So, I’ve had all sorts of trouble with a drug store in our little town. I wrote about it here, and some pharmacist flew off the handle. Remember that?
Well, last time I was there I got a 90-day supply of blood pressure pills, and told the couldn’t-care-less cashier they had one more chance. If they screw up my next prescription, in any manner, I’m walking. And the mule-stupid bitch looked back at me with dead eyes, and ludicrous earrings, and shrugged, “Whatever.”
So, I went over there a few days ago to pick up my next 90-day supply — after I received a phone call telling me it was ready — and they had “no record of it.” They called my cell phone, and told me it was ready! And now they were baffled and confused as to why I would think I had something ready for pick-up.
You see? People think I exaggerate, and walk around waiting to be irritated. But this kind of crap happens ALL THE TIME. The cashier didn’t even offer to investigate, and try to solve the problem. Oh no. She just kept saying, “Don’t have anything for you,” and looking over my shoulder, willing the next customer to approach the throne.
I’ll never set foot in that shithouse again. They don’t care, I know, but it’s about all I can do. Everybody says you shouldn’t do business with bloodless corporations, and stick with Mom and Pop stores instead. But what happens when Mom and Pop are a couple of fuck-ups who hire nobody but surly GED whores to be the face of the operation?
What percentage of the American population actually gives a shit at this point? What’s your guess? 40? Or is it lower? The amount of incompetence I encounter blows my mind. It’s everywhere, in every nook and cranny. When you call for a doctor’s appointment… when you get an oil change… when you order a freakin’ pizza… It doesn’t matter. People are lazy, unfocused sacks of shit.
I’ve gone mail-order with the pills. It’s been a giant nightmare, from day one. Target also sucked ass. This blood pressure medicine has done nothing but raise my blood pressure. Grrr… Stay tuned.
Also, a few days ago I decided I’d start using my personal Facebook page a little more. I’m feeling a bit isolated, because I do nothing but work and struggle with the Rubik’s Cube that my book manuscript has become. So, I thought a little mindless Facebook interaction would help.
Ha! Within minutes I was irritated.
The melodrama: “Eight years ago today I married the most wonderful person in the world, a woman who truly completes me, the love of my life…” Will somebody please hand me the puke bucket? Good god!
The ambiguous sympathy junkies: “I have never felt such emotional pain. Devastated.” EVERY week??
And then there are the know-nothing political snarkers, the 5k walk assholes (I care more than you), and the every-fart-must-be-reported mommies, etc. So, I just X’d out of it. There was WAY too much annoying to wade through, so screw it.
Oh, and there’s one more thing… I’m not getting enough sleep. I’ve never had sleep problems in my life, until the last year or so. I’m close to exhausted all the time. It doesn’t help with my already low tolerance of bullshit; everything’s cranked way up, running wide open. I might have to start smoking pot or going to church or something.
I’m going to try a sleep experiment this coming weekend, to see if I can get back on the right track. I’ll let you know how it goes.
How are you feeling? Better than me, I hope. I’m a goddamn mess.
Now playing in the bunker
Treat yourself at Amazon: US and Canada
Cheer Up Jeff…you’ve still got us!!!!
A friend suggested taking a calcium supplement for my sleep problems. I think my sleep has really improved since I started that a few months ago. Just an idea that may work. I got a 100 ct of chewible ones at Target for 10 bucks I think.
Your improvement is due to what’s known as “the placebo effect.”
Hey,
Whatever works.
I’ve found a whisky supplement to be helpful.
.
You gotta watch getting hooked on those– nothing worse than a placebo monkey on your back!
I’m with ya. I went to a doctor’s appointment and going into the parking garage there was a line of cars. When I got to the ticket machine, no ticket came out, no matter how many times I pushed the ticket button. The readout said “Please pull forward,” so I did, but the crossbar never went up. Out of the car, I climb, and walk back to the machine. This is when I notice that traffic is backing up behind me. Still no ticket. The woman behind me shouted that the bar was up, so I hop back into the car and go park. Come time to leave (about 30 minutes later), and I have no ticket to give to the cashier. I told her the machine hadn’t given me one. SO I GET CHARGED THE MAXIMUM. “Lost ticket” she says. “No, NO ticket at all,” says I. Dead eye stare. Fukkit, here’s the 5 dollars, and have a great day, ya dim cow.
Crap, now I need blood pressure pills.
I was having trouble sleeping a couple of years ago. That is when I discovered the wonders of Scotch. Sure, my check liver light comes on every now and then but I am well rested.
I gotta say, that was the funniest reply I have read in a long time. Humor is good for the blood pressure too!
I’ve got a feeling 40% is on the high side, especially if you figure in the people like me who are just pretending to give a shit.
I don’t care that much about “Mom and Pop” places. I go to some, others I don’t. I guess “big chains” didn’t get to be that way by being fucking idiots that don’t have what you want on hand. As a society we decided decades ago that it was better to make one stop rather than go to a butcher, a baker, a fish market, a hardware store, etc. if you want to spend twice as much on a hammer so that one guy in the community can make a good living, have at it. But thank god we all don’t think that way. Everything would be fucking sky high, and that good living wouldn’t go very far. Fucking backwards.
When I wake up I’m exhausted and sick to my stomach – every morning. It takes me an hour or longer before I can eat.
Idiots abound.
OK, I’ll bite.
“Big chains” are convenient, but it would be nice if they’d pay their employees a living wage (and privately funded health benefits? What a concept!) so that Euro-level taxes on the rest of us wouldn’t be necessary to cover the needs of the workers’ families. The extra few dollars each consumer would pay so that profit margins could be maintained would be a pittance compared to what we pay to support the safety-net bureaucracy as it applies to those workers.
And yeah, I like my cheap car washes, and my cheap gardening service. Same concept, different problem(s).
As for the percentage of people who care: I think Romney said something about 47% not giving a shit, but that’s probably just something else he was wrong about.
I’m talking about the notion that small “mom and pops” are somehow always superior. I like the idea that the poorest smoking us can go down to Payless and afford shoes for their kids, rather than having to go to a shoemaker that they can’t afford. Great for the shoemaker to make a living, terrible for everyone else. Same thing with mattresses. Everyone has a bed. Or we could go back to having craftsman like Hastens make them (they cost $50,000 each). Again, great for the craftsman, but everyone else is fucked.
Smoking = among
If mattresses cost $50,000.00 I’d never get fucked. At least not in bed.
I know. Look, I shop a lot at Costco. They’re a big chain. But they’re cheap. And they give their employees healthcare and pay them about $20 per hour. Win/win. Yet there are people who protest the opening of their stores and I don’t get it. That’s all I’m saying.
Agreed. What Costco does works. I was referring to The Walton Gang’s current business model. I don’t shop there, but I feel that I’m contributing to their profits via indirect (and inefficient) government subsidies.
Another consideration, though: I’m NOT for any change that would adversely effect the People of Walmart website. That’s some funny shit.
The big drug store chain ain’t all its cracked up to be. My drug store was a mom and pop until “pop” retired. Unfortunately, big chain was the only buyer. So now, rather than my every 90 day visit resulting in “here ya go”, it is, sorry, you gots ta come back in a day or two, we don’t have enough on hand. Which inevetably gets blamed on corporate says “we ain’t supposed to have more than X amount on hand at any one time” “Lookee, I’ve been coming here 20 years for the same god damned thing, how difficult is it to put a little flag in the computer and have it here for me? Hunh?
fucking money grubbing scum. Every last one of ’em.
Okay, I read that update – normal Jeff stuff, things I can relate to. Thought it was funny and wanted to share it with my husband.
Then I read it outloud to my husband. DUDE – you need to calm the fuck down! Giving voice to that update made me want to give you a hug (and a valium)
I can totally relate. It’s not quite as bad here, but it’s damn close. I barely come off my mountain anymore. Humanity will be the end of me.
Great, now I’m cranky.
I’m impressed. “Knucklehead” usually seems to me like a “guy” nickname. 🙂
From what I’ve seen here, she’s all woman. Just don’t mess with her–it seems that she’s got balls, too.
she can probably back up a trailer properly also. =-)
I predict the local Scranton paper is about to run a story about a disgruntled middle-aged man going postal in a WalMart.
I nearly went postal in the Post Office (of all places).
I had an important mail package go missing and needed to go to my local PO to sort it out. It was taking forever, of course, and after I’d been standing at the counter 30 minutes a clerk I hadn’t been dealing with me told me the ‘supervisor’, who was supposedly sorting out my problem, had gone home. Just gone home. Their shift ended at 4:30 so they just left. Presumably I was to stand there until they came back to work the next day?
That is the epitome of not giving a shit, and knowing you don’t *have* to give a shit.
I find that I tend to help people a wee bit too much (I work at/in a college), but that’s because those dumb assed counselors don’t know anything about any Humanities courses, so they load the poor dumb student with College Algebra, which we all know that Art and Music Performance majors all pass with flying colors. So I basically tell them if they can skip the administrative counselors and come over to the folks who know something, they’ll be all right.
But now since the college district “has no money” (while spending $$ hand over fist for bullshit, I’ve found that I have that “Fuck ALL Y’ALL!” attitude when it comes to administration. Shit, angry students won’t shoot the administrator–they’ll shoot the first person they see when they come into the office…me! And now, I don’t even stay a minute past 8:00 pm–I used to, to help out or whatever, but now I feel like that supervisor–when it’s time to go, it’s time to go (since I don’t get overtime anyway.)
But yeah, that supervisor was a cunt, and she could’ve helped you.
Why, oh, why, after 35 years of typing, can I not remember to close parentheses?
A suppressed memory to do with algebra perhaps?
Oh, and for improved sleep: melatonin. Works like a charm, and no grogginess in the morning.
My eyeballs laugh at melatonin.
Melatonin, Valerian Root, and Benadryl cocktail does the trick for me.
You probably have sleep apnea which is causing your tiredness. Port lines, high blood pressure, sleep apnea. It all goes hand in hand.
I’d advise you to start smoking pot heavily.
A least a bowl before bed.
Jeff, I feel your pain.
Even though I don’t make new year’s resolutions, this year is going to be different. I am literally not taking any shit from anyone anymore. Work, some hair netted asshat at the deli, surly wait staffs, blank eyed cashiers or some inconsiderate muthafucka whose phone or ipad is clearly more important than me are in for a verbal lashing. I won’t suffer any more fools. I’m not trying to be some crusty bitch, but I won’t be as accommodating as I used to be.
I’ve been doing this for quite some time now…The not taking any shit from people in general (not just customer service morons). If a man speaks his mind, he is considered assertive. If a woman does it, she’s labeled as a bitch. I’d rather be known as a bitch than a doormat…
And, no, I am not demanding or one of those very entitled-acting folks that are extreme. I expect a decent and somewhat knowledgeable (not even intelligent as that is asking too much) answer. You were trained to do your job…do it. “I don’t know” is NOT an answer to my question, dumbass. Are you capable of locating someone in your company that DOES know? I have encountered the same lack of work ethic almost everywhere I go these days and I too got sick of it. Does it change anything to speak up? Yes, it does. When Verizon sees me walk in, they are all over the customer service thing since I went over their heads to the VP’s office over their ignorance after they just “added” $240 to my bill one month and no one could figure out why. Lots of head scratching and, “I dunnos, but it’s on your bill so you’ll have to pay it”. Riiight.
I’m right there with you, on the FB crap. And especially the last two paragraphs about sleeping.
I deactivated my account. I was sick of seeing the same stupid pictures posted week after week with the same pure bullshit comments.
There’s a slew of shitbags that post nothing but pictures of abused animals and those “funny” 1950s posters. It’s more proof of Jeff’s theory that everyone is becoming increasingly irritating.
If you don’t cut and paste my comment regarding cancer, you will just prove to the rest of us that you just don’t give a shit.
My favorites are the women with nothing better to do on Facebook but post, “shh…post the color bra you are wearing and then your height in inches, but don’t let on to the guys why or what this is..So, Black 60″…Do this for breast cancer awareness, please!!!”
Um. 1) How the FUCK does this do a thing for breast cancer awareness and 2) No one has suddenly forgotten it existed. Dumb, bored, bimbos.
I feel the same way about walking for cancer, Alzheimer’s, AIDS, etc. the fuck does walking do? Just hand over the money and stop holding up traffic.
I agree wholeheartedly, Jason! What do these idiots think, that making a spectacle of themselves en masse while wearing the same color-for-the-disease-of-the-month t-shirt is going to raise MORE awareness? Now, there is this THREE DAY WALK (like, hundreds of miles) for breast cancer. WTF? Camping out and singing kumbayaa while bonding with other “victims” whose family members “lost their battle”. Jesus Christ. I am NOT a victim, thank you and if this shit kills me, it is NOT because I didn’t fight hard enough. Like, people WANT to die of cancer but couldn’t beat it? Stop holding up traffic, indeed.
I’m aware of breast cancer when I’m titty banging a chick asymmetrically.
I’m just excited to imagine Stephanie in a black bra…
Join the club, hot fuzz…
(Now I’m just waiting for someone to post, “There’s a club?”)
There’s a club? I presume they have a website? Sorry, but you asked.
I’m currently wearing a black bra.
Commando 68
Is there a secret handshake?
And I assume the secret password is swordfish.
jtb
Trombones.
.
Naw, just swordfish à la Horse Feathers. I’m not saying there couldn’t be some mule variations from day to day.
jtb
Mules? Are we talking about shoes, here? I’ve got those! With caribou feathers though…sorry.
No, we’re just trading Tom Waits references. Step right up.
.
The Chocolate Jesus guy?
40% is indeed a high estimate. We’re a nation of people who are simply doing the minimum required to collect their paychecks, and not a bit of effort or time more.
Agreed I’d set the bar around 14.25% of people
Awesome surf report today. I share your pain on both the aggravations of ‘non-shit giving’ and Facebook assholes.
Keep up the good work.
I had to switch pharmacies because my health insurance stopped doing business with Walgreen’s. I switched to a pharmacy within an upscale grocery store here, where they practically kiss my ass every time I walk in the door. It’s awesome. You just need to find a better place, Jeff.
I second the grocery store pharmacy suggestion. We go to a pharmacy in a grocery store that we don’t otherwise patronize just because their pharmacists are so nice and helpful.
You could set the place on fire.
My pharmacy gets it wrong everytime too. I was just there last week. Called my prescriptions in (there were two). There was only one ready. The cashier stood there with her mouth hanging open…I think a moth flew out. Um…I called in TWO?! “Oh. Well there’s only one here”, she said. No shit, Sherlock. You might want to go look for the other one They were called in together.
This is a running conversation. Every. Single. Time.
My sleep habits are awful. Peri-menopausal I guess. One nigbt I sleep like
a rock, the next I wake uo soaking wet or wide awake watching my 3rd movie at 4am. Then I feel hungover all day. It blows.
Depends might help with the soaking wet part.
depends.
jtb
Oh HELLS NO, fuzz! That bullshit hasn’t started….yet! Don’t curse me!! Thats all I frickin’ need……a urine soaked wet ass, marinating in it all night!
I’ve had insomnia for five months now… never more than 5.5 hours of sleep. It’s awful. I hope you feel better soon, Jeff.
Drugs they’ve tried: Trazadone, Elavil, Visteril, Depakote, Seroquel, Ambien, Ambien CR, Lunesta, and Sonata… and I’m sure I’m missing a few others in there too.
Tomorrow morning I’ll see a “holistic” doctor… one of these alternative medicine guys. He has a proper medical degree (from a well-respected medical school), but he focuses on stuff like diet and lifestyle. I’m a bit iffy about all of this, but I’ll see what he has to say.
Good God, who’s your doctor, Conrad Murray??? I hope the new doc sorts things out for you, half of the stuff you listed would probably qualify for the upcoming “no guns” list…
Try 10mg of Valium and a bottle of Cabernet. Works for me every night.
If I skip either one, I am watching TV until 4:00 AM.
Shit…call me…im usually up at that ungodly hour too. We’ll solve the world’s problems. Together. You and I.
Trazodone WITH Ambien proves helpful ’round here… One gets you to sleep, one keeps you there.
Yes, Jeff – you need to get off of FaceBook and GET TO WORK ON THE FUCKING SMOKING FISH PICTURES!!!!
There. I feel better. I stomp the accelerator of anger to the floor every now and then too. “Blows the carbon of the heads” as my brother used to say.
If melatonin doesn’t do the trick for sleep, try ZMA. (you may have to go to a vitamin store to find it)
A cool side effect is you have really vivid dreams, along with uninterrupted sleep.
Maybe it’s the blood pressure medicine. At first, my medicines made me sleepy as hell, and there were more than a few times where my head slammed against my desk at work.
Now, I have not slept in 5 fucking days. This shit’s getting old, and I know the doctor won’t give me anything, because I’m not supposed to be taking anything that could have a bad reaction with the heart medicine. So I just sit at the piano or computer all day, wait for “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” to come on at 1:30 and 2:30, then watch AFV. I may catch 2 hours of sleep, maybe not. Do your research, and talk to your doctor.
(Man, I DO have insomnia–I cannot shut the fuck up!)
Sounds like it’s time to shop for a new pharmacy – every time until you find one that gives a damb. As for the facebook bit, I hear ya’. It is getting to the point where I don’t post much of anything anymore, and am quickly tiring of hearing the same blah, blah, blah crap from people who need to assault the rest of us with their ailments, politics, alerts (always disproved by a quick Snopes search), and other bullshit. I like the posts that say,”I’m here at so-and-so, having a great time”, or pictures of places folks travel to, or an interesting article someone has stumbled across – that sort of thing. Hey, I get that you are a nut-job liberal or conservative – it’s in your profile. Don’t feel it necessary to keep reminding me of it – I don’t give a crap.
Oh, that rant felt pretty good. Think I’ll take a nap.
Best update in a while. Thank you hateful drug store for getting Jeff all fired up.
Hi,
I’m a visitor from 1970. Boy, a lot has changed in 40 years. These days most prescription drugs come via the US Postal Service. Nonprescription drugs come from little Mom ‘n Pop operations that are run from of indescript operations in ill frequented strip malls and under-used office space. Also, humans never answer my phone calls. What have you done with my world?
Fucking mesa Arizona was the worst customer service ever. I may elaborate when I’m not typing with my dick while driving.
Mule-stupid. I saw a mule-stupid bitch make a thirty point 180 to snag a parking space blocking both lanes of traffic at the cleveland natural history museum today. Some asshole behind us honked at us! Like a ford focus has the ability to pass through solid matter. Stupid free day.
No matter whether it’s a “mom and pop” or a chainstore, when the employees don’t give a shit, it’s usually because they think the management doesn’t give a shit about them. Find a place where the employees do a good job, and you’ll know that they think management is doing good by them, too.
Perfectly true, and well said. I’ll show this to my own management.
.
Not to irritate you or anything but I do a lot of business with my chain drug store (located in my grocery store). They all know me.. they smile when we talk…they are most helpful. The pharmacists and the assistants treat me with courtesy and for that I’m thankful.
One of the pharmacists at the previous place (probably the largest national chain) started discussing my conditions with about 5 or 10 people all waiting and standing in line. Transferring my prescription refills took 1 phone call. Problem solved.
Voting with your feet is pretty much the only tool left when the other side doesn’t give a crap,
Jeff…
If the only two pharmacy options your insurance supports is that crappy pharmacy and pharmacy-by-mail, you’re kinda screwed, and you have my sympathy. My insurance covers hundreds of pharmacies; the one I’ve been with for twenty years has almost never screwed up, and when they did they fixed it quickly with apologies.
No sympathies for Facebook. If you choose to spend time with a virtual community dedicated to living the minutiae of their life posted for others to see, you’ve made your own bed, which makes two beds in which you won’t get much sleep.
jtb
Ummmm isn’t that what this site is?
You think the WVSR is Facebook? Man, I could provide a point by point by point contrast, but instead I’ll just say, and I intend this in an effort to focus on the cultural differences, not to wish you ill in any way, go fuck yourself.
jtb
No this. Dick.
virtual community dedicated to living the minutiae of their life posted for others to see
Nobody seems to care that the first sentence of the update starts with the word “So”. I thought it was a nice touch.
Didn’t Jeff just turn 50? Perhaps all of this angst can be attributed to the fact that he’s just becoming an old coot* like the rest of us.
*No offense is intended to any “coots” on this site. The opinions and viewpoints expressed in this post are clearly not aimed at any one coot in particular. The comment is only an extremely poor attempt at humor and was intended for entertainment purposes only!
Just thought I’d throw in a disclaimer, you know, to cover all the bases!
I AM a coot -or- I HAVE a coot… I’m too tired to know the difference. I didn’t sleep last night.
BTW–I know how to cure Jeff’s sleep problems: Go put some Blizzaks under that Camry! You’ll sleep like a baby with all that confidence and security!
I have found that Canada works wonders for my pocket book when it comes to my prescriptions. The birth control I am on costs me $145 for a two-month pack here in the good ol’ USofA. And that is for a generic. However, our lovely neighbors to the north offer the name-brand drug for $100 for a 6-month pack, shipping included. Uhhh, yeah, I’ll go with that option, thankyouverymuch.
I was recently prescribed a drug for my heart that isn’t available in the US. Why? Because big pharma doesn’t see a reason to make it, even though there are several hundred people with my condition (yeah, it’s rare, so what?) and this one drug lets people who can’t so much as walk across a room without getting winded be able to run marathons and shit. (Not that I would ever do that!)
Anyhow, this drug isn’t available here. But they do have an off-brand generic that may or may not work the same way. 58 pills for $158. However, in Canada, they have the original drug, in a 200-pill container for $72. I think I know which one I’ll choose.
And I highly recommend the pot thing. Because of my effed up heart my doc has had me try all sorts of various meds to see what works until I can get my “not available in the US” drug. Recently pot was one of the choices. Woo-hoo, that stuff is awesome. It’s like having the feeling of being drunk without having the hangover later. Awesome. Oh, but take it slow with the edibles. I didn’t think they were working and within an hour I was staring at a wall thinking I was watching Harry Potter on a loop. That wasn’t the best of highs…
I recall having a lot of trouble with pharmacies when I lived in the region of the country in which you currently reside. For example, I once received a topical cream when filling an ophthalmic prescription. As I recall, that occurred at a grocery chain pharmacy. Another time, I was handed someone else’s prescription (an antidepressant) by the pharmacist in charge at a national chain shop (Walmart or Target or somesuch). He quickly took me aside and started chatting me up. No doubt he was trying to gauge my mood as to whether I would report this error, as that would have resulted in his immediate firing. You may just need to accept a certain level of incompetence based on your geographic location. I have not really encountered that level of abject inability anywhere else in the country.
The results of my research indicate that 27.8 percent of the people give a shit these days. Please note that there is a 3.5 percent margin of error on this estimate.
AWESOME.
(comment publish fail)
Stephanie Reply:
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:22 pm
The Chocolate Jesus guy?
———-
The same! Also known as Dr. Heller in the film Mystery Men. Better known for his long and illustrious music career.
(There was no Reply button. The “Black Bra” thread now has 16 posts, and maybe that’s all we are allowed. PS: what could be more awesome?)
.