Infuriating Friday

I don't consider myself to be a rude, impatient, or otherwise hateful person. Those of you who know me personally, feel free to weigh in on my assessment. SO, I can't help but write this post. It is just a tiny little glimpse into the kind of stuff that happens to me Every. Single. Day.

Seriously.

My "to do" list today consisted of two things: get a prescription filled and go to Wal-Mart. That's it. Sounds simple enough, right?

Let me give you a little history on the prescription part. I had a doctor's appointment this past Monday. While there, the PA wanted to give me a prescription, but one of the doctors would have to sign it. Unfortunately, they were both on vacation until Wednesday. The PA asked if I would mind coming back to pick it up on Wednesday afternoon. Considering it was a good 15 minutes from my house each way, I wasn't too excited about the idea but I said it shouldn't be a problem.

Fast-forward to today: I decided it was just plain silly for me to drive an extra 30 miles (what with gas prices at $4/gallon) to pick up a prescription that really should have been provided to me on Monday. So I called the office.

"Hi! I've got a written prescription there that I'm supposed to pick up but was wondering if you could call it in to the pharmacy for me instead?" I then continued to give the same story I wrote above about my previous appointment, doctors on vacation, etc.

She put me on hold for a moment, came back and said, "No, you'll need to pick it up."

"Why?"

"I don't know. The nurse said you'll have to pick it up."

Becoming slightly frustrated, I asked to speak with said nurse.

"She's not available right now." Weird, considering the front desk lady was just speaking to her.

Can you please put me through to her voicemail?

I listen to her lovely three-minute message, then get the beep. By this time I'm already in the car, have the Little One locked and loaded, and we're headed completely out of our way to go to the office. I let a bit of my frustration show through on the message I left:

"Um, ya, this is mom2lo (obviously I provided my actual name, DOB, phone number, etc.). I'd like to know exactly why I'm forced to drive 30 minutes out of my way to come pick up a prescription that should have been provided to me when I was in the office on Monday. If your doctors were going to be on vacation, someone should have told me so when I scheduled this appointment weeks ago so I could have rescheduled and saved myself an extra trip. It makes absolutely no sense to me that you people cannot pick up the phone to call in a prescription when it was your fault that one could not be given to me on Monday. I am extremely frustrated and upset about having to go out of my way to pick up a piece of paper from your office. Please call me back to explain this to me."

Ya, probably a bit more harsh than necessary, but I was irritated.

I decided on the way that I'd go ahead and pay my balance (just received a bill for $20-something) while I'm there, then start the process of finding a new doctor.

I walk into the office, carrying LO in her carseat. The lady slides the window thingy open and I said I'm there to pick up a prescription. Let me summarize this visit in bullet points so you won't be reading all day/night:

• The receptionist couldn't find my prescription that was supposed to be available as of Wednesday afternoon.
  
• While she was looking for the prescription, the nurse called to return my voicemail. I told her I was in the waiting area and she could just come out to speak with me in person. I'm sure she loved that idea.
  
• I told the receptionist I'd like to pay my balance. She said she couldn't look it up for me. Great. But she did offer to give me the phone number to their billing office. Thanks, but no.
  
• The nurse came out and basically told me the PA told me at my appointment on Monday that I'd need to come back to pick up the prescription. I agreed and reminded her that I was there when the PA told me that, and I didn't need her to remind me of the conversation I had.
  
• The receptionist magically found my balance. It was over $100. I said that couldn't be right b/c they just sent me a bill this week for $20 something. She then said, "$23.60?" I said it sounded right. I then handed her a check for $20. She pointed this out to me (as if I didn't already know) and I made a comment about keeping the extra $3.60 to cover my gas costs for making the extra trip. Seriously. I'm not a mean person. But if you push the right buttons, watch out!
  
• Next, the doctor herself walked out to the waiting area. She was wwaaaaaaaayyyy too cheery. She said she was getting ready to write that script up for me right now! I told her it was supposed to be ready to be picked up 2 days ago. She smiled (ignoring my complaint) and even had the audacity to ask me how many milligrams I was taking! Whaaa? Aren't you supposed to be the doctor?
  
• Next, the nurse comes back out. She asks me for the phone number for my pharmacy. I'm sorry, so now you're planning to call in my prescription after I already drove my butt up to this office?! I said I don't think so--I didn't make this trip up here for nothing. She said she got my voicemail and didn't realize that it was I who had called earlier about them calling in my script for me. Apparently when I explained everything to the receptionist, she didn't bother to share any of that info with the nurse. So yes, their policy is not to call in prescriptions. Duh! Thanks, receptionist lady, for making all of this joy happen.
  
• The nurse then asked if I was given the written prescription. I said no, that the doctor went back to go write it. She then directed the receptionist to the folder thingy and said, "It should be right there." Sure enough, there it was, waiting for me this whole time, since Wednesday, just like it was supposed to be.
  

I guess that's enough for now. I may share my Wal-Mart joy in a post shortly...