Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Hooked on Phonics doesn't work for everyone.

When I leave work I am usually exhausted. Yesterday was no exception. I had to stop by Walgreens to pick up a prescription that I had dropped off three days earlier, so I knew that by now it would be ready. When I got there two very long lines of people were at the pharmacy counter. After about fifteen minutes it was my turn at the counter. The woman that had been in front of me was now standing to my side waiting because the clerk told her that her prescription was not ready and when she insisted it must be ready since it too had been called in several days prior the clerk told her to simply stand by and she would talk to the pharmacist about it when he got a spare minute. I told the clerk that I was there to pick up my prescription and gave her my name. The first two initials of my last name are Li. The plastic bins that they keep the prescriptions in at Walgreens are labeled with the first two letters of the last name. She looked in the first bin that was marked LA-LH. She did not look in the second bin which was marked LI-LZ. She then told me my prescription was not ready either. I told her that it must be because it had been called in three days ago. She then said she would see if it was in pending. While she was doing that I started staring at the bins. Sure enough I could see my name clearly marked on one of the prescriptions in the LI-LZ bin. When she got back and told me that it wasn’t pending I said that I knew it was ready because I could see it and I pointed to it. She then got an attitude and said that I was wrong. By this time my patience was wearing thin. The conversation went as follows:
Me: My prescription is right there in that bin, the one marked LI-LZ.
Clerk: No it’s not. That bin starts with LL.
Me: No it doesn’t. That is an L and an I.
Clerk: No it isn’t. It doesn’t have a dot. It has two L’s.
Me: That is a CAPITAL I! That is why there is no dot. It is a capital I.
Clerk: Lady, I know it doesn’t have a dot. It’s an L, as I told you.
At this point I said nothing and just stared at her. I was about to blow a head gasket. Realizing at this point that explaining the alphabet to her was going to be like explaining physics to Forrest Gump I decided to stop trying. I then said in a very firm voice that I could see my prescription and if she couldn’t manage to find it with me pointing to it then I would gladly go behind the counter and get it for her. She then rolled her eyes and looked, of course found it and then began slamming the keys on the cash register because she was obviously agitated. The woman beside me had witnessed the whole encounter and realized that her missing prescription probably couldn’t be found because of the clerk’s lack of skill. She asked if the clerk would mind checking again on hers as well. Magically she managed to find it in the same bin.

13 comments:

Pearl said...

Argh! That kind of stuff drives me nuts!! Why is it that so few people seem to have any common sense? If indeed it was "LL" -- because there are so many last names that start with "LL"! -- what does she suppose happened to "LI"?
Moron.
Pearl

Unknown said...

So... in this clerk's world, the alphabet goes from H to L? I through K don't matter? That's really special.

The Grandpa said...

I've had my experiences with clerks like that. You stayed remarkably calm.

Nathan said...

Classic. Stories like this start to make me worried about what happens when all these people get behind the wheel ... or vote ... or cook my food ... or reproduce.

Adlibby said...

What do you suppose she would do with an O'C ? I thought I was getting a great ol' Irish name -- but that apostrophe makes store clerks apoplectic!

The Me/ The Wife/ The Mom said...

These moments are why verbal abuse was invented :)

derfina said...

Another case of "Here's your sign"

♥ Braja said...

OK, time to make firearms legal. They are already? How 'bout shootin' to kill when you meet with such stupid arrogance. Y'know, I don't mind stupidity so much: can't blame 'em. But arrogance piled on top like it's candy floss? GRRRRRRRRR.......

Anonymous said...

OMG... it sounds like we go to the same Walgreens. Actually I picked up my prescriptions from my doc's office last night and took them to a different pharmacy because I am tired of the Walgreens stoopidity. I having been going there for 2 years and have had a problem with them everytime I am there. It drives me nuts! Figures, it's the closest pharmacy to my house and now I have to go out of my way not to have to deal with them!

? said...

I have linked to you from R.E.II as the princess sarcastic. You would need to change your link which is currently pointing to redeyes. Change it to R.E.II my new blog. I am trying to include all the characters in my next post somehow.
Stay well.

Feisty Crone said...

I admire your restraint. I would have been screeching for the manager.

♥ Braja said...

Holy crap Tess!!! WTF??? Your site is ROCKING MY GIRL...wooooohooooo!!!! Oh the crown, the CROWN. Yessss. Take it, O Queen of Blogging.

I know. I can really work myself up over very little....

Nerdy Cyberchick said...

Thank you, thank you; I shall take a bow now. :-)