Just Another Day At the Office

I awoke one morning last week with the thought, 'Hey, why haven't I received a certain department store's bill in a while?'  I looked in my file and saw that it had been since June, but I had made two purchases in early August.  And my due date was always on the 3rd, which happened to be the day's date.

I figured the bill got lost in the mail, so I would just pay online.  After going through the whole sign up process (including the dreaded password), it still wouldn't allow me to view my account online.  After wasting 20 more minutes, I realized I had merely signed up to make online purchases, and it was a separate process to see your account.  However, to sign up, you have to agree to paperless billing.  Call me old fashioned, but I like to have paper bills to store my receipts, and I'm tired of wasting my own printer ink and paper.  I nixed even attempting to call them, so I decided the easiest solution was to go to a store and pay in person.

Sure!  After standing in line at their customer 'service,' I went up to the counter and explained my dilemma.  She asked me how much I wanted to pay.  I told her I just wanted to pay the balance in full, so could she look that up on her computer?  I handed her my store credit card.  That's when she said that she couldn't do that, because she wasn't allowed to look up 'my personal information.'  Huh?  Isn't my balance THEIR business too?  I asked her how I was supposed to find out my balance and she pointed to a 'courtesy' phone.  After pressing a ridiculous amount of buttons, I was able to get my balance, but then it said that I had no balance due at this time.  Again, HUH?  If you have a balance, shouldn't it be due SOMETIME?  I paid my balance and left.

Then my day got really fun.  My husband had printed off a free flu shot voucher through his employer that could be used at CVS.  Since the shot wasn't available yet at our doctor's office before my son left for college, I thought this would solve the problem.  I'm married to someone who is super paranoid about getting the flu, so we all get the shot, just to get him off our asses.

I thought it best that I see exactly what CVS was within walking distance of campus, so I looked online.  I also needed to find a CVS that wasn't a Minute Clinic, because the voucher specified it could not be used at a Minute Clinic.  I found a regular CVS close to my son's dorm, so I called them to verify they had the vaccine.  Here is the conversation with the pharmacist:

Me:  Do you have the flu shot available yet?
Her:  No, we don't give flu shots here.  You need to go to a CVS Minute Clinic.
Me:  I have a CVS flu shot voucher, and it specifies that you can't go to a Minute Clinic.
Her:  Only Minute Clinics give flu shots.
Me:  WTF??  (Ok, I didn't say that out loud).

I called the phone number on the voucher and it turned out to be for CVS employees who receive the voucher as payment.  I tried my husband's HR department and got nowhere, so I called the CVS employee number and hit buttons till I got a human being.  After admitting that I wasn't an employee, just a desperate person with a voucher, I went around and around with him till he told me that some CVS pharmacists will give a flu shot, but not all CVS stores are 'flagged' to receive the vaccine.

This post is too long already, so I will stop there.  You get the gist of it!  #Exasperating