Sometimes Things Just Don’t Work

It started with the iced tea.

I ordered unsweetened iced tea with lemon at a McDonald’s when driving home from picking up my daughter in Oregon a few weeks ago. We waited in the drive-thru line for longer than you want to wait at McDonald’s. After we finally got our drinks, I took a sip and immediately had to park the car and go back inside. Because it was not unsweetened tea with lemon. It was terrible sweet tea. So I trudged inside, and since all the workers at the counter were busy, I walked back to the drink area, dumped out the sweet tea, refilled my cup with blessed unsweetened tea, and headed back to the car without saying anything to anybody. I hope they didn’t think that I was stealing tea. But nobody should ever have to drink that sweet stuff unless they order it.

It was not the first time that this had happened to me at a McDonald’s, and I normally wouldn’t have thought much about it. But in retrospect, it was the beginning of a series of strange events that have occurred with regularity these last weeks.

I ordered a book from eBay, which is also something that I’ve done many times. I was so excited to finally read it! When it arrived, I opened it, and it was the wrong one.

I needed my doctor to send a referral to a specialist in Roseville (time to get my hearing tested). The specialist’s office never called me. I finally called them and they said they had never received the referral. I emailed the doctor again, and she said that she had sent one, and guess what? I found the spot on the on-line portal where it showed referrals, and she was right. But I had to call the specialist’s office again and have it resent before I was finally able to make an appointment.

I have two pairs of denim capris. They are different brands. I like wearing both of these, very much. But for some reason, only one pair ever shows up in my closet at the same time. At the beginning of the summer, I could not find my Lee capris, but my Sonoma ones were present and accounted for. Something happened a few weeks ago, though, and the Sonoma capris disappeared. Really. They are gone! But guess what? The Lee capris are back.

I ordered a pair of shoes online in early September. They were mailed via FedEx. After a week or so, I found the tracking number and saw that my shoes were making a strange journey toward my house. They had left New Jersey, made it to Sparks, Nevada,  and to Sacramento. All good! But from Sacramento, they went to Stockton, never to be seen again. I called FedEx after another week, and they said that the shipper made an error, that they had the wrong address, and to call the shipper and have them fix it so they could deliver my shoes. I called the shipper and they said that no, they had not made a mistake, that FedEx had clearly lost my shoes. So they put another pair in the mail to me. This pair was also delayed because of some mishap with the shipping label. Thankfully, they finally arrived, but it was a month after I ordered them. The Pony Express would have been faster.

My daughter ordered a chicken burrito at el Pollo Loco the other day. It was a freebie, since she downloaded their app. Except she realized about halfway through eating it that there was no chicken in it. Really! Not a piece. It was a delicious bean and rice burrito, but what a disappointment. No chicken at el Pollo Loco!

But the strangest occurrence of all happened just this week. I was taking good care of myself (and yes, I know that some do not believe that getting vaccinations is taking good care of yourself, but since this is my rambling, we’ll just go along with it for now), and made an appointment to get my Covid booster at CVS.

I received a text back from CVS telling me that my appointment was scheduled. My daughter scheduled her booster at the same time. We went to the store at the appointed hour and gave the clerk both of our names to check-in. We then sat in the chairs on aisle 22 where they told us to wait for a few minutes. Her name was called first, and she got her shot. Then all the other people waiting around us got their shots. The shot giver emerged from the shot cubicle, saw me sitting there, and asked if I was waiting for something.

“Well, yes,” I said politely. “I am waiting for my Covid booster.”

“Why don’t you check with the counter again?”

Strange, no? So even though I thought I had already checked in, this time the technician apparently realized I was there, and told me that I did not have an appointment, that my name was not in their system. I protested. I swore to them that I had made an appointment! She called in her supervisor, who asked for my name and birthdate again and briskly informed me that I did not have an appointment, but she would make one for me.

“I am here. Can’t I just get a shot?”

Apparently, that is not possible.

She went ahead and made me another appointment, two weeks out.

Back in the car, I got a text from CVS confirming my new appointment. Which showed up right below the last text they sent me which had confirmed my appointment that was nowhere in their system.

I felt vindicated.

I went back into the store to show yet another front desk person my text message. To prove to them that I actually had made an appointment, that I wasn’t dotty or losing it. The previous worker hadn’t given any indication that she thought it was possible that their system was at fault. It was clearly my error. The next worker told me she was sorry, that the system was overloaded and (best of all) that she believed me.

I still have to wait two weeks for my booster shot.

So many small annoyances. Any one by itself would hardly be worth mentioning. Strange, though, how they kept occurring, one after another. I’m hoping that this steady stream of mildly unfortunate events has worked its way out of my system. The next books I order will be the right ones. My packages will make it to me without being misdirected numerous times. My tea will be unsweetened. My missing pair of capris will show up. Our chicken burritos will have chicken in them. My Covid booster appointment will happen just when it is supposed to.

Mostly? Maybe I should be grateful that it’s so many very small things that I have to complain about. Nothing life altering. Yes. I should just be grateful. And possibly a little amused. Because when you step back and look at all of it? It actually is a little funny.