Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Getting Even with Walmart, Let the Ice-cream Melt

Here’s a tip for all you Walmart malcontents and here is what I do. Often I’ll go into the Walmart here in Rocky Mount, NC, for some Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream and a few other snacks. 

When I get to the cash and I see there’s only one cashier with a line-up of 50 people, I just leave the stuff on an empty cashier station and calmly walk out of the store and go up the street to Aldis (P.S. There’s never a line-up at the cash at this store.) 

I know it’s small satisfaction, but I like to picture the ice cream all melted and dripping and some Walmart employee scratching their head as to what the hell happened. Well, what happened was some of the poorest service in America, that’s what! Seriously, I would recommend you all go and stack up on ice cream, and if they’re too busy to serve you, then just leave it all out in the open. Who knows, maybe somebody someday will get the message.
 

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Wal-mart Pharmacist Doesn't Care If Customer Dies

Well let me explain my situation. Im a 32 year old male Type 1 Diabetic, and I've not had any kind of health insurance for about a year and a half now so naturally, i can't afford my insulin so I'm forced to take an, "over the counter" insulin for the past year now, and its seems to do ok for me, and gets the job done.


Well, I learned a while back that Walmart actually sells my OTC insulin way cheaper than any other pharmacy around (literally half the price) so I've been going to Walmart pharmacies for my insulin for quite a while now. Well, sunday morning i realized that my vial was almost empty, so naturally, i knew i had to get up to Walmart to get my insulin at some point in the day before 6:00PM because thats when they close on  Sundays.


I showed up at Walmart at 5:45 and as i was walking thru the store, nearing the pharmacy, i noticed that the shudders/gates had already been pulled down and the pharmacy was closed early. Well, i walked up the the shudders and could plainly see a pharmacy employee standing inside, well, just standing there doing nothing. So i said "Sir, i don't know why you're closed early today, but i really need my insulin" seeing as I'm a diabetic, there really is no way around it, i HAVE to have it.


He just said "sorry, we're closed" and i said "well sir, i know your business hours, and its not 6PM yet, so please just give me a vial of my insulin, this is basically considered a life or death situation to say the least" and while I'm saying this, he just shuts all the lights out in the back, as if this makes him just disappear, like he thought then i couldn't see him, when i could still see him plain as day standing there, and he just ignored me! So then i say "sir, the insulin i need isn't even a prescription grade insulin, all you have to do is hand it to me, and i can just pay for it up front, which is how I've actually done it many times before." In the past when I've bought my insulin at the pharmacy, and they see i have more shopping to do, they just give me the box and i pay for it up at the front registers with the rest of my items.


Well, he just continued to ignore me. It appeared as if he was just standing back there, watching the clock, waiting for 6 O'clock, on the dot, so he could bounce out of there. Then i seen him going out the door at the back of the pharmacy, so i walked around to him, and it looked like i caught him off guard the way he spun around from trying to lock up, and i continued to beg and plead with him to please just give me a vial, and let me just pay for it up front, and that if he didn't give it to me i'd end up in the emergency room, or worse.


He couldn't care less about me or my insulin, that was obvious, and just said "Go tell the store manager, I'm off now" so i told him ok, thats what we'll do. So as we were walking, basically side by side towards the front of the store, he actually started SPRINTING and cut down an isle, and bolted straight out the front door! I was blown away..i really couldn't believe someone could act in such an unprofessional manner! So, i made it to the service desk and got a manager and explained to her what just happened, and she said she was so sorry, and told me to come with her to talk to the pharmacist.


When i told her he had already left the store, she looked at her watch and even said "how could he already be gone? its just now 6 o'clock." And i told her, yeah, i told you he closed up shop early, and basically told me to "go get screwed" Well, needless to say, the manager could do nothing for me and just apologized for the pharmacists behavior. Well, i went home for the evening, with no insulin, and the nightmare slowly began…Let me tell ya,


Being a diabetic and not taking your insulin for a day and a half is NOT A GOOD IDEA. I was up all night, getting sicker, and sicker. By morning, i was so sick i couldn't even move, and basically Diabetic Ketoacidosis started to set in, and I've never been so sick in my ENTIRE LIFE. I was convulsing and throwing up harder and worse than i ever have in my life. It was horrible. I could barely walk, let alone remain coherent.


My fiancé had to call off work for the day and go straight and get me my insulin that morning. I basically started going into shock. Things got real bad, real quick. I could have went into a coma, or way worse. After she gave me my insulin shot, and got me calmed down, and i quit throwing up, after so many hours i slowly started to come back around, and we avoided calling 911(which everybody i know is giving me hell because i didn't), and i could have died from this completely avoidable incident.


As of right now, my family is going to take me to the local ER tomorrow morning so i can get treated and probably admitted so they can try to get my levels back on track, and have some tests done to check the damage thats been caused.


I just really wanted to share my story with everybody so they know what caliber of people Walmart hires to work in their pharmacies. I can't fathom how someone could possibly be qualified to work in a pharmacy when they have no concept whatsoever of the importance of insulin to a diabetic…Its scary to even think about really.