Dammit. Got so worked up I screwed up this part - make that “…expect a pharmacy worker in the state of Illinois, where we have those renewal stickers - for good drivers - to know about these stickers.”
I had a similar painful experience a few weeks ago when trying to pick up my son’s Japanese passport.
His father had gone to apply for it, but couldn’t be there to pick it up, so I took kid by myself.
When I got the the pick-up counter, I asked (in Japanese of course) whether I should sign for the passport or whether the kid (6 years old) should sign for it himself.
The woman said in a perfectly normal way that it was OK, as his mother I could sign and that would be the quickest way. She then slid the form across the counter to me, and did the most shocking robot-like change, mouthing at me in loud baby Japanese, “CAN . YOU . WRITE . YOUR . NAME . IN . KATAKANA?” (The script that foreign words are written in.)
I was so taken aback, seeing as we’d been having a normal conversation up till that point that I just stared at her and then replied “YES . I . CAN!”
I then signed my name, which, being married to a Japanese man, is a mixture of katakana and kanji (that is a whole story in itself, the absolute institutional racism that states that I MUST write my name in katakana only - no, I don’t think so…)
The woman took the paper, glanced at it, did a huge double take and started screeching “You didn’t write it in katakana!!! You used kanji!!! You can’t use kanji!!!” I told her that she asked for my name, that’s my name.
She rushed into the back office to get a manager, who came out and told me that I couldn’t write my name like that, and that I must also write my name as stated on our family register (which is another long and racist story, but I am as a foreigner not listed as my husband’s wife but only mentioned in the notes section that on such and such a date, he married a British woman by the maiden name of XXX. I do get to be my children’s mother, whoop de do.)
By the time the big super-manager came out of the office I had covered the counter with my driving licence, numerous bank books, health insurance card, hospital cards, and the accounts file for my business which I was going to drop off next, all showing me to be the person I signed my name as.
This guy approached the situation by telling me that first he’d like to serve the people behind me. Oh no! I spread my arms and told him that I was his customer and I was going to be dealt with first. He spluttered that it might take a long time and all the other people would be inconvenienced. I just laughed and told him that the physical act of handing a passport over takes about one second, so the people had no need to be inconvenienced one jot.
I asked him why he’d needed me to sign for my son’s passport anyway, and he said it was for proof of my identity - I asked him to take the pick of any of the over twenty forms of ID I had spread on the counter, four of them having photos attached.
Finally, very reluctantly, they gave the passport to me, and just before I left, I asked the first female manager, who had told me I should sign with my maiden name, if she herself was married. She looked surprised and said she was. I asked her what her name was now, and what it had been, and she told me. I then asked her what name she uses to sign for things, and looking at me like I was mad, she told me her married name.
Then WHY did you make life so difficult for me??? Use a bit of imagination, won’t you??? I said, and left, to the sniggers of people lining up behind me (probably they were laughing at the loud and angry foreigner rather than the idiot office woman, but I can hope…)
I tried to get a driver’s license when I was living in Philly. In theory, a foreigner who’s living there for more than six months would need one, to drive. If you ever get bored, check out the requirements - it’s either terribly funny or amazingly stupid. I could have gotten a license instantly by claiming that my Spanish license is French, but not trade in my Florida license; in theory I would have been required to take 80 hours worth of driving lessons.
The people at the DMV threatened with calling the cops on me for having a fake Visa. My passport showed a F-1 visa (wrong letter I think, I can’t remember what it was); their lists included the F-1a and the F-1b but not one with no letter. These visas are for people who have been working for the company bringing them in for at least two years abroad, the letter refers to whether you’re qualified for being a “highly qualified technical worker” or a “highly qualified managerial worker” but however you qualified, your sticker doesn’t list the letter.
I never got taken out in cuffs, never got my Philly license, and whenever I needed a car I just rented one with my Spanish license.
That’ll learn him to not fill out DMV forms in pencil.
Actually I think that reaction is entirely proporotionate. I spent a big chunk of my life working retail, and assuming the clerk’s behavior is substantially as reported, it was entirely unprofessional and insulting.
Officious and illiterate IS not a good combination, for fuck’s sake.
It was unprofessional and insulting, but it was only one clerk. Stopping all relationships with the store because they employ one rude person just seems kind of extreme. I guess if it were me, I’d just shrug it off and make sure that I didn’t get helped by that clerk anymore.
But she also got no better a response when she went to the clerk’s manager, if I recall aright. I’m a strong believer in voting with your pocketbook.
I’ve always just taken the view “Don’t make trouble”.
But if you don’t make trouble in such situations, then you reinforce the clerk’s idiotic and jerkish behavior. I’m not saying to go postal, to start screaming or muttering obscenities, or to throw a phone at the person; I’m saying DON’T ACCEPT OBVIOUSLY WRONG-HEADED BEHAVIOR FROM PERSONS PAID TO HELP YOU.
And you would what, avoid this clerk? Change your schedule to avoid having to deal with the clerk? If you walk in and she was the only person there, you would leave?
At what point do you dread walking into the store? I don’t get it, they’re there to serve you, if you don’t feel comfortable going into the store when it’s convenient for you; then what’s the point of shopping there at all?
Cool. I almost always get searched, sometimes pulled aside for the better part of an hour, so anything I can do to convey my orderly harmlessness is useful.
Well, I’d probably get my Sudafed from someplace else, if they won’t sell it to me there. But if I had a bunch of prescriptions there, and liked shopping there other than that (and it had the good candy), I don’t see the point in not shopping there anymore. I mean, why should I inconvenience myself? I’d have to set up a new account at a new pharmacy, and not get to eat the good candy. And how does it hurt them? They lose my business? I doubt I do enough business with them that it matters to their bottom line.
Look, there’s a lot of stuff in this world that’s not fair, and a lot of people in this world who are jerks, and you have a choice when you’re in that situation. You can either get all worked up about stuff, complain to everybody, become active in fighting whatever it is have you all worked up, and after all of your effort, have nothing to show for it other than a lot of wasted time and stress, or you can can just not let it bother you and carry on with your life.
I’m sorry, but what the hell are you talking about here? S/he’s talking about shopping in a different store. I’m not sure you’re on the same page.
BTW, I am a she not a he.
I would not be comfortable coming back to that store, and I don’t like the idea of dealing with a pharmacy that apparently hires people who can’t be arsed to read important details. There are a few other drugstores just as close, and a few are even easier to get in and out of. When we need more of an ongoing prescription, we will call it into another pharmacy, no sweat. I don’t believe in not making waves. I tried to be civil, but there was no way I as going to give in when I knew that I had a valid license. I do believe in voting with my pocket book, so there is no chance of me going back.
I don’t. Ephedra’s really not that dangerous and it doesn’t really even get you high decently. Psuedoephedrine doesn’t get you high or endanger you at all, and making it difficult to buy it is an utterly ridiculous way to not actually do anything about home meth labs but look like you are. The government needn’t tell us what we can and can’t own and use in our homes anyway, but if it’s going to, it could at least make a serious effort about it or not do anything at all instead of implementing a half-assed, completely useless effort like the current War on Sudafed, which doesn’t do anything except frustrate pharma companies and their customers.
Have you considered litigation? I bet you could get a class-action suit going, as I’m sure your GF isn’t the only one. Why should she have to get other people to buy cold meds for her? That’s got to be awfully embarrassing if she has to ask a friend to do it–she has to explain why she’s on the list in the first place–you believe her, sure, but what if you’re out of town and nobody else believes her? Utterly fucking ridiculous. You guys would be my heroes if you took the feds to court over this. Nobody should be infringing on your GF’s right to freakin’ cold medicine based on no evidence at all.
:eek: How long does it take our trends (OK, technically Hawaii’s trends to reach you guys? Are you still saying “gnarly”? Is rollerblading still cool? 
Hokkaido Brit, from reading your posts it sounds like Japan (or maybe just your area?) is a pretty overtly racist place. I mean, we’ve got racism in spades over here, but at least it’s usually not that blatant at the institutional level anymore.
How does this work?
Either is appropriate: interpret it as “they are not a good combination” or “it is not a good combination,” as desired.
If I understood it I’d be president of something!
Just look up the instructions for PA’s DMV.
Foreigners:
- are not allowed to “trade in” a license from another US state.
- are given a license without testing if they hold a French or German license; not sure if this is because of some kind of treaties between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and those two countries or just the Pennies feeling all warm and cuddly when they think of France and Germany.
- must take a ridiculous amount of classes if they don’t hold a French or German license, even if they hold an international license or a license from another US state.
My own regular license is a European license; it’s given by the Spanish government but valid all over the EU and EFTA; the names of fields are in multiple languages and the front says “Reino de España, Kingdom of Spain, Royaume de l’Espagne” and so forth. If I move to another EU-EFTA country, I don’t need to change the license, but when I have to renew it I’ll renew it locally and get a license from wherever I’m living. It’s due for renewal in 2013 - I could be living in France for 7 years and use this same license, get my insurance based on it and have it treated just like a French license. By treaty between the US and Spain, it’s valid in the US for 6 months after date of entry (or indefinitely if I’m in as a student). To get an international license, a Spaniard must bring two pics and his license to his local DMV and pay 3€ - no testing, since our own testing requirements are harder than for the international license.
So, why does Pennsylvania hold a license from St. Jean Pied-de-Port as heavenly mana and mine as worthless? When you find out, please let me know.
Next question: How many Pennsylvania DMV workers can tell the difference between Spanish and French? 
Prescriptivist!