I just got back from the pharmacy a few minutes ago, I had to go and get my grandfather’s prescriptions refilled. His normal ones for his diabetes, not the ones that he just got on Sunday. While waiting in line I got treated to quite the show. Apparently some prescriptions have limits to how many times they can be filled. One customer in front of me, a man who clearly knows it all and is surrounded by idiots, was yelling at the pharmacist at the register and demanding that she fill his prescription.

Now, the poor woman kept explaining over and over that it could only be filled once and that if he needed more he would have to see his doctor, who would then determine if he needed more or not and provide a new prescription. The man wasn’t having any of that though. I actually learned a few new inventive curses from him. Eventually they called security on the guy and forcibly removed him. I was about 4 people behind him in the line. The next person shuffled along with no problem then the next customer stomped up to the register and began to verbally flay the pharmacist. Apparently she has been taking a particular drug for a long period of time and it’s not working so she wanted a different one given to her on the spot. “I want Phentermine no prescription is necessary, just change it!”¹ is pretty much what she screamed over and over.

After that crazy show I was kind of wondering what the old guy in front of me would do. I’d already suffered through his “…in 1951 this shopping mall wasn’t even here. It was just dry desert and So-and-so lived over by…blah blah blah” ramblings. And no, I didn’t know the guy either or the people he was talking about either. Instead I fell back on a tried and true method – just smile and nod. So yeah, I was really curious what the hell he would do. Did he yak her ear off and force me to stand in line for another twenty minutes? Thankfully no, but he did manage to scare both the pharmacist and me a bit though.

He calmly walked up to the register, said he was there to pick up a prescription, gave his name and ID, and paid. With prescriptions in hand he turned to walk away before turning back to the pharmacist and stating in a loud voice that she was the “sorriest” little girl he had ever seen if she couldn’t even deal with some trivial customer complaints, that were her fault to begin with, without having security kick out paying customers. Then he turned to me and said I wasn’t fooling anyone, he knew who I was and I wasn’t get a single dime from him and to tell my bosses that they could kiss his shriveled ass before proudly stomping off.

Is it just me or are the elderly a very scary bunch?

1. I’m pretty sure that’s the name of the drug the woman mentioned over and over. However, after reading about it I have to wonder if it is [↩]