My son was sick a couple of weeks ago. He had an infection and the Doctor wrote him a prescription. After leaving the Doctor’s office, I headed over to the base pharmacy. I had never been there before to pick up a prescription, so I wasn’t sure about where I needed to go. I saw a drive through option and thought, “Great! I won’t even have to worry about getting my son out of the car.” After waiting in line about five minutes, I found out that I was at the wrong place. I was told that I had to go inside because I have a new prescription.
I got my son out of the car and we proceeded to go inside. The pharmacy was packed. I took a number and was going to sit down, but my son had other plans. He wanted to walk around, so I decided that I would walk with him until they called our number. All of a sudden, my son had a meltdown. He started leaning back and crying at the top of his lungs. I quickly pulled him up from the floor and started walking with him back towards the front. I looked at the waiting list and saw that I was the next person to be called. “Only a few more minutes,” I thought. My son was carrying on so bad that a lady came up to me and said, “I know how you feel.” After about ten minutes of waiting, I just happened to look at the wall and noticed a sign that basically told me I was in the wrong place. I immediately started to get frustrated.
I left the waiting room with my son holding my hand and screaming beside me. I asked for directions to the correct pharmacy and was told that I had to go outside and all the way around to the other side of the building. We proceeded off on our third attempt to get my son’s medication.
I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally got to the correct pharmacy. “It shouldn’t be long now,” I thought. The pharmacy was packed, even more than the other one. I desperately handed the Receptionist my prescription and she politely gave me my prescription back with a number. “Okay Ma’am, it will be an hour before you can turn it in to be filled.” Immediately, I felt myself starting to lose it. As if on cue, my son started crying again. I said to the Receptionist, “You mean it will be an hour before I can even turn it in?” The Receptionist said that they were very busy and that I could put it in the drop box and it would be ready tomorrow morning. I explained to her that I needed my son’s medicine today and he’s crying because he’s not feeling well. “Sorry,” she said.
There were not many seats available, so a very nice Retiree offered his seat to me and my wailing child. I pulled out my son’s diaper bag and proceeded to give him some juice. He cried in between sips while I took off his coat. I sat there thinking that there was no way that I could go through this for one hour. I called my husband to see if he could turn in the prescription. Besides, military members have preference and can skip the line. Just my luck, I couldn’t reach him. Almost fifteen minutes had gone by and I was on the brink of my own meltdown. I was frustrated and extremely embarrassed that my son was carrying on like that. However, I couldn’t be too mad at him. He had an infection and really didn’t feel well. Plus, it was lunch time and I only had small snacks with me. I prayed to God for help. A few seconds later, I felt a tap on my shoulder, right when tears were about to well up in my eyes. A pharmacy tech from the back came to personally get my prescription and told me I could pick up the prescription in one hour. I was so THANKFUL for her act of kindness, not only towards me and my son, but for the peace of everyone else in that pharmacy waiting room! I came back in an hour after getting my son some lunch and was able to pick up his medicine from the drive-thru.
Reflect on the last time someone did something nice for you and made your day. Better yet, when was the last time YOU made someone’s day? I challenge you to do something nice for someone this week.
{ 1 trackback }