Cartoon Life:

(alternate title: Look at this cool picture!)

Most of the time I feel as if my life is on camera.

Not all of my life, just my worklife.

I'm not vain (justa little), but the situations I find myself in are so ridiculous sometimes they don't seem real.

If I didn't laugh about it, I'd dissolve into a corner and cry for hours. So I laugh, inappropriately instead.

For example:

Yesterday I was yelled at by a customer on the phone. This 65-year-old woman morphed into a screaming 14-year-old child and I got to hear the whole thing. She even ended the conversation by hanging up on me.

HEEEEliarious!

The nurse from her doctor's office called us about forty-five minutes later and told us the same story. The patient (so ironic, PATIENT!) yelled and threw a tantrum, but this time the nurse actually snickered -- which led to more screaming.

Even better!

We get complaints on a regular basis from those "stuck" in the drive-thru. By stuck, I mean that they sit behind a car in one lane while the other lane is free and clear. I typically respond with, "That's why we have two lanes."

I get blank stares. Then *ding* someone pulls into the second lane and the person in the first lane is fuming, probably planning my death. Ahh well.

Then there are the people who come rushing in with a crumpled piece of paper, that may have been a prescription at one time -- written three months ago and they sigh and roll their eyes as they find out they have to wait thirty minutes.

"I gotta have this now!"
"Oh? It will be thirty minutes."

I'm not cruel. Acne medication is not an emergency -- especially when the directions clearly state to use the product in the morning or at bedtime and it's two o' clock in the afternoon.

These are the same people that come rushing into the pharmacy at closing time the NEXT night because it's a dire emergency and they need to pick up their prescription NOW!

*insert snickering or eye-rolling here*

Then they proceed to complain about the price of the medication, but pay for it anyway -- only to turn around and pull out a coupon card they got from their doctor and hand it to me.

The card has in bold letters, "MUST ACTIVATE BEFORE USE" so I ask if they have activated the card. "No, I didn't know I had to." I point out the bold lettering. They snatch the card back as I complete a refund at the register so they can call and activate the card.

If I told you at this point that after they activate the card, we run it and find out that it expired the previous month, you're not going to believe me. Or that the patient (ha ha!) now wants their prescription back...

See? This stuff only happens on television or in the movies...NO! This is my worklife.

So isn't that a cool picture up there? I got a slick new compact point-and-shoot camera that has some fantastic features. This picture was converted to "illustration." So I could illustrate the point of this entry.

Cartoon life? In general, yes. I need to watch out for falling pianos or anvils.

~~J