Yeah, my bank also started doing the "don't even worry about" for travel alerts a while back, so I took it off my pre-travel to do lists.

When I worked at Best Buy and did phone orders I had to tell people who were buying from out of state (for their kids in college usually) to call their bank and let them know and then call me back otherwise the purchase might be blocked. A few people weren't happy but it looks suspicious if there is suddenly a Mac book Pro being bought in Vermont when the card is being used daily (and the same day) in , say, Oregon.

I forgot I have my self-appraisal to do - even Jess's peer reviews didn't remind me. Oops. Sadly, I would rather do my tedious and fiddly work than come up with one more accomplishment and three areas of improvement, but I'd better spend some time on that soonish

We paid a huge amount of money for a deep cleaning to be done on the house, and they didn’t do a very good job. The only reason we could even afford to do this was because of the small inheritance I got when Papa died. The plan was to get it back up to a maintainable level so that we could just have them come in once a month for a much less expensive light cleaning. I’m so upset right now and don’t know what to do.

Since we doubled up on JZ's dosage, we've gone through the meds at twice the rate.

Our doctor thoughtfully put in a new prescription for 120 Dilaudid, but it's automatically going to the inconvenient Safeway pharmacy (since our Pharmaca closed)

I left the house in the car with two pressing needs: Get the refill on painkillers, and get guinea pig kibble.

As I was standing in the line at the pharmacy looking at their big red sign saying "All Narcotics Are Kept In A Time Controlled Safe" I realized this was not going to go smoothly. In fact, not once have I been able to make a pickup without going back at least twice.

So when I got up there and asked for my prescription (which had been called in the previous day) she said: "But your prescription should last until January 2nd."

Yes, I explained but they raised the dosage from 2mg to 4mg a day so we went through it twice as fast.

"Do you have the original prescription with you?"

No.

"I have to check with the pharmacy at UCSF and hear from the doctor. We don't have 120 Dilaudid right now anyway. Will it be okay to pick up on Saturday?"

No. We're running out of pills. We will run out of pills tomorrow and my wife will be in agonizing pain.

"But your prescription should last until January 2nd!"

Yes, but as I previously noted, the doctors approved her taking an increased dosage, doubling our use. And it won't help seeing the original prescription since that was for taking 2mg every six hours instead of 4 mg.

So, now I'm down to 8 pills which will be done by 11:30 tomorrow and we have to solve this problem today because I don't want to be running around tomorrow trying to solve this like fucking Run, Lola Run.

Also, they were out of Guinea Pig kibble.

JZ has already put in a call to her primary care doctor (40 minutes on hold to get through) who is supposed to transfer the prescription to the UCSF Walgreens Pharmacy (where they will definitely have 120 pills) and talk to the pharmacist, and put a note on file explaining why we need the meds.

But I can't just trust that's going to happen now because literally every time I've tried to pick up any opiate there are nine extra unanticipated hoops to jump through, multiple trips back to the pharmacy to pick up one order and nervous nurses and pharmacists who are being blamed for the opioid crisis, and the Sacklers are somehow roaming around free.

So I'm a little stressed.

And everybody says they want to help but nobody's doing the fucking dishes.

Ugh, Hec that is truly truly awful. I hope her pcp can fix it for you quick.

Take a lot of pictures. Tons. Have specifics (what wasn't cleaned or cleaned poorly) when you call to make a complaint. Give them the option of returning or refunding. If they don't want to fix the issue, take it to social media and corporate.

I've had to do that a couple of times. Merry Maids stained a cast iron tub and finally took responsibility after saying that me coloring my hair was the cause. I hadn't colored my hair. And in the desert a smaller local company missed a lot. Took way longer to get them to come fix things but they did.

It's super infuriating because you are using them for either an event or getting your place back to a place where it's easier to maintain. And it just adds stress when there is a problem.

Hope they make it right on the first call, sj.

Such stress. And eff the Sacklers who really should be rotting in jail. I hope it is resolved quickly. Thinking of JZ in pain right now is awful.

I'm so sorry and empathetic, Hec. And if I lived in SF, I'd come do the fucking dishes.

sj, that sucks, and Cass, you are right about the Sacklers and good advice on how to get some relief from the cleaners, too.

I'm so sorry, Hec. I am unsurprised that filling the prescription is so damn hard but still very angry about it. And I would come do the dishes if I was close to hand (not that my dishes are washed, but washing someone else's dishes is always easier for me, it is my go to helping out thing (not that that is helpful, but maybe someday I will be handy when you need your dishes washed and you will remember and put me to work))

That sucks, sj