The Mother Lode

Nothing like a little stupidity to shake off the gloominess of these past few days.  Is it just me or is the collective intelligence of the general population lingering somewhere in the range of a box of diapers?

I won’t reveal names because I LOVE the store that I got so frustrated with today.  And I won’t bore you with the details.  Suffice it to say I had to make a transaction that completely stumped the clerk.  “I can’t do that. Our corporate office won’t let me.”  I had CASH laying on the counter and was ready to snatch it up and walk away.  But I persisted.

“This is silly,” I said.  “I can’t do that,” she said.  She then suggested I call Jay to “get his permission” to finish the transaction.  “You’ve got to be kidding,” I replied.  All that was in me wanted to lean over the counter and knock on her head. I was convinced a hollow sound would ring.

I persisted.  “Would you get a manager?” I queried.  “He won’t be able to do anything,” she said.  “This is unbelievable,” I said.

She casually asked another clerk, explaining her quandary.  The other clerk shrugged and just said, “Oh yeah.  You just do it this way.”  Ah! A thinking soul! So the transaction was finished.

This past week, we have dealt with more intellectually challenged people than I care to count.  Minions with authority to turn what should be a SIMPLE transaction into unspeakable frustration because they lack the ability to think independently.  If I hear one more person say, “The computer does it that way” or “That’s the policy” I will scream.  But I bite my tongue knowing I must tread lightly just in case they decide NOT to turn on our power or water in the new house.

Lest you think I’m picking on clerks….fear not.  I’m an equal opportunity snark.  Jay was explaining some of the goofy decisions businesses make that defy common sense.  All too often, the consequences are costly.  And he’s seen plenty of them in his years of CPA work.

And then later….I had to get a prescription filled to encounter unbelievable hassle.  The clerk explained that the insurance had denied it…the doctor would have to explain why he ordered it.  So I called the doctor’s office and listened to the nurse explain that “this sort of thing happens all the time.”  It could take anywhere from 48-72 hours to get clearance, she said.  You’d think he had written a script for plutonium. Or something biological, say, Ebola in a Petri dish. Sweet mercy!  It’s for a stupid pain relieving ointment for my stupid ankle!

I was trying to picture my doctor, with his umpteen years of training and experience on the phone defending the prescription to a clerk who *maybe* was a vocational nursing school graduate.  And it is SHE who wields the authority to say “yes” or “no” to the doc’s treatment.  What insanity.

Yes, stupidity is running rampart and it knows no socioeconomic, educational or geopolitical boundaries.

I know I do stupid things here and there; don’t we all?  But the increasing frequency of incidents like this on terrifies me far more than the ups and downs of the stock market.  Hmmmmm.  Might there be a connection there?

Filed under: Misc, Uncategorized | Tagged: prescription filling, stock market, stupidity | Leave a Comment »