Wednesday, March 12, 2014

I Can't Handle You, Kroger Pharmacy

On my way home from work the other day I heard a statistic from John Tesh saying that the average American fills 12 prescriptions each year. First of all, I'm shocked I didn't crash the car from laughing so hard. 12 per year?! I almost get 12 per month for crying out loud (and that's not counting the OTC pills).

When I was a Kroger employee I had my plethora of prescriptions filled where I worked, even though it wasn't the closest to my house. After I quit, I eventually changed everything over to the Kroger on Boston Road because it's the closest to my house. That's when the trouble started. I've been trying to avoid pointing fingers but they just haven't been cutting it.

It's never-ending problems up there. Prescriptions that should be on file from my doctor disappear from the computer and I end up playing phone tag between the pharmacy and the doctor's office. Despite me telling them time and time again, they keep calling my old doctor for refill requests and then my old doctor calls me and demands I make an appointment. Prescriptions that were once filled for a month are suddenly filled for ten days and it takes multiple phone calls to fix.

And just when I think it's all been sorted out, something else happens. Is it technically hubris when it's not pride but rather the assumption that another failure cannot be possible?

Everybody and their mom is sick these days and I've been feeling a sinus infection coming on so I set about getting some drugs. A friend called Kroger yesterday afternoon and left a message with my prescription order. I didn't receive a text but on my way home from the budget forum (almost 6 hours after the initial call) I thought the medicine had to be ready. Nope. It was not ready and there was no sign of it in the computer. That's odd. Maybe they hadn't gotten to it yet, I'd check tomorrow. I hadn't spoken with my friend, maybe he hadn't called it in. Surely, Kroger hadn't dropped the ball again.

Fast forward to today around 3:30. My friend did call it in; in fact it had been a solid 24 hours since the order and still no text from Kroger. So I went back in to figure it out. They had absolutely no record of it, nor did any other Kroger. So I'm guessing someone heard the message, didn't enter it in the computer properly, and then deleted it? I give them his name and number so they can verify the prescription. "Call him at this number and he'll give you the order again." And here's the part that inspired me to write this post, the person I had been dealing with took the information and told me,

"They'll call as soon as someone gets a chance."

Hmm. I think someone has a chance right now. A chance has just opened up. That's not the best customer service policy. If pharmacies ran like other businesses, this prescription would be on the house or they'd throw in some free pain killers for my troubles.

Sadly, it doesn't end there. After I got home I got a call from Kroger. Apparently they'd tried to page me in the store--but with their phrasing I didn't wait around because it sounded like it might be awhile. So now they want to know who I saw, when I saw them, and where. Because they called the hospital where my friend works and the nurses couldn't find my chart because I hadn't been seen there yesterday. So I explained the situation and they said I had to get him to call them. Well, why wouldn't I?

I have an issue with an inability to follow basic directions. It's very frustrating. Apparently this is what you do on your 29th birthday (haha). I suppose I'm in the market for a better pharmacy.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Unsung Hero of Home Alone: Old Man Marley

Here I am enjoying Snow Day #12, what a perfect chance to update the old blog. I was texting my mom this morning and she mentioned that she ran out of time shoveling this morning so would I mind finishing up. Obviously I didn't mind, so I headed out to finish up what she said was a little bit of shoveling. It must've snowed more since she had shoveled because the whole driveway was covered again!

While shoveling snow it's hard to not notice how difficult it is. And as any normal child who grew up in the 90s, the first thing I think of when I see a snow shovel is the character Old Man Marley from Home Alone.

Buzz (also, who names their kid Buzz?) tells Kevin that Old Man Marley killed his whole family back in 1958 and kept their bodies in a garbage can full of salt that turned them into mummies. And now all he does is walk up and down the streets, shoveling and salting the sidewalks.

You know what, I bet nobody on that whole street appreciates the service that man provides for the neighborhood. Shoveling is flippin' hard work, plus he's an old man! Do you think the McCallisters (or anyone else on the street) ever chipped in money for salt? Doubtful! They were too busy spending money on tickets to Paris, golden kaleidoscopes, and lawn jockeys that are menaces to all visiting cars.

So, yea, they say he murdered some folks...but that was over 30 years ago. Plus, has he ever tried to murder any of them? As far as anyone on that street knows, all he does is keep them from having to shovel their own walkways. I wouldn't say no to Old Man Marley helping out on my street.

Space Race

Was there some rich white guy meeting that we didn't know about where they all secretly decided to get super interested in space all of ...