees” tended to be waived for the rich bastards that could easily afford them, but never for the poor slobs who couldn’t. It did not sit well with me.
I just went off on a tangent. This is what happens when I get wound up by total stupidity and irritating RULES that are put in place to vex the hell out of people!
But I don’t want to seem totally out of sorts, so I found these pictures for you of our wee ground hog from last year.
That’s when he was getting his nest sorted out in the Spring. Grant caught him on the videocam.
And of course it’s almost Ground Hog’s Day, so I am wondering how soon we may see our little friend.
I do enjoy seeing their cheeky faces looking at me through the kitchen window.
We haven’t had that many visitors lately….
Meanwhile it turns out that a request probably did come from Hannaford’s, but because I was not supposed to have them do that (although those are their specific instructions), instead of someone thinking: “oh! I wonder if Carolyn needs her prescription renewed, why don’t I call her?”, they toss it aside, file 13, I suppose. And as it’s now late in the day and everyone’s busy….too bad if Carolyn has a meltdown…..
I can’t wait to see what happens next month….
It’s lovely to see all your beautiful wildlife.
I hope you are doing better.
Such a frustrating experience you went through.
Oh Carolyn, I can identify with your pharmacy issues somewhat. For the last 21 days, I have been very sick with only God knows what. Some say the flu, some say pneumonia, I just don’t know. My different meds all are faxed in. No more paper scripts. The problem is that my new medicine Part D card only pays for “generic” drugs! So, I have no idea what I will pay until I get the big surprise when I get there. If I only had a name and a quantity, I could get it for maybe 1/4 the cost through a discount such as GoodRX instead of my so-called “insurance”. Of course, our issues are completely different, but I can identify with you because when you are in pain or ill, it seems that everything just goes wrong that can.
Oh yes, I paid my water bill twice, two days apart while I was at my sickest. No way to get it back unless I go in to the office. That’s not happening.
I hope you got it all sorted out for now.
I’m good for one more month. It just drains so much energy and I hate feeling like such an old nag, but it’s the only way to get what you need. But I am sorry you have been battling for so long and having issued with getting meds as well. I hope they have found something that will help you, finally? That is one nasty bug. Feel better!
Today is the first day in the last 3 weeks that I have even felt “human”, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, thanks!