Misadventures
I went to the doctor yesterday.
As I suspected, the chest twinges I’ve been getting are the surface muscles
tired after sword fighting Saturday without practice for 2 months. But, as
also suspected, not getting much sleep the night before worrying about it
put my blood pressure through the roof. (Although not anywhere near as
high as last year.)
I did explain why I’ve been worked up lately and she was surprisingly
understanding about it. For the first time ever she didn’t get after me
about my weight. She said it wasn’t good that I had put it back on, but
there were other things I needed to worry about first.
She did give me a high blood pressure prescription to start taking for 2
months. She said if things work out, I may be able to stop taking it then.
But, it was high enough yesterday she wanted to make sure it gets under
control.
She did also give me something for the anxiety. But, not something to take
regularly. It’s only something to take as needed if I’m having an anxiety
attack. Personally I like that option better.
So, that went better than expected.
I knew it would take a while for them to do my prescriptions, so I went to
see about my phone.
I had ordered a new battery for it, but couldn’t get it to fit. I wasn’t
sure what the issue was, so I thought I should go and see them.
The Sprint store was very busy when I got there. I guess it’s busy enough,
often enough, that they’ve built a little customer waiting area for people
to get service. Their greeter met me coming in and looked at my phone for
me. He fiddled with it for a while, and couldn’t get it in either.
“It looks like you’ve got a Razor 2 battery,” he said. “It’s a Razor A3
phone.”
“All Razors don’t take the same battery?” I asked.
“Oh no,” he said, looking shocked at the idea. “Who told you that?”
“The woman who ordered it for me over at that desk last week,” I said,
pointing to the service desk.
“We ordered it for you?” he asked.
“Yep,” I said.
“Then we should replace it for you,” he said.
“My thought exactly.”
This involved standing in front of a young woman who scanned paperwork,
looked at old and new parts, typed a lot into the computer, then said “I’ll
have it shipped to you in 5 to 10 business days.”
After the two of them poking at my phone, swapping batteries in and out,
not being able to get one in, they handed me back the phone as it was a
week ago when I ordered a new battery.
Now the screen says “invalid battery” on it.
I’m not sure what that means. It runs. It makes and receives calls. It
rings when called.
So, what’s invalid about it? I don’t know.
Almost and hour after leaving the doctor’s office, I went across the street
to CVS to get my prescriptions.
I walked back to the pharmacy area and there were a lot of people milling
about on both sides of the counter. I went up to the “drop off” area.
“Hi, my doctor phoned in two prescriptions for me,” I told the man who
looked up at me.
“Name?” he asked.
“Frank Hunt,” I said.
“I’ve got his right here!” a woman behind another counter said. She handed
him some paperwork and he came back to me.
“Can I see your health care card?”
I gave him the card. He typed stuff into the computer.
“Do you have prescription coverage?” he asked me.
“Yes,” I said. “It says so right on the card.”
“It’s not coming up in the computer,” he said. “Do you have one of those
weird plans?”
“Probably,” I said. “I’ve never gotten a prescription with it before, but
I have heard it isn’t the best to work with.”
“I’ll have to call them,” he said. The other people around him rolled
their eyes. At least one suppressed a laugh.
He picked up the phone and dialed the number on the card. (While he talked
I watched their pill dispensing robot drop pills on the floor. Not too
many. Maybe 1 or 2 per 10 bottles. But, still…)
“I am trying to give this man a prescription and you have provided him with
a bad card,” he said. “The information on it does not work with my
computer. Hirsham at CVS. Yes, for many years. It says ‘invalid member
number’, but I used the member number you give. Yes, I did that. I have
other work to do you know. Other things are not getting done while I’m
talking to you. You could have made this work if you only gave him a
better card. Hirsham. H. I. R. S. H. A. M. I’m here at CVS. C. V. S.
No, I am not doing it wrong. You are wasting my time with your bad cards.
How am I to know the member number if you don’t put it there? You should
think about us when you make these cards. Other work is not being done
while I’m talking to you. No, that isn’t on his card. Here, they want to
talk to you.”
He handed me the phone.
“What company do you work for? What’s your SSN?” the woman on the other end
of the phone asked me.
I told her.
“We don’t do your prescriptions,” she told me. “They’re done by another
company. There should have been another number on the card.”
I handed the phone back to Hirsham.
I pointed to the RX phone number on my card.
“You’ve got to call this number, not the other one,” I told him.
While glaring at me he called the other number. There was a very similar
conversation. At one point, without indicating anything to the person on
the phone, he put it down and walked to the back of the area then returned
and continued his complaining to them.
At the end, he hung up.
“You’re all set,” he said.
I went over to the pick up area and waited in line. When I got to the
front I asked for my prescriptions.
“They’re not ready yet,” the woman said, looking at the computer. “You
should know it takes at least an hour after your doctor calls them in.”
“I was told they were ready,” I said, knowing it was now an hour and a half
since they were called in.
“Well, they’re not,” she said. “Come back in 45 minutes.”
I went home. We ordered dinner. I returned an hour later.
This time there was no one in line. I went up to the front. The woman
standing there said “I’m going on break” and walked away.
After a short wait, another woman came up.
I gave the woman my name. She went up and down the racks of prescriptions
looking for it. She asked my name again. She typed it into the computer.
She looked some more.
“Hunt?” she asked again.
“Yes,” I said.
“I did that one!” a woman behind the back counter said. “I know it’s up
there!”
The woman looked some more.
Finally the woman who went on break came back.
“It’s here in the H section,” she said to the other woman, and picked up my
bag.
So, I got my pills.
Hopefully they’ll work.
We’ll see.
Some time next week I may get a cellphone battery that fits.
After all that, I went home and slept for 11 hours.