...the Supposed Free Clinic

So the luck we had with the Christmas holiday is over. Not only is traffic back, but Ayana's fever increased throughout the weekend which left us with two choices: wait until today for the urgent care to get antibiotics or go to the emergency room for minimum of $300 and up...the $300 just being allowed into the ER. At times she got very bad that we were on the verge of grabbing her and heading out. Luckily she calmed down and we ended up taking yesterday morning and she's got a virus that "should" subside in a couple of days. Her cough is horrible and non-stop and was great while we were there.

She did give us a sample inhalant for free but didn't have the adapter and said we'd have to get a prescription for the adapter...a piece of plastic which costs $25. She called it in to Longs and said give it about an hour. So we head across the street to the Salvation Army. We slowly make our way to Longs and stand in the pharmacy pick-up line with one lady in front of us. We get called and we go up and they can't find out thing and finally do and say to go into the drop-off line, so we do. There is one person in front of us. We finally get called and they say they'll put it in and page us when it's ready. So we wait.

We walk around the store for a bit and grab some coffee for home. And wait. Then get Ayana a toy to mess with while we wait. After about 40 minutes, I'm getting pissed and wondering why it's taking so long for a piece of plastic. I decide to go ask and now both pick-up and drop-off lines are 6-10 people deep. Fuck this! We head to the front to just pay for the coffee and all lines are long and winding into the aisles. So I, of course, pick the wrong one.

There is one lady just finishing up getting rung up. Next lady had a big load, but not too bad, mostly canned goods. I have two 10 oz bags of coffee grounds; this shouldn't take long. The cashier proceeds to ring up the canned-goods lady at a rapid pace of one can every 5-10 seconds. I stand there looking like, "Are you fucking kidding me?" and getting all antsy and impatient. I start stating loudly how this place is ridiculous and people seem to be going out of their way to piss me off. Jeanne mentions that we should probably not go to post office today. Me, still being in said mood, says, rather loudly and pissed, "Why? They're not going to have the same retards here working over there!" When I go to get rung up he says nothing to me and doesn't look at me.

We leave and I'm still upset. I get home and call the pharmacy which makes me more made because I'm dealing with a stupid automated thing that ends up connecting me and then it disconnects. So I go through the process one more time and get someone and explain that we left. She says that they're busy because of the holiday weekend and all. I said it's dumb. 45 minutes for a piece of plastic. She says they have to sort of do it first-come-first-serve type of deal like they've got some orders in front of the others. I say again, "It's a piece of plastic! Protocol or not, it's there in a box already. Not too mention when we first got there, nobody was in line."

I understand there are different types of worlds out there and jobs that I don't understand and how simple things to us is completely different to the ones involved. I also am a huge advocate against people with little to no knowledge of things to argue against say an expert in Foreign Policy or one of the Joint Cheifs of Staff. But I'm also someone who has worked in customer service in the field of moving lines. I know that if I see something already done or a moment in which a person could be taken care of and moved along, it's done. A fucking piece of plastic in a box should've been moved along at the onset. It should've been, "Oh, this prescription, it's right here. Take it; it's fucking cluttering this pharmacy. We've got work to do," and we'd all be on our way.

Ayana stayed with my mom while Jeanne and I went to the post office to a huge line. I went at this time on the Thursday before Christmas and had three people ahead of me. We had to wait in line because we had an international package to send, so I stood in line while Jeanne did the manual postage thing. She started going and with robotic precision entered numbers and labeled them and stacked them without letting any time lag. As soon as she started some bitch walked up behind her on the phone waiting for Jeanne who overheard the conversation saying that "this lady's taking a long time." Personally, I would've said something and/or slowed down. There's a difference between taking a long time and having a lot to send. on top of which, had Jeanne seen her walk up she would've let her gone. I wouldn't. The one person I let would be with all the problems and we'd all be there longer.

I don't like the fact that there's a drive to the store. It'd be nice to have the choice to walk there. I've made a decision that once I get a new bike, I'm sending my current one here so I have a bike to use the next time we're here. It'd be nice to have it on this trip; I would've not just contemplated but done the Mililani to Kaimuki ride. It's not that hard; it's all relatively flat ground.

Have a crowning appointment today at 3:15pm. Gonna leave early to hit the beach ahead of time. Hopefully a cheerful blog.

Talked to Jeff yesterday; that was good.