There used to be a nice salad that I would buy at Wendy’s that had a piece of grilled chicken on a bed of mixed greens and some mandarin oranges, sliced almonds and a special vinaigrette dressing.It was reasonably priced and I would try to order that at least once a month, as I don’t eat out at fast food places very often.
But last month I drove up to Wendy’s to order that for lunch and they didn’t have it any more. Now they have a selection of designer salads.
That upset me, as I really liked that salad and now there is nothing like it on the Wendy’s menu and not anywhere else that I can find, not even a full service sit down restaurant.
Everyone has been talking about bedbugs the past week or two. All the news outlets are running articles, the morning shows are interviewing people, and the Internet is full of search results about how to get rid of these pests.
Evidently it is very hard to get rid of bedbugs from not only your bed but also any upholstered furniture you have, and even clothing and coats. Today I read a warning about buying bedding or furniture from flea markets, as items from those places have a high likelihood of bringing bedbugs into your home.
This won’t work for bed and large pieces of furniture, but if you happen to have any clothing, stuffed animals, or coats that show signs of a bedbug infestation, you can put that item into a large ziploc bag, and then place the bag into the freezer for 3-4 days. That will kill both any bedbugs and their eggs, as they cannot survive being frozen.
Sometimes I get in the mood for a good healthy salad. A good bountiful salad can make for a great meal. Right now people’s gardens are producing and folks are giving away produce like crazy, which is awesome for folks like me that don’t have a garden but enjoy the harvesting of others.
I like the spray salad dressing that they have available. You can really control the amount of the dressing this way. There is nothing worse that putting way too much dressing on your salad and then it becomes a soggy mess. A nice find spray is perfect!
Just a reminder to clip those Box Tops For Education labels from the numerous food and personal hygiene products that are gracious enough to donate money to our school systems. All of our schools are in need of funding and this is a quick and easy way for everyone to help bring in some case for our kids.
I’m always annoyed by the doctors that order eye drops for people to use to get rid of their conjunctivitis. I know that there is an oral antibiotic that they can take to fix the problem. And the eye drops really hurt! I’ve had to use them myself a few times, and let me tell you, they REALOLY HURT! So I fell really sorry for the poor kids that have to use the eye drops. I wish the doctors would just prescribe the oral medicine instead.
One of the things that the other ladies that I work with in the pharmacy and I agree upon is that we find it awkward that right in front of our work space is the shelving unit for the display of condoms and sex enhancement lotions. There are too many customers that start to ask us questions about the products that we don’t have any idea what the answer is, and since it really is not our job to know those details, we really don’t any desire to learn about them for purposes of work! Sometimes I think that these people are trying to embarrass us!
There is one young lady that I work with that has a lot of learning to do about life. I find myself biting my tongue around her a lot. She is a very opinionated young lady, who seems to think that she is smarter than anyone else in the world. And she has absolutely no sympathy or empathy for anyone who has become addicted to any kind of substance. She aspires to become a pharmacist, but I really don’t think that she will make a very good one, because she is so judgemental.
I guess maybe I’m a little bit more sensitive to the dilemmas of substance abuse because I have had several close friends and family members who have had to go through some kind of alcohol rehab in their lives. One very discouraging fact is that for most people, they have to go to an alcohol treatment center more than once to get their addiction under control. I think that there is a need for more alcohol treatment options for low-income people. Addiction strikes people regardless of income levels!
I hate getting a tick on me. I have gotten three ticks on me so far this year and I’m hating life. It has been months since I removed the last one and the darn thing still itches like crazy and I’m tired of scratching it and looking like a pervert when doing it, since it is at the top of my left thigh! At least I got the bugger off quickly. I read on the Internet a few years back to put liquid soap on a cotton ball and place it on the tick, so I did and the little bugger came right off.
I’ve noticed that since I’ve been working in the pharmacy that I’ve taken a larger active interest in the clothes and jewelry that I wear to work. I don’t want to spend a lot of money, but most of the clothes that I have been wearing around the house just won’t do where I work.
So I’ve been taking a look for comfortable, yet trendy clothes and jewelry to wear to work. And if I can find eologically friendly clothes and jewelry to buy as well, then I’m all for that, too! One of the things that I have to keep in mind, though, is that since I have to wear a lab coat, that most customers won’t even see most of what I wear. So I’m trying to focus on comfort for the clothes, but I definitely want to make a fashion statement on the jewelry!
I’m always surprised how many customers come to the store looking for products that have been recalled. For example, a few months ago Rolaids was recalled. More recently Tylenol was recalled. Yet many customers come into the store to look for those products. They tell us that they can’t find them anywhere, and are quite upset. I always feel rather strange telling them that they were recalled! They always say that they didn’t know! I think that when a company recalls a product, there should be signs that announce the recall posted on the shelves where the product is supposed to be. It would sure save us a lot of angry customers!
My father served in the Navy during World War II, and he served in the South Pacific. He was very proud to have been in the Navy, but he didn’t talk much about the war. I was only twenty four when he died of cancer. I always thought it was really odd that he died from cancer; he never smoked a cigarette in his life, and ate the most healthy diet possible!
He was ill for a very long time, going to the doctors, before they finally diagnosed him with cancer. By the time they figured it out, it had spread throughout his body and the doctors didn’t give him much of a chance for survival. He died back in the early 80′s, and I often wonder if he had Mesothelioma Cancer, from exposure to asbestos while in the Navy. Every time I ask my mother about what kind of cancer my father had, she tells me that it wasn’t Mesothelioma, that it was multiple myeloma, or something like that. I wonder, though, and I guess I always will wonder, what really happened! And I will always wonder when the cure for cancer will be discovered!
One of the things that I like to do at work is to find some reason to compliment the customers. I find that if I can find some reason to make them smile, it makes my day go better too! It really makes me feel good about my job, if I can make the customer smile or laugh.
For example, a lady came in to pick up her prescriptions, and she was wearing a pretty pink scarf. It had been knitted with eyelash yarn, and it was nice and fluffy. I told her that I really liked it, and asked her if she had knitted it herself. She told me that her sister had knitted it for her, in honor of her being in remission from breast cancer! I congratulated her, and we chatted for several minutes. The entire conversation ended in me going around the counter and giving her a big ol’ bear hug and telling her how proud and happy I was to have met her, and congrats on winning the battle!
I liked that, and I think she did too. Some days the news is good news.
One of the sadder parts of working in my pharmacy is that quite a few people tell me sad things about their life. I guess that really isn’t a surprise; people come to get their medicines because someone is sick. But a lot of the medicines are simple things – like antibiotics for a sinus infection, or maintenance medicine for things like high blood pressure.
A customer came into the pharmacy today to pick up some medicines for her hubby who had just been released from the hospital. She told me that he had just had his leg amputated because of complications from a brown recluse spider bite! She said he had been bitten over two years ago and didn’t get timely treatment, so had been in enormous pain and suffering before they finally decided to amputate. I don’t know where on his leg he was bitten, but she said that they had to amputate at the hip. She said it was sad that he lost his leg, but a relief to finally be done with the years of suffering.
I can’t even imagine going through something like that!
I can remember back around 1994 when I was working for a large utility company that I was asked to volunteer to take on an inspection of our building for OSHA. At first I was flattered that my boss thought highly enough of me to ask me to do the job. I had to go to a training session about what was expected of me. There were a lot of people at the meeting!
As part of the training, we were told about the dangers of asbestos and how important it is to keep asbestos fibers from getting into the air. A lot of emphasis was placed on how important it is to use the right techniques and technology for asbestos removal to protect all of us from dangerous exposure.
After the training, I inspected our building and found a lot of OSHA violations; including some asbestos ones. I turned in the report to my boss (which included recommendations for asbestos removal) who was very unhappy with me for actually doing a good job in the inspection! I have to say that I was dismayed at that kind of reaction – the boss was supposed to take care of the problem, not try to sweep it under the rug!
Since that time, I’ve actually become more interested in issues related to health. I never wanted to be a nurse (although my parents wanted me to be one) but a pharmacy technician job is something I feel comfortable doing. As part of the job of a pharmacy technician, I am constantly learning about health issues and health resources. One interesting resource that I found around the asbestos removal issue is a website called asbestosregisters.co.uk. What I found interesting about this particular website is that it encourages businesses to register their asbestos situation and reach out for advice and assistance through their site. I think this is a step in the right direction!
I was reading a story on today.msnbc.msn.com about how pre-teen girls are getting bikini waxes! The article was talking about how girls as young as six years old are having hair-removal waxing done, from their faces, backs, and bikini areas. I think that is way too early for something like that! What kind of body image problem are these girls going to have as they grow up? How can a mother be so irresponsible as to encourage this type of thing? Why are we trying to force our kids to grow up so fast? This is just plain silliness!
Last night a woman came in for some medical advice. I find it interesting how many people come to the pharmacy to ask for medical advice before calling their doctors!
This woman was concerned that her bi-polar daughter might be pregnant. She had her tubes tied a few years ago, but was now displaying all of the symptoms of pregnancy. So the mother came in to ask if it was possible she was pregnant. Knowing that I’m not allowed by law to give medical advice, I was skating on thin ice. So I told her that I had a girl friend who had her tubes tied and got pregnant a few years later anyway, so yes it was possible.
So then she asked what should she do. I told her to buy one of the early pregnancy test kits and use it to find out if the daughter really is pregnant. I told her that there are other medical conditions that could mimic pregnancy, but she should do the test kit and then call her doctor. She thanked me for my advice and told me that she hoped it was one of the other medical conditions and not pregnancy. I kept my mouth shut at that point, other than telling her to consult the doctor. To the best of my knowledge the other medical conditions that can mimic pregnancy are not good at all. I think pregnancy would be preferable!
After the woman left I apologized to the pharmacist for not asking her to come and counsel the patient. She was within earshot the whole time. She told me that I told the woman exactly what she would have told her, but next time to call her into the conversation. She was nice about it, but I felt bad anyway.
Well the pharmacy has cut back hours so much that I haven’t worked at my headquarters in many months. So I’ve been bouncing around filling in as a substitute/floater from store to store. I’ve done a lot of travelling and met a lot of nice people! Having said that, I’ve met a lot of not-so-nice people too!
A few weeks ago I was working at a store where a customer didn’t have any health insurance and his prescription costs were going to be over $400! The customer asked if there was any way I could help him to reduce the cost of his prescription. I asked him if he had Internet access, and he told me yes, he did. So I advised him to go online to the manufacturer’s website of the medicine and download a coupon for the medicine and bring it back to us.
The pharmacist overheard me telling the customer that he could do that, and he was so furious he told me to punch out and go home immediately and never come back into his store! Can you believe that? Because I was trying to help a customer save some money on his medicine!
Yes, there are some real jerks out there, that is for sure!
I was just remembering a customer that came into the store last week that I wanted to comment on. She looked like she was in her 80′s at least, but she dressed like she thought she was only 16! And she had on so much cologne it could choke a horse! It was really hard keeping myself from laughing out loud when I saw her. She was wearing a skirt that was what I would call a micro-mini – not something you can bend over in and remain dignified! I’m not quite sure who she was trying to impress, but it really was pathetic. I wish that people would learn to dress a little bit more demurely when they get older! And use less cologne! If I dress like that when I’m in my 80′s I hope someone tells me to grow up and act my age!
Today a customer (a man) was shopping at “my” pharmacy, walking up and down the aisles. He had his young (about 5 years old) daughter with him. Suddenly he collapsed in a heap on the floor! One of the store employees rushed to the man, another to the pharmacy and got the pharmacist “L” to come check out the man. She checked his pulse and blood pressure and decided that they were really bad and the store manager called rescue. A fire truck arrived within a couple of minutes (it was really fast, but really a FIRE TRUCK? The man collapsed on the floor, he didn’t spontaneously combust!)
So the man was taken to the hospital. The store manager went along to watch the little girl. She ended up staying at the hospital for a couple of hours to watch the little girl until the wife could arrive; apparently the wife worked over an hour’s drive away! That was really nice of the store manager to volunteer to stay!
Needless to say, many customers saw the fire truck and ambulance and asked about the drama for much of the day. I don’t know if the man is OK or not. Sure hope so! It sure was lucky he was in the store when he collapsed, and not out driving his car!
