# August Wrong! (Monthly Mini-Rants) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** monthly-mini-rant\ **Created:** [August 1, 2026, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078 "2026-08-01T09:23:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/241 "2026-08-31T15:40:06Z")
If you had a clerk adjust it, they would have paid you to shop! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/242 "2026-08-31T16:18:06Z")
I’m so mad right now. My boss emailed me & CEO about whether one of us could attend a community needs assessment meeting for a local funder. The meeting is on the 9th. I said I don’t have the bandwidth because I have a federal grant due on the 10th. My CEO asks, “Well can’t you just finish it by the end of the week instead of waiting until the deadline?” Holy shit. I replied no, I’m currently working on two federal grants at the same time and will probably have to work through the weekend to get them both done on time. I have to prioritize the one due the 8th over the one due the 10th. I said this speaks to a broader conversation we need to have about what I can realistically accomplish at the last minute and when I have to do two federal projects at once, I can’t give 100% to either of them. I reiterated that I don’t think we are a good fit for the first grant and that’s been frustrating because it’s absorbed most of my time, and I think we need to be more discerning in what we apply for. This on top of the crazy anxiety of my son’s first day of school today is just too fucking much. And of course my VPN just dropped. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/243 "2026-08-31T17:24:53Z")
CVS keeps sending me texts to pick up Kayla’s scripts. Two things: Kayla is in Brooklyn, and I’m in Portland, Oregon. Also, I’ve been with Walgreens for several months now (because I refuse to deal with CVS’s AI - - and the tablet they want me to enter information into when I pick up meds). Kayla has tried several times to get them to send notifications to her instead of me, to no avail, apparently. But for some reason she’s resisting firing CVS and transferring all of her scripts to Duane Reade. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/244 "2026-08-31T17:32:59Z")
I don’t recall Kayla’s age, but if she’s an adult, either she or you might be able to get somewhere by pointing out HIPAA issues with sending an adult’s medical info to a third party (you) without the patient’s consent. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/245 "2026-08-31T17:38:25Z")
Good point (she just turned 30 in May). I wonder if a lawyer could get a settlement for her out of this. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/246 "2026-08-31T17:40:14Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Now that’s a fascinating idea. > > There are of course websites where folks can post memorials to the dead. And leave obituaries & eulogies. With the idea these things will survive at least as long as anyone who knew the decedent remains alive. And maybe much longer than that. > > QR codes don’t have to represent urls; there’s lots of other neat things they can be. But most QRs posted in public are urls. > > I can sure see some enterprising funeral company combining those two ideas: here’s the webpage you can fill out about your loved one and we can engrave the matching QR code onto their grave marker for only $_X_ extra. > > ETA: No chance to patent this; it’s already being done: **[QR code → Funerary use - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Funerary_use)** > > > > More fun … > If QR headstones become popular, then after QR codes are long obsolete, whether due to technological progress or modern society collapse, some future archeologist will be unearthing all these grave markers with those weird square runes on them and will have the fun of trying to decode their meaning. And how they relate to the rest of the society they’re finding little surviving evidence of. > > The mathematical sophistication of the transform from pattern of dots to conventional letters and numbers is far beyond what could have been figured out 100 years ago. Hope those future archeologists have some fancy math along with enough samples of our alphabet and some “rosetta stone” examples to give them a toehold… Absolutely fascinating information! I had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/247 "2026-08-31T18:02:54Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Kayla has tried several times to get them to send notifications to her instead of me, to no avail, apparently. But for some reason she’s resisting firing CVS and transferring all of her scripts to Duane Reade. Just found out that both Walgreens and Duane Reade operate under the auspices of Sycamore Partners. I still think it’s worth rolling the dice. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/248 "2026-08-31T19:42:33Z")
I dunno about this health insurance paperwork nonsense I got, to get coverage thru work. The ~~phone book~~ pile of forms is more intrusive than my mother, would take hours to fill out (just one of the million Q: “Are you at your desired weight for my [_sic_] age and height?” yeah, that is literally on the form, I gotta go, “Yeah, that’s what I desire!”) seems like it was created by someone who maybe didn’t finish high school, also ~~I’m sure their database is super secure~~ it’s expensive as hell. Eh, I haven’t seen a doctor in how-many-presidential-administrations, and I gotta pay rent, electricity, put ridiculous gas in my car. Screw health care. I’ll just die. We all do, anyway. [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/CBd56Z1.jpeg "US health care FTW!") ](https://imgur.com/gallery/us-health-care-ftw-r4uNo82#CBd56Z1) ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/249 "2026-08-31T19:57:21Z")
Isn’t it nice we don’t have Obamacare “death panels” deciding who is worthy of coverage and who isn’t, all for the sake of profit? (Spoiler: We do. They’re called health insurance companies.) I’m sure sorry, **shoe**. Your decision is an understandable one, if also very sad. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/250 "2026-08-31T21:25:39Z")
Just be glad someone – _anyone_ – is getting notifications. I have notifications set up in my Walgreens account for phone\*, email, and text. They never notify me when my regular refills are ready to pick up. Yesterday when I was filling my pill dispenser for the week, I noticed I was down to my last couple for one prescription, so I went online and saw that two of my regular three were ready for pickup. Of course the one that _wasn’t_ ready was the one I needed. Five minutes after I checked my prescription status online, I got a text message that 2 of my 3 Rx’s were ready. \* The last few days I kept getting calls on my cell number from “Western Union”. I assumed it was spam and didn’t answer. Got another one today and decided to look up the number on Google. It’s fucking _Walgreens!_ So I guess I am getting the phone notifications after all… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/251 "2026-08-31T21:31:05Z")
Same thing happens with texts. The company, e.g. Walgreens, contracts with XYZ Notification Services to send out text messages. So do hundreds of other companies. They don’t all get their own “from” phone number. Then some spammer fakes a message from one of those shared numbers, you block it, and you just killed notifications from Walgreens and 200 other companies you might be doing business with. Oops. Bastards. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/252 "2026-08-31T21:51:42Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I’m sure sorry, **shoe**. I especially love the two-part “Starbucks?” and “How many cups of coffee?”… yeah, sure, those are separate questions that require additional time & paperwork. But tell me allllll about how we’re cutting down on gov’t waste. It’s super helpful on my gasoline and groceries these days. ETA “how many hours of sleep do you get?” Less, now that I hafta fill out this crap. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/253 "2026-08-31T22:58:20Z")
> [@Ellecram](#): > > She did not even know how to make a physical copy of a document let alone scan and send an email attachment. I just told her to give it to clerical or ask them for assistance. 😨 I just found out this morning that one of our customer service reps forwarded a customer’s email to my supervisor, then walked aaaaaaaallllllll the way across the building to his office to tell him she had forwarded a customer request to him. He asked her what job or part it related to…she replied “I didn’t read it, I just emailed it to you.” 🤦 (I’m in engineering, by the way. We do respond to customer questions, but customer service is supposed to make an attempt first, which is very reasonable IMO because most of the questions we get can be answered just by reviewing the report compiled by engineering specifically for each part.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/254 "2026-08-31T23:26:22Z")
I hereby pit the US medical system. And I’m on the happy(er) end of it. I have Medicare and a pretty full-service Medicare part G supplement. I had a visit w my ophthalmologist today. Over a couple of years we’ve tried a number of things to fix a condition that refuses to be fixed. So she gave me a scrip for a 3-month supply of some fancy drops that are sort of the last ditch Big Guns. Ok. CVS gets the e-scrip and sends me a text a couple hours later saying it’s filled. Yaay for modern e-enabled commerce. I go to the store to get it. And (ref someone upthread) encounter their shiny new tablet scrip pickup check-in system which seemed OK. It’s all about moving the data entry burden from their clerk to their customer. Sigh, but such is the trend in every business everywhere. Now comes the rant. A 3 month supply of this med, _after_ insurance, is $700. Color me very surprised. Very few of the cancer meds my late wife needed cost anywhere near that. Whole lotta people simple cannot begin to afford that. They weren’t busy, just me, the tech running the register, and the pharmacist farther in back. I tell the pharmacist “Wow, that’s kinda pricy; is that _after_ running it by my insurance?” He says “Hmm. Let me check.” Bangs on his computer for 30 seconds then announces. “The best I can do is $108.” OK. So they’ll sell it to you/me for $108 or $700. All you have to do is ask. Is that a crooked con or what? But wait! There’s more! The drops are packaged in little single-use vials. My ophtho had told me that you can usually get 3 doses from a single use vial if you’re careful to keep it sterile. So a 3 months’ supply is really almost 9. If you know the trick. So you can pay $700 for 3 months if you don’t know the tricks, or $108 for almost 9 months if you do. So $233/mo or ~$12/mo. Take your pick. Bastards. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/255 "2026-09-01T01:18:23Z")
That is all kinds of effed up. Murrica!! ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078/256 "2026-09-01T08:50:17Z")
New monthly thread: > [@Deviated September (Monthly Mini-Rants)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviated-september-monthly-mini-rants/1032738): > > Continuing the discussion from [August Wrong! (Monthly Mini-Rants)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078): I’ll start out by mini-ranting about myself. I’m on a trip to Nevada, first in Vegas with my wife, then finishing the week in a nearby town where her parents live. She drove down with our dog and our daughter, then I flew down to meet her. First, I was heading out the door to the airport and at the last minute remembered my passport. My driver’s license isn’t enough for TSA. If I hadn’t remembered before leaving I’d have be… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-wrong-monthly-mini-rants/1032078.md?page=12)