MY LIFE - FEBRUARY

Monday, February 21, 2000

What's to say about today other than it didn't start very well, but didn't get worse as the day went along. After getting to work I noticed that Dominique wasn't at the register. I found out pretty quickly that she had called off, but for what I don't know. I just know that I had to watch the register for about an hour until Jeff arrived to take over. At the same time Jeff got to work, Tom was leaving and a fill-in pharmacist had taken control of the pharmacist. Thankfully, he was easy to work with.

I will say this though. If anyone who reads this happens to be on any kind of prescription medication, please listen. If you got a new insurance card at the beginning of the year that's different from your previous one, please make sure you bring it with you when you drop off or pick up a script. It does not magically show up in any kind of computer system, contrary to popular belief. If you have a new card, bring it in.

We must have had a dozen people not realize that we'd need the new card. I hate asking if someone has a new card, being told "yes, we just got it," and then being asked if we needed it. If it's new, we obviously need it. These things are not automatic. Your previous insurance company probably doesn't know what plan you have. We don't know what kind of plan you might have changed to. We don't know. If we don't know about the new card, there's nothing we can do.

*sigh* No matter what I say, people will still do it. At least I tried.

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Last night was pretty busy for me. Because of my mom being sick, I had a few things to do last night that I'd normally not have to do. One was I had to mail out our income tax returns. Then I had to go to her bank and deposit two checks into her account so that she'd have that taken care of. Then I had to withdrawal $80 out so that I had money to go grocery shopping with later on. I forgot though and didn't remember until later.

I then had to go to Independence and drop off her paperwork so that she could get paid for taking care of her patient, Tom. That sucked up a lot of gas which meant I had to fork over a lot of money for just a little gas, which somehow reminded me that I needed to pull money out of her account for groceries. After that was done, I went to Tops and bought about $50 in groceries. Then I went to the gas station, got gas, and picked up a newspaper in the process.

Then I went to Wendys because I was starving at this point. Finally, I was able to go home and sit around for a while. But before I could relax, I had to put the groceries away and give my mom her statements so she knew how much money she had in her account. Then I sat down and my food while reading the newspaper that I just bought. Then I remembered I had laundry to do and spent three hours doing laundry until I finally fell asleep really late.

Maybe I'll get sick next and won't have to do anything. Then again, I hate being sick so nevermind.

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How about gas prices lately? It used to be where five bucks would fill up half my tank. Now it takes $8. Apparently oil production overseas has been cut, which has raised prices all the way down to the gas stations. So now instead of paying a little over $1 per gallon, you're paying around $1.55 and up per gallon. That's a pretty hefty price increase, something that hasn't been seen since Desert Storm in 1991. However, the problem there was because of Iraq.

This is something completely different. It's probably all a load of bullshit, but reports have said that production would be increased shortly and that gas prices would begin to fall by summer towards more reasonable rates. I know one thing though. Until then, I'm not going anywhere unless I have to. It's too damn expensive now, and I'm pretty damn cheap.

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The pharmacist tonight filling in was pretty short. Hell, anyone who makes me look tall has to be short. It's not that I'm short or anything (I'm actually around 5'10'', which isn't that bad), it's just that I'm not one of the tallest at work. Anytime someone shorter than me is working is my chance to brag a little bit. Like when Jenny was working at CVS. She made anyone look tall, something that pissed her off.

No matter what though, being short is all right with me. It helps me hide from people better. That's important, especially when you've just pulled a prank on someone. Like I did the other night with Mike and a squirt gun. I didn't do it, I swear.

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I think my mom is getting antsy. This weekend was supposed to be the weekend when she would get a start on packing up. Instead, she spent most of it hacking up her lungs and spitting some pretty mean shit up. Nothing helps you lose an appetite more than someone spitting shit up in the kitchen sink. To be serious though, she could barely sit up at times this weekend. It was so bad that she didn't do anything at all this weekend and didn't go to work today. How she made it to make up a test tonight is beyond me.

Now Teresa is starting to show signs of being sick. I'm probably next. I'll either get it easier than my mom got it or I'll get nailed by whatever it is that made her sick. It's usually one extreme or the other. I haven't been really sick for a while either, so I'm probably due. Good thing I have personal days to use at work.

I wish she would've listened when I told her to stay away.