I'm Impressed With Walgreens

Wow, I’m impressed with Walgreens.

This is probably going to sound like a commercial and that’s not my intention.  I just find it to be an interesting experience.

Earlier today I was picking up some things at Walgreens and among those items was heartburn medicine.  I’m aware that certain medications—even though they are “over the counter”—are kept in a place where assistance is required from a store employee in order to access them.  I suspect that typically is the case with medications that contain ingredients that are more susceptible to abuse of some kind.

Frankly, I don’t know what ingredients are found in heartburn medications but my uneducated guess is that it’s not something that would be any more dangerous than the hundreds of other medications that are not locked up in the store’s aisles.

I requested assistance for the item in question and a store employee quickly arrived with a key and was able to provide the medication to me.

As I walked out to my car when I left the store, I pondered the heartburn medicines being locked up and I thought it was sort of amusing.  I thought, “Do they really have to lock up that kind of medication?”

So, in my wise-guy fashion, I sent out a Tweet that read:  “Does heartburn medication really have to be kept under lock and key at Walgreens? Is it dangerous for it to fall into the wrong hands?”

I wasn’t actually angry.  Seriously.  The Tweet was more of a joke, in my mind.  I thought I was being fairly clever.

I must admit, I was very surprised when, less than 20 minutes later, I saw a Tweet from something called “Wallgreens Social Care” ( @WAGSocialCare ).  The Tweet was addressed to my Twitter name ( @danmarler ) and it read:  “Sry to hear this. Pls provide store location and your contact info. We can have mgmt address this. Thanks, Pam.”

Walgreens immediately attempted to address the issue raised in my Tweet in order to turn a “complainer” into a satisfied customer.  But my Tweet was—at the most—a mild complaint.  It actually had more to do with me being a wise guy and joking around.

With that in mind, I’m going send a Tweet with a link to this blog post to Pam at Walgreens Social Care.

So Pam, thank you for seeking to help me and for responding so quickly to my Tweet.  I’m surprised.  I’m impressed.  I had no idea that anyone would be tracking such a thing or that anyone would care.  In fact, I always assume that about 99% of my Tweets are never seen by anyone… except God (He sees everything, after all).  Now I feel bad because I was just being a wise guy and trying to amuse myself.  Pam, please don’t feel like you have to call the management of my local Walgreens, they’re doing a fine job.  And you’re doing a fine job, too.  Tell your supervisor I’m recommending that you get a raise.  (In fact, I’ll send him/her a Tweet if that will help…although, come to think of it, my Tweets have been known to stir up trouble.)

Hmm, I think it’s about time for me to go pop one of those heartburn pills.

You Were Wondering If Wilson Is Orange Yet?

I wrote a story a while back [Sept. 17^th] about a pumpkin—we named him “Wilson”—that began growing in our yard after Nadia threw out the remains of an old pumpkin by some bushes after Halloween, last year.  Nadia wasn’t cultivating pumpkin plants on purpose.  There was nothing intentional about this, Wilson just began growing on his own.  Back in September when I wrote the original story about Wilson he was completely green, as you can see from the picture that accompanied that story.  And we wondered if he would ever turn orange.  Come on, who ever heard of a green pumpkin?

Well, Nadia did some research [that means she typed some key words into Google] and she read that when a pumpkin is picked from the vine it will turn to the orange color that we’re all familiar with.

Yesterday, someone asked me, “Hey, how is Wilson doing?  Is he turning orange, yet?”

Those questions got me thinking that I should probably provide an update.  So, I took a picture of Wilson earlier today—it’s now early October—and you can see that, yes, he is slowly, gradually becoming more orange.  I don’t know how the ripening process happens, but Wilson is starting to look like the kind of pumpkins that we all know and love.  He’s got a ways to go still, sure, but he’s getting there.

Now, I had no idea when I took the photo earlier today, that I was in for quite a surprise.  But later this afternoon, something happened. 

I accidentally walked into the bathroom without knocking on the door, and my jaw hit the floor.  I discovered that Wilson hadn’t been turning orange, naturally.  I caught Wilson with some of Nadia’s make-up and other cosmetics.  That’s right, Wilson was turning orange…but it was all being done artificially!  It was Orange-In-A-Bottle!

I had heard that pumpkins do this kind of thing, sometimes, but I never guessed…that…well…Wilson?  Really?  Wilson is using Orange-In-A-Bottle?

Boy, am I stunned!

But you know what?  I have to admit.  I keep going outside to peek at him and the truth is, ….he’s actually looking pretty good!

So, I’ve got to get running.  I’m going to Walgreens to get some…well, never mind…I’m not telling.  But I’ve got a feeling that soon I’m going to be looking a lot better.