The Nosey Pharmacist....

Well, what an interesting morning I've had.

I had to go to Target to fill a prescription or two. My new doctor wants me to try a different medication. In general, I hate taking any kind of drugs and especially avoid new ones. My body is very, very sensitive to drugs so the first few days are always kind of scary.

As an aside, he also gave me a new scrip for Ambien, a sleep aid which I'm sure most of you already know about.

The other drug, to remain unnamed, is to treat a chemical imbalance in my brain that causes very deep depression. The jury's out. I'll mention it here if it works really well so that others can discuss it with their doctors if needed.

Anyway, the pharmacist handed me the prescriptions and began telling me the potential side effects. I listened. Finally he said, "are you depressed?"

Needless to say, I was taken aback by the boldness of the question.

"Um. That is really between my doctor and me," I said, trying to be as polite as possible.

"You wouldn't be depressed if you had a purpose in life. And you wouldn't need sleeping pills if you would get more exercise."

He then talked for five straight minutes about life purposes and exercise and how I should pay more attention to my health, you know, given my advancing age and all. He went on to tell me that he's seen me there in Target many times so I must not have a job. Is that so? Perhaps I should join some clubs or something. ( I should mention here that I don't just "hang out" at Target! I'm there twice a week for an hour or so.)

My mouth was agape!

Seriously, I was so offended that I didn't know what to do with the anger.

I lapsed into sarcasm.

I told him that he knows nothing about my circumstances and has no right to comment, that whether or not I have a "job" has no bearing on my "purpose in life", that if I want therapy I'll hire someone with the appropriate credentials and, furthermore, if he wants to preach his twisted, judgmental, moralistic cultural values, he should do it at church or before the Senate. If that is not a possibility, then the least he can do is take his sh*t-brained judgments and stick them in his left ear ~ hard! And finally I said, "when it comes out the other ear, maybe we'll both be happier for it. You'll get a lobotomy and I'll get some relief from your utter hatefulness."

Oh, I was fuming! I was so, so angry! I was so angry, I was nearly in tears! My heart was pounding. Something this old stoic hates to admit.

I was so angry that I forgot to sign my credit card slip.

I hate it when I lose my temper because sarcasm is intended to wound.. and it's the first place I go. Even as wounded as I was, there is no justification for trying to inflict it back. Even though I'm making a joke of it here, believe me, I am ashamed of my behavior.

And I will now turn my Buddhist card over to someone who deserves it. :)

~*