We Need Help with a Big Telephone Problem...

that is getting worse.

Today alone, my husband received 28 phone calls. Many of them were from different numbers, but they all seem to have originated from the same person. 

If you answer the call, he asks for John, and he doesn't want to accept your answer - that no one named John lives here. My husband got so frustrated that after the 4th or 5th call, he started saying that John was dead. That seemed to escalate the number of calls. 

I answered one, thinking it may be a person who is trying to collect money from a guy named John, who had given a phony number. That has happened before. But when I told the guy that we have had this number for 30 years, and that no one named John has lived here; he said something in a foreign language and I heard a child in the background making noise. Then he hung up.

I cannot for the life of me fathom why anyone gets a kick out of harassing people for no apparent reason. If you call the number that has just appeared on your called ID, you get a message saying it is no longer in service. Within 5 minutes, he will call again, and the caller ID shows a different number. 

What can we do to stop this???

The Sequence

Dermatology appointment last Monday. "Start using sun screen again,' she says. 

After showering on Friday, I apply sunscreen from last year (expires in Nov. 2014) to face, neck and upper chest only. Cheeks burn like the fire, but I have rosacea, so I attribute it to that. 

Late Friday night:   itching starts on upper neck, just under jawline, and proceeds down the neck. 

Saturday:  rash appears. Small red, raised bumps evenly disbursed over my neck and upper chest, following the pattern of sunscreen application (but not on face.)

Saturday night and Sunday:   scritch, scratch, rub, cringe. Application of steroid gel from dermatologist does not help. More scritch, scratch, rub, cringe and grimace. 

Sunday:  nurse daughter says Benadryl will help. Bought same on the way home from family Easter festivities. Took 2 on Sunday. Still itching, still red. Still bumpy. Apply benadryl gel (which expired in 2000) - does not help much  (surprise, surprise.) Rash spreads to mid-boob level.  :(

Monday morning:  call dermatologist's office.....no answer.  Call primary doc's office; she is all booked up. Make the choice of a backup doc (same office).

Backup doc's diagnosis: I have developed an allergy to something in my sunscreen.  Given an Rx for cortisone cream; told to apply 2-3 times per day, and to continue Benadryl tablets until the itch disappears. Discontinue sunscreen  (did I need to hear that? )

Monday night status:   still red, still itchy, still bumpy; rash has spread to the back of my neck.  

AAARRGH.....there's enough stress in my life already. 

GRRRRRR........Rant in Progress Here...Redux

Update below!
For a long time, I used K-Mart Pharmacy; it was convenient, and I could pick up toothpaste, shampoo and greeting cards at the same time as a script.  But a few months ago, I received a letter from my insurance company stating that K-Mart was no longer on their preferred provider list. Whatever.....I thought, since K-Mart was always causing me problems or extra trips to the store.  Since we had moved five miles south of that pharmacy last July, I chose to switch to CVS, which is only 3 miles away. Rite-Aid and Walgreens are closer than that, but I'd had problems before with Rite-Aid and Walgreens is not on the insurance list. 

So I transferred all our prescriptions  (not a small number of them) and began using that pharmacy. At first, all was well, and they welcomed me, of course, as anyone would when that Medicare money is at stake. Then the trouble began. 

I abhor with passion those automatic robocalls telling me that I have a script ready to be picked up. I may be old, but I am not so nuts as to forget an RX in the shop, once I have ordered it. And they managed to get me mixed up, since some of those calls come after I have already picked up the RX, and I make a second trip to the store without knowing it is for naught.  About a month ago, late in the week, I got a call from CVS with an actual person on the line. She advised me that my husband had a script that needed refilling, and asked if I wanted it. I knew he was not running out of it yet, but I said yes, and she told me I could pick it up the next day. Three days later, I went to the pharmacy to get it. 

It was not ready, they had no record of that call and asked me repeatedly who had called me. I had no idea, of course, just a pharmacy tech - as far as I knew. They made me wait 20 minutes, just to slap a label on a bottle. I was not happy. That has happened twice. 

So this morning, knowing that my husband needed a new bottle of his special shampoo  -  for which I had no label because it had been attached to a plastic bag that the RX came in and it was thrown out.  I attempted to call CVS to speak to a tech or pharmacist, so I could ask them for a refill. 

It was impossible to speak to a live person. The robo-voice mail system was not set up  to allow access to a real person. At K-Mart, if I needed a person, I simply pressed 0 during the announcement and I would be connected to the pharmacist. Not so with CVS. There were no options available in the voice mail menu to get a person instead of a recording. 

I called the main number for the store, which is also a voice mail hell, and eventually I did get a person. I asked her for the direct numbe to the pharmacy, so I could order a script and she gave me a number. When I called it, I heard the old familiar "This line is no longer in service or has been disconnected." To be fair, the woman who gave me the number did not have English as her first language. She speaks with quite an accent, which is nearly impossible for me to understand. I was so frustrated!

So, I went to the store and explained my plight to the tech behind the counter. I asked her specifically for the direct phone line to the pharmacy and she said "it will be on the back of the bottle when you get it filled." I said "if the bag it comes in gets thrown away again, it won't help me any." She looked right at me and said not. a. thing.  Nothing/squat/diddly/crap.  She declined to give me the number. Then she said..."Do you want us to fill it?"  I answered "How long will it take?" and she replied "25-30 minutes."  

Why does it take 25 minutes to generate a label and slap it on a bottle of shampoo? It isn't as if they have to formulate it. I opted to pick it up later, so, tomorrow I will have to go 6 miles out of my way to get the darn shampoo. What do you want to bet it won't be ready when I get there? 

Note:  there are always at least 6-7 people behind the pharmacy counter when I go there. It seems to me they could be a bit faster about getting RX's ready. What am I missing?

Update:  I went back there today to get the shampoo. I spoke with the manager, to whom I explained the problems when I was there last week. He agreed that I should have been told how to access the pharmacy directly (and said they had recently changed their voice mail process, so that might have been part of the problem). He also said I should not have to wait 25 minutes for an RX shampoo and that if I ever have any more problems I should call the store and ask for him. You bet I will!!

The Carolina Order of The smoking Fish - Meet-Up 4-12-14

This motley crew makes up the Carolina Order of the Smoking Fish. The name comes from a web-site we all read and have for years. We "met" on line and now we have met in  person. I already knew all but three of this group, and I was pleased to finally meet the others and see the ones I had not seen in a long time. 

All bloggers know how much they value the interaction of their readers and those other whom they read often. You come to know them, over the years, almost as well as you do local friends. They laugh with you, cry with you, offer consolation, humor and empathy when needed and share their anger and moments of frustration as well - which leads to lessons learned and valued. 

It was so nice to be able to be with them; to share a meal (everyone brought something) and the hosts provided grilled meats and appetizers. I finally met the "Blond Goddess's" handsome husband, of whom she writes so fondly and with humor. He is all she says he is - and a heck of a nice man - who didn't seem to mind the old lady in the group. (They are all in their 40's or very early 50's.) That he is an antique and memorabilia collector didn't hurt, as we had something in common right away. He even let me hug him at the end of the evening ( and he says he "isn't a hugger." I met Blond Goddess during one of my trips back home to Charleston, along with 4 others. I wish they all could have been here yesterday. 

A Durham blogger named Brenda is one I stumbled onto in the early days of blogging and have enjoyed her former blog and being on Facebook with her too. Having never met in person, it was great to cast my eyes on her at last. I'd seen photos, of course, but they never do justice to the real person. 

Our hosts, Tiff and Biff  (their blog names) I have known for about 7 years, as I have Renn and her daughter "L". Nicer people would be very hard to find. They all have very good - albeit quirky - senses of humor and I marvel at their take on life.....and say....."Why didn't I think of that?" L was a quiet and tolerant teenager; I even saw a smile or two creep over her pretty face. Now she will realize that her mama has some pretty cool friends....lol  Tiff and Biff live in "The Tiny House" in Wake Forest, NC, and no better hosts can be found. Laid back and welcoming at the same time, they are a treat to be with and I always look forward to seeing them.

Shiny Rod, as he is known on the site, is a special person, a good writer who is not wary of sharing his feelings, his music and humor with us on Facebook. He is good with advice about computers and I was really looking forward to meeting him in person; he was so nice. (Gives good hugs too!)

The day was capped off by attending a performance of Biff's band, known as "Steelwater", at the small amphitheater in front of Relish .  The weather could not have been more perfect; both during the day and for sitting outdoors in the evening, listening to great rock music and watching small children play with beanbags. Some people brought their dogs too, and the animal lovers among us (nearly all) managed to pet a few. 

All in all, it was a perfect day.....one I hope can be repeated before too many more years pass. 

In my travels around the internet.....

I found this site, which may interest you. I was doing some research about a place I took photos of back in 1997:

This is Our Lady of the Pines, built in Tucker Co., WV. I was not able to find the date it was built, but we know it was before 1959, because that was the year that Alaska and Hawaii became our 49th and 50th states.

Follow this link to find out more. 

Not Much is Going On.....

that I can talk about here, so I'll mention the few good things that happened in the past few days. 

DaughterOne belongs to a Facebook site called "you know you grew up in Raleigh when..." and she saw a name she recognized from back in the 70's and 80's. The woman belonged to a group that we joined, and we were good friends until we moved across town in 1982 and the group disbanded. Daughter sent a message about seeing her name, and I went on Facebook and searched for her - and found her! I checked her friends list and found another woman from that group - so I "friended" both of them - which makes me happy. We will get together soon and it will be so nice to see each of them again and catch up on the last 30 + years of our lives. 

I have two pieces of advice:

One:  as you age, remember to keep your muscles strong....it is frustrating to see how quickly a person can deteriorate when they don't exercise. You may have arthritis/bursitis and don't want to move and experience the painful joints, but if you don't "use it" you will definitely "lose it." A little pain is definitely a good hedge against losing mobility.

Two:  Reserve a bit of skepticism when you think you know someone. There are people who can appear to be a certain way and when they suddenly show their true colors, it is an extremely rough lesson to learn. I hate to be a cynic, but sometimes a touch of cynicism can be valuable when you find out that someone you thought you knew is a very different person inside. 

Royally Ticked Off and....

trying to get over it.

Last week, I received a letter from a collections agency, saying we owed $171 on a "past-due" insurance account. I was 99% certain that wasn't true, but had to check it out. I emailed my insurance agent, who happens to be my son, and asked him to look into it for me. 

I just received an email from the insurance broker, saying that it was sent in error and apologizing. Our last payment to the company with which they had placed the fire policy on our old home (the one we sold last October) had been received, but not recorded. 

An email asking them to be sure that this non-debt gets wiped from our credit reports has been sent, but to be sure, I will have to get our credit reports in about 4-5 months, to see if it has been done. 

WHY don't people who work in offices check and double-check their work??? I hope this serves as a lesson for others:  for those who oversee data entry in offices - do your jobs well, and for consumers - make sure you check and double-check invoices. Don't just pay something without knowing for certain you owe it. (I know, it sounds nuts, but I have known people who would do that.)  $170 isn't much, but it's a lot if you don't really owe it!!