Re-post #2 - The Pharmacy Man

Looking through some old documents I found this (written in February 2006). It is oh-so-embarrassing, yet I remember this encounter with fondness...or...er...tears of sorrow. Enjoy!

I’m it. I’m the woman who talks to a complete stranger about who, what, and where she has been for the past year… knowing…that the person on the other end of the conversation could care less.

I never would have thought I’d be that person. The woman with the ponytail and ragged appearance. You’re not sure if she’s homeless or if she just had a baby. In my case, I just had a baby. Two and a half months ago. Does that still count? She goes on and on like she knows you. Trying too hard, trying to make you care, trying to plead for help from something. But you’re not going to be the person who helps her in that area because “my gosh”… you have your own life to deal with and you wish she would just go away.

In my situation, I really don’t think I was pleading for help. But in retrospect, I guess being an apartment manager to 54 crazy tenants, having a new baby, and having an estranged relationship with my mother could in fact have caused my five minutes of going off the deep end.

Maybe it was his white coat and the fact that he was surrounded by medicine. Maybe subconsciously I felt that he would understand and want to hear my story. Maybe I thought that really, HE was asking the questions.

It went like this:

I approached the counter.

Me: Hi! Remember me? (Four hours ago I had been in the pharmacy drive-through giving him my new insurance card and he had told me to go get the bottles of medicine needed to make the transfer easier.)

Pharmacy Man: No..uhm…

Me: (confused that he didn’t know who I was….as if I was a movie star disguised in sunglasses…knowing that in fact my disguise was not a disguise and it was all my own ploy to be noticed and enjoy my fame). You told me to bring in the bottles of medication so you wouldn’t have to call the other pharmacy for a transfer.

(and then the tragic moment began….)

Me: Well, I would have been here sooner but I’m a new apartment manager and I had to go get some supplies for an apartment that had an eviction and my gosh it’s a mess. The guy was on drugs. Seriously. So I went to the hardware store and when I was in the loading zone getting some drywall I noticed a strange smell. So I got out of my car and looked under the hood and there was this green fluid pouring…I mean pouring out of my engine. So wouldn’t you know it, it looks like a gasket blew and I had to get towed and then taken to a mechanic and then find a ride home and then a ride here because we need the medication. But can you believe it? On the upside, the towing guy used to live 30 minutes away from the family farm in Georgia. We just moved here from Georgia in August. Small world, huh?

Pharmacy Man: That’s rough. So what bottles do you have that we need to transfer here?

Me: Speaking of bottles… it’s a good thing that I pumped last night because I left my husband with the baby when all of this happened. It would have been SO much worse with my car situation had I not listened to that little voice in my head last night telling me to pump a bottle. Oh ya... here they are. I absolutely need this one filled today and then I could really use the birth control today too because I just had a baby and I’d rather not have another right now, considering.

Pharmacy Man: (looking at me very strangely) Ok. I’m gonna have to call the other pharmacy on this one because I’m not sure if you have any more refills. We might have to have the doctor call it in again.

Me: That’s fine. I just need it soon because I only have one left. It’s just for post-partum. I mean, it’s not bad or anything. I just had it with my little girl and didn’t realize it so I figured it would be better if I was on something for a few months with this baby just in case. I mean, I know it’s nothing to be embarrassed about these days. It’s better to be safe than sorry, right?

Pharmacy Man: Yes. I can give you two pills to get you through until we can get the prescription refilled. You can come back Monday and we’ll have the rest.

He hurriedly threw 2 pills in a bottle as though I needed it really really bad.

(here I go again…)

Me: Oh, okay. Great. The mechanic won’t even be able to look at my car until Monday he said so it probably won’t be out of the shop until the end of the week. I’ll have to get a ride here to pick it up. Hmm.. ya..I’ll figure something out. Thank goodness my husband goes to work by a vanpool so he doesn’t need the car. I only need it really bad during rent week (which it is) because I have to make deposits daily. It’s not that bad…just during the first week of the month. It’s a pain to get two kids in and out of the car just to spend five minutes in the bank because did you know they shut down the drive-through across the street? Not to mention the fact that it rains all the time here! So...I have a choice to either go inside the bank carrying 2 kids or drive ten more minutes to the next bank that does have an active drive-through. I haven’t decided which one is more inconvenient yet. Thank goodness you guys have a drive through..although I’m not using it right now because I had to get a ride and she needed to do some shopping so I had to come inside.

Pharmacy Man: Okay (eyes darting severely). Here’s your bag and just come pick the other one up on Monday.

Me: Okay. Thanks!

I left knowing 1) What a fool I made out of myself. 2) That he didn’t care a bit about anything I was saying and 2) I WAS THAT WOMAN.

There was only one thing I could do in that moment. I tightened my ponytail and pulled up my maternity sweats (that yes…I am still wearing!), and with great dignity...walked out of that pharmacy saying, “See you next week!”

His response with teeth clenched: “Looking forward to it.”