Something bothering you? Better kill it.

In response to this article.

My letter to Gaston County...

Murder is not the answer to things that annoy us. Here's a few quick examples illustrating the ignorance of handling nuisances with murder.

1. I was at the pool last week and these kids kept splashing me. It was really annoying, but rather than asking the kids to move to the other side of the pool or accepting the fact that I was at a pool and would probably get splashed, I simply held their heads under the water and took care of the problem.

2. That same day, I saw this dog pee and leave a big present in my yard like he does every day. I took him out back and gassed him to death.

3. I work in Gaston County and there are many customers that I would consider a nuisance to myself and other customers, maybe Cathy Hart can come help me with these nuisances?

I obviously handled these situations in an appropriate non-lethal manner. Please let Cathy Hart know that there are preventative and non-lethal ways to deal with annoying situations. What should you do when you have a 'problem' with geese? Here's a place to start. Or perhaps the organization that had already offered their assistance, Carolina Waterfowl Rescue could offer alternatives to murder.

Why would kids think it's wrong to beat geese with sticks and bricks when the government says it's okay to kill them? Just a few months ago, kids were charged with animal cruelty for hurting geese. The government should set a better example in how they treat non-human animals. Perhaps, these government individuals should be held accountable and charged with animal cruelty as well.

It's also my understanding that there needs to be an attempt to deter the geese before taking these ridiculous actions. The park doesn't even have a "no feeding" rule. Please take action to ensure those responsible are held accountable and that this atrocity never happens again.

Thanks,
Sam Phillips


Email addresses for the County Commissioners:
chad.brown@carolina.rr.com, 
KINGSPINNACLE@aol.com, 
afraley@carolina.rr.com, 
tomkcom@aol.com,
mprice@co.gaston.nc.us,
RJasonWilliams01@gmail.com, 
tracy@tracyphilbeck.com

iPhone apps stuck on waiting

If your iPhone ever gets stuck on waiting when attempting to download or update your apps, there is an easy fix. You just go in and make sure there is nothing stuck downloading in your iTunes (on the phone). Clear the junk out trying to download in iTunes and everything will start downloading as it should. i learned this here after turning my phone on and off, hard resetting my phone, then resetting all data from an earlier date. This problem was really annoying because the apps i wanted to use for a day were all stuck on 'waiting' mode. Worthless. But now it's fixed and i'm happy.

Work sucks, i know. (it's not really that bad)

Nights at CVS have become very un-nightly meaning there is work to do the entire night. It may sound odd to complain about having something to do the entire time while you're at work, but it is so far from the position that i signed up for. Two years ago, i would fill maybe 20 scripts on a 'busy' night, but now it can easily be 120 or so with DreadyFill™  (for those of you just tuning in, this is in reference to the automatic monthly prescription refills that pop in to the computer ever night) and especially if there are a few pages left in the cue upon arrival. In all my complaining, i would never wish to be on the day side and i don't blame them for ever leaving work to do. As with any company, the goal is to do as much as possible with as little as possible. i'm not sure i could deal with that nonsense for any extended length of time.

Why the hell does the Emergency Department have to send 6 people over at one time? Having 9 scripts as waiters working by yourself is a real pain in the ass. Newsflash to everyone who feels the need to tell me that they just came from the ER, no shit, nobody is just here hanging out because they heard there is no wait to use the back massaging chair late at night.

i used to be much calmer in my everyday life, but at work every little thing pisses me off. Nothing is worse than bending over to pick something up and having my pens fall out of my pocket! Oh my God, it pisses me off just thinking about it.  i mouth silent swear words so often at night at the smallest annoyances and give the middle finger to the computer screen for asinine, unnecessary actions that waste my valuable time i could spend simply not doing unnecessary work, it's ridiculous. 

Why in the hell would you send DreadyFill™ in before 1 AM?? Sure it gives you 30 minutes extra to start working on it, but then you have to wait until 1 AM to filter through the 3 goddamn pages of rejections because half of them are simply based on the fact that the insurance is in the central time zone and think we are somehow transmitting from the fucking future. Then every time there is a prescription that gets filled or is rejected because somebody filled a prescription that is already on ReadyFill (DreadyFill™) and failed to remove the scheduled refill, an empty vial (preferably 40 dram) get's thrown angrily yet harmlessly to the floor. i try to call the help desk at least one night per week i work in hopes that they will come to their sense.

Seven to nine nights used to be no problem, but the angry pharmacist seems to erupt around night six these days. Oh well, more work for me equals an actual contribution to the betterment of our store and hopefully the shit i do makes life easier for the unimaginable hell that is working days in the pharmacy.

Last night, everything just went wrong. There were a few pages in the cue when i arrived, which is fine, i can handle that. But for some reason i kept grabbing the wrong bottle not realizing it until i scanned them and kept having to go back and forth to get the right one, there was a compound hiding underneath the stack of scripts. Luckily there was only one rush of people (last week, every night they didn't stop coming), but then i got a paper cut, the robot ran out of labels, the printer ran out of labels, Medicaid patient came right at midnight when Medicaid goes down for at least an hour, some drunk chick tried to hand me her pregnancy pee stick and confirm the results as she explained her sexual history, got to answer pharmacy questions for someone who doesn't even use our pharmacy, got to enter 2 prescriptions for someone who decided they had to have brand which we didn't have so backed those out...on top of the usual happenings...i'm going to bed, one more night to go. 

Weather is frightful.

i'm officially sick of winter. After barely escaping the snow this weekend on a rushed trip from Chicago to Indy (botched trip to Chesterton), coming back to Charlotte has given little escape from the cold aside from a lack of snow. But if it's going to be this cold anyway, you might as well have snow.  Am i wrong?


What kind of morons run Walmart? How can you not have, at the very least, an end cap of tissue near the pharmacy section? i'm not going all the way to the paper section a half a mile away, it's easier to stop at CVS on the way home to get some.


Christmas. Creating that need to spend money on unnecessary items to make others feel loved, creating stress to find the right gift or any gift for that matter...oh well, it works for me. i don't think i stepped into a store this year for Christmas gifts, aside from one for my mom. The cats remain terrified of every truck noise that stops near our house, especially around the 7 pm UPS delivery hour. Their fear of someone coming to the front door and God forbid ringing the doorbell is frightening.

Still holding.

Does anyone know if there is a way to put money toward a particular loan within a group of Sallie Mae loans? i assume i can just send in a payment via mail and specify the exact loan to pay on, but i just wanted confirmation that this is acceptable. Yesterday, i was on hold for 10 minutes then had to do something else so hung up. Today i provided a callback number and when i got called back, somehow we got disconnected (twice). AT&T sucks as well. i just lost connection again. You rat bastards. i can't stand when a simple task take 10 times longer than it should. Decided to just send an email. Found their auto reply in my spam folder.

Speaking of email, it's that time of year when i try to clear out my email inbox. Why or how i let hundreds of emails build up is ridiculous, but i do nothing to stop it. Worthless. Also worthless is the fact that it gets dark by 5:30. i don't recall this ever bothering me before, but this year i can't stand it.

Dreading.

Have you ever just really dreaded something that is coming up, but you can't really get out of it? This weekend is the mini-marathon we signed up for in Charlotte. To recap, the last time i attempted to run a half marathon such as this back in Indianapolis in like May 2007, i remember reaching the 12 mile mark of the 13.1 mile race and attempting to speed up to finish faster. Eye witness accounts confirmed that after i went down the first time, i attempted to get up and run again before finally blacking out completely. The next thing i remember was waking up in an ice bath followed by an ambulance ride to the hospital. Legend has it that my temperature was somewhere near 105 degrees or so. The worst part about the whole thing, aside from not finishing the race and the stupid medical bills that followed was the fact that they put my iPod in the ice bath with me.
i wish i had thought about this sooner, but i should've made this shirt just in case for this year's race.

On the back, i'll just have my name and insurance information.

 

ITTPMO

In other Insignificant Things That Piss Me Off, how can the Entertainment Book not have an iPhone app? It is always the thing that prevents us from using the stupid thing in unfamiliar parts of town. Couldn't they partner with someone to simply notify someone that this location does have coupons available, with or without checking in. It would increase the value of the Entertainment Book significantly.

Seems Illegal

i had my sorta-annual eye exam the other month and during that visit received the usual reminders that i should change my contacts out more often and what not. Upon corneal evaluation, the eye doc was concerned about some minor problems in the eye caused by overuse and wanted me to follow up in a few weeks to see if there was any improvement.
When the time came for my follow-up, i called and told them i didn't really think i needed a followup appointment. They said they could reschedule and were insistent that i come in and told me it should just be a $30 copay. Fine, i went in and the eyes looked fine. Then a few weeks later in the mail i get a bill for $184 featuring two corneal photographic evaluations and an office visit fee. "You Bastards!" i probably said out loud.

After contemplating just paying it, i decided i would go in and complain about the unnecessary procedure and wasting my money. What else am i going to do on my off week?

So  i go in and when i tell them why i am there, she goes in back and tells the office manager. As i sit there prepared to just pay the stupid bill not knowing what i'm expecting them to do, she comes out five minutes later and tells me, "Oh you weren't supposed to get a bill. Usually the insurance covers these things and if they don't, we just write it off." Shocked and satisfied, i leave. i'm no expert, but is that not some sort of insurance fraud? Send some high bill to the insurance, take what they give and just ignore the rest of the jacked up cost?

Either way, i'm $184 less poor than i would've been.

Driving around.

So I've already mentioned my confusion of why there are buckets lining the highways of America, now I want to point out another fun game to play on the streets of North Carolina. It's called 'Find the Most Asinine License Plate'. It's sort of like playing that board game (Mad Gab) where you have to say a random sequence of words and try to figure out what it is supposed to translate into English. i don't have the best examples here, but these are some standard dumb license plates around here.





Simple, yet stupid.




















Why would you pay money to tell people you are off to work?















False.

Important airport information...

While at the airport, try to refrain from being an asshole. A few observations from my recent flight returning from Indiana.

1. i love the speed at which i can move on a moving walkway, all city sidewalks should be moving walkways. Nothing can ruin the thrill faster than someone who is not moving. i know it's the oldest airport question with unintentional philosophical connotations, but it is called a "Moving Walkway." Does it only imply the walkway itself is moving or it is made for those that are moving? i find it hard to believe that the sole intention for these devices was to give lazy people a break from having to move themselves. So when it becomes a standing walkway, i get annoyed. While it does give the option to stand on the right side, if you decide to stand side-by-side and not let me pass, i will turn that strip into a battle royal and throw you over the side.

2. Exiting a plane. When the plane comes to a complete stop, unless you are about to miss the only connecting flight to your final destination, your wife is giving birth to your first child or someone is on their deathbed, do not attempt to get off before those in the previous rows have exited. Unless granted permission and directed to do so by the person in front of you, your friendly stewardess, or God himself, there is no need for disrupting the flow.

3. These same people that are in such a rush to get off the plane are the same ones standing directly on top of the baggage claim carousel. No it is not an accident when i grab my luggage and it lands on your foot. Back the ef up and everyone can proceed to claim their luggage without a struggle. Not sure if you are aware, but the luggage will in fact go all the way around and come back out, it does not get engulfed in flames if not picked up on the first pass.



i'm not sure if this is a picture of A) what happens if you don't push past the rows in front of you and rush to the baggage claim area or B) this is the back room of the baggage carousel where luggage piles up if not picked up on the first pass.

4. Respect those stuck sitting bitch. While every seat has two arm rests, not all arm rests are exclusive for just one seat (at least on the flights i can afford). That means if you are sitting in the middle of two a-holes or two extra large folks who spill on to your arm rests, you are stuck doing the elbows-t0-ribs dance (go ahead and touch your sides with your elbows, i like to complete this move by sticking my thumbs up and rocking side to side on the dance floor). A logical solution should be everyone gets their armrest furthest away from the aisle based on the fact that using the aisle armrest usually results in battered elbows and the window seat has a whole wall to lean on.

Goodbye Verizon.

Several months ago, i called Verizon to see how much it would be to cancel my plan. At the time it was like $80, and i decided i would stick it out and not splurge on an iPhone until my contract was officially up.

Unfortunately, dumbass-that-i-am managed to go over in my minutes for the first time since freshman year of college. Not just by a few, but 138 minutes. Now i am stuck paying a bill just under the cancellation fee. Worthless Verizon. i guess they knew they couldn't keep me as a customer even if they forgave those minutes.

Gotta go, time to call AT&T (that's gonna cost me).