My mouth wasn't healing as I thought it should after the dental work. In fact, it was hurting more every day. They thought all the infection was contained in the extracted tooth, but I had my doubts, increasing in levels keeping pace with the throbbing after a week. I called and asked for an antibiotic. To my surprise, the pharmacy called me within an hour saying it was ready. Normal prescriptions take up to 4 days to fill. The roads were clear for a change, so no time like the present to head out and pick it up.
You know the store, one of those big boxes that does its best to fill all needs in one stop. My insurance requires that I use them because the prices are about as low as it gets. I've dealt with them for years. and for several years they had the same glitch, charging a small amount too much at the beginning of the year and winding up mailing me a check to make up for it. They run somewhere under $2 a check. Not exciting, but.... Procedure has been to spend them in the store, and within 180 days of the check date. Some years I've had two to deal with. I'd recently changed out my pocketbooks, and noticed a folded piece of paper tucked away, forgotten. It was one of those checks. Time was running out, and the day I was in the store my calculations said I had 3 days left to spend it or forget it.
But important stuff first. I picked up my antibiotic, and had a chat with the pharmacist since I hadn't used one for ages. Turns out it's another thing on my ever increasing list of things that messes with my gut, like every single thing that eases cold symptoms, still nasty since the first of the month. I need to get live culture yogurt to go with it, twice a day as long as the pills last and then several days after. Since that's already a recent staple in my diet, for whatever imaginary good it seems to do, I knew exactly what I needed and where in the store it is. May as well get milk too, and a couple other things, and while there remember to use that check. That means no self checkout but find a line with a cashier. I'd figured a Monday morning would be easy checking out.
I forgot how close to Christmas it was.
After my long wait in checkout, I handed the check to the cashier. She was puzzled. I explained why I had it and what I'd done in previous years. So she asked for my drivers license and started plugging in numbers and numbers and... REJECTED! Say what?
She now needed a regular card, finished the transaction, and pointed me over to customer service. If I hadn't already had proof of the holiday rush, there it was. The line was long enough that they'd set out portable stanchions and straps making a corridor to funnel customers through so nobody could butt in line. At the counter was a single employee. The line stretched beyond the stanchions long enough to block the restrooms, so we did our best to allow spaces.
By the time I got near the counter a second employee stepped in to assist and the line moved faster. There were only three behind me when it was my turn. I handed the check over and explained - since they had no clue - why I had it, noting it had a few days left, that previously I'd just used them to to start paying for a purchase, but this time it had been denied and nobody knew why. They had a conference, looked up something on their machines, and told me they couldn't just cash (which wasn't what I'd tried to do, just spend it on their merch) it as it would cost me $4 to do so and it wasn't worth half of that. I tried to ask when and why their policy had changed. They had no information on that, but told me I should take it to my bank and deposit it.
I didn't bother explaining that my bank is so far from there that my car would use about 4 gallons of gas on the trip, even worse than their $4 charge. I had groceries to put in the fridge, pills to start taking ASAP, was exhausted by this time, and had no inclination to follow their suggestion. They didn't need to know all that. I just said I couldn't go to the bank right then. They repeated it like I hadn't heard them or something. I repeated that I couldn't go to the bank. I wondered aloud when they'd changed their policy and why they hadn't passed on the information, both puzzled and frustrated, ready to head out of there and give up, maybe sending the company a scathing but useless email. (Yes, I do understand the "useless" part of that plan.)
That's when the second cashier pulled a couple ones out of his pocket, slightly wadded up, thrust them in my hand, and complete with attitude oozing "get out of here!" and a loud voice, said "Merry Christmas"!
It was more than the check, and not his job to pay me, but the message was clear. I replied with a genuinely surprised "thank you" and my own "Merry Christmas" before I left. I actually meant mine.
Next year when they send another check, I'll try to remember I have it, and when I'm near the bank, make a point of depositing it. I'm sure there will be another one. Whatever is causing the overcharge, they haven't figured it out in 4 years. Why should I expect change?
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