Monday, December 12, 2011

Shopping and Other Things

Feeling better means that I have to get out and run my own errands. He who has been my errand boy left early this morning on a job that will keep him from home until a lot later this evening. He is on the road and unavailable to go to the store. His prescriptions need to be filled. He only has one day left on one of them. I want to do some baking and I need supplies, mostly butter and flour.

So, I get ready to go out into the big wide world. Don't want to, mind you. The memory of my last panic attack still too fresh in my mind. But, I drink my coffee and convince myself that I can do this all by myself. Errand boy extraordinaire has my little bug all fueled and ready for me (remember, I do not do this, being delicate and all). Dreary skies follow me all the way.

I have been ensconced in my sewing room with my happy light ablaze (thanks to my daughter and son-in-law) every day for at least 5 hours. This dull gray light is a little disheartening. I spy the state troopers positioned all along the interstate and I keep my speed just two miles over the speed limit. I make it to WalMart and turn in the prescriptions with instructions on how many I want of each one, then prowl the store for bargains and my list of necessities. I arrive back at the pharmacy an hour later and join the others in the long, long line.

Finally I reach the front of the line and am excited to be nearly done and on my way home. Because there were so many waiting and I was anxious to get home, I did not open the bag and check each prescription like I normally do. I was started to get that little tingle at the nape of my neck and knew I had to be on my way.

I loaded the car and got in and started the engine, carefully waiting for the glow plug light to go out. It can be a little cantankerous in cold weather. The gear shift did not want to come out of "park". It has done this before. I turned off the engine and tried again. It worked. I wanted to pick up an iced tea to drink on the way home, so I pulled out of the back side of the parking lot in order to go through McD's drive-thru. Two big trucks were blocking access, so I pulled into the parking lot of my favorite consignment shop ...... who knows, maybe they had a bargain I could not live without.

I did not linger long in the shop, not finding anything I wanted to give a second glance to and went outside to see that the street I wanted was clear. I was ready to be home and the shop had been stuffy and hot. Got in the car and it stuck in "park" again. I tried all my trusty little tricks. I tried everything I could think of. No luck. So, I called he who cannot hear. He is in Illinois picking up a truck. He shouts instructions to me (why do people who can't hear you assume that you can't hear them?). He tells me to do everything I have already done and nothing is helping. If I turn the key part way I can get the gear shift to move ...... But, unless you are in "park" or "neutral" you cannot start the engine and when you start the engine it won't move to reverse or drive. I was almost in tears and the panic was coming full on. I was blubbering about my butter melting and how I just wanted to go home where my happy light waits for me.

I finally agreed to wait for a tow to come get me and my butter and drugs. I started stuffing everything into as few bags as possible to be able to unload quicker. Then I decided to pick up all the trash that had accumulated. I pulled the emergency brake and after cleaning up and releasing the brake I decided to try again. For whatever reason it started and went into gear and I was able to drive home. I cancelled the tow (in case you were wondering).

Made it home and only two dogs escaped as I brought in the bags. Fortunately, it was the male dogs and they have had too many swats from my fly swatter to disobey my command to get back inside. I opened the bag with the drugs. As anyone who watches TV knows, there is a list of drugs that WalMart will fill a 90 day supply of for only $10. Knowing this, why would you get a 30 day supply for $4? And yet, I always have to tell them. Always. One of the drugs he takes is $70 a month, so I only get a 30 day supply. I am always hoping it might go down in price, since it is already the generic. They got that one right. They got all of them right except the cheapest one. It comes in those hated prepacked blister pack things. There should have been 3, there was 1. I checked carefully and the amount was right there on the 1 package as 90. I pulled it opened and counted to make absolutely sure that the packaging had not changed, but there were just 30. It happens. I called and asked to speak with a pharmacist, since I know that this is the only person who can fix the error. I must have gotten a newbie. She listened carefully as I told her what had happened, then she told me to hold on.

She did not put the phone on hold and I could hear her as she asked how to access the information relating to the prescription in question. She wanted to know how to tell if I was lying ........ Then she pulled up the screen with the image of the RX the doctor had written. She then decided that I had only gotten 30 because it was written for 30. Having worked at WalMart before, I could have answered all of her questions and told her how to pull that information up. While it is true that the doctor had written #30 on the prescription with 5 refills, the customer can buy as few or as many covered in that prescription as long as it is not a controlled substance. And if I was going to try to rip WalMart off for some pills, let me just say that it would not have been the cheap ones, but the ones that cost $70 a month.

She finally came back to the phone and told me to bring "it" back and she would fix it. I had just driven 46 miles to get them and was loathe to hop into a car that had already sent me into a panic attack with gear issues and go back over what amounted to less than $10 worth of something. I simply told her that I was not willing to do that and she handed the phone to the other pharmacist who verified the name and RX# and my address. They are sending the other 60 to me.

A cup of tea, a happy light and a fire. I am feeling better.

8 comments:

Val said...

Walmart. The Devil's Playground.

Brian Miller said...

at least they are sending it and you dont have to go back, right? ugh. light that happy light...

SkippyMom said...

I think it is fabulous that they are sending it to you. There is not a single place here, Wal Mart or no, that would send it no matter how far you drove.

This is one of the reasons I always watch when they ring of my purchases, so I can catch the price, especially on prescriptions. It really aggravates the cashiers, but tough beans - I don't want to go back.

I am glad you are back safe & sound. I like the idea of your light for SED. I know how dreary those winter months can get. :)

mamahasspoken said...

I don't like shopping at Walmart and after reading your story, don't like it even more.
Here's to you keeping on the road to recovery.

squawmama said...

I get the panic attack sometimes in Walmarts... they can be so hectic!!! Stay Calm
{{{HUGS}}}
Donna

Sextant said...

Got a little taste of your experience my self. My crappy 9 year old computer has been threatening to not restart. I had a 30 minute reboot the other day. So now that I am retired and have no reason to maintain any compatibility with the rest of the world, I decided to try going the Apple route. So I decide on a machine, the cheapest iMac. I can order it through the internet, which is my normal practice. But I wanted to eyeball the real thing, so I decide to go to the nearest Apple store in a huge mall. I haven't been in this mall for about 6 years. I waited till Monday because I knew I would go crazy on the weekend. So after a couple of lane blunders trying to get there, I am somewhat disheartened. I park the car 22 miles away from the nearest entrance so that I may still have some paint on my fenders. Go in find the store, which is on the other side of the mall. Then go have a look. I like it, then I let the salesman talk me into buying it at the store, because it is the same price and I don't have to worry about shipping damages or sitting on my porch or ....bla bla bla and besides they can help me set up right there in the store. Cool. Well not so cool. I got to come up with passwords, put in my credit card info, decide how I want certain things, bla bla bla bla. Meanwhile we are doing this right in the middle of the store and he is taking care of other people while I try to blunder along with a track pad and a tiny keyboard made for elves without MS. I am getting hot, my ears are burning, people keep brushing behind me, I can't think of a frigging password, it doesn't match when I confirm it, my credit card number is on the 21.5 inch screen in 190 point font with neon lights pointing to it saying to all passerby's "here need help with your Christmas bill". The g.d. track pad won't accept my single click. I can't get the f'ing screen with the credit card number to close, people keep brushing against my back...its getting hotter than hell, damn it close and get my credit card number off the screen. Error messages, your version of lion must be updated, people brushing my back...the damn credit card number is still visible, i can't figure out how to scroll with the track pad, screens disappear, then reappear, my sales associate is helping some kid with an iPod...my credit card number is still on the screen...Please put this in the box let me go home where I can figure it out in my 62 degree house without people brushing my back and gandering at my credit card number. Which by the way here it is

1234 5678 9012 3456

My friends may as well have it because half the g.d. world seen it yesterday in the Apple store.

I carried my new computer and printer (free with rebate) to the food court, fetched my poor starving wife, carried it to the nearest exit, and fetched my car. I got home, I have a new toy and I am exhausted. I have to take a nap. Next time, look, do not talk to a salesman and order the frigging thing from the internet.

I can feel for you, I was definitely starting to lose it in that store yesterday. I am glad they sent your Rx to you.

Now if I can figure out how to get the cursor down to the PUBLISH button...

Joanne Noragon said...

I've had that conversaton with my druggist. Through clenched teeth. I did not win. Probably because my round trip is only 20 miles. I bookended that one with calling my doctor from the counter to confirm that substituting a generic for a no substitutions prescripton what the drugstore's doing and they needed to stop lying about it. I made sure all adjacent customers understood the gist of the conversation. They know me. Now every clerk takes every bottle out of every bag and shows me it's right. Sad it comes down to this.

Rae said...

The dreaded Walmart pharmacy - I've had my own nightmare experiences with them. Glad to hear you survived relatively unscathed and that you are safe and sound at home. Enjoy your baking.