I have already mentioned here the irritability, mood swings, and simple annoyances that the medication caused. Well, it keeps going...
Since the car is in the garage, we called our friend Nikko to take us to Maxi Zoo (yes, again, but quite a few employees have changed in the meantime...) and run a few other errands. Like all these franchise stores, they've introduced a loyalty card that gives you 5% off all products, which, of course, have been increased by almost 10% at the same time, but hey, it's better than nothing.
Loyalty
We went from a credit card-style loyalty card to (mandatory, I should point out) an app with a QR code to scan at the checkout. Fine. Except that since the last time I came, the app updated and deleted my login/password. I got to the checkout, opened the app, and suddenly it didn't recognize me, so no account, no QR code to scan, and therefore no 5% discount. I showed the screen to the person at the checkout, who said, “Oh yes, that's because of the update. Just re-enter your email and password.” With more than fifty passwords for various websites, accounts, apps, etc., and even though I have an app to manage my passwords, I couldn't remember this one and hadn't written it down anywhere.
— Don't you know your password?
— I don't remember it right now.
— That's okay, at the end of the month you'll receive your QR code by mail and we'll scan the sheet.
At first, I don't see the connection. Maybe she's trying to tell me that I can claim my 5% at the end of the month... Then I realize that she's actually just classified me as an “old fart who doesn't know how to use a phone or a computer.” I point out that an app isn't supposed to lose your data during an update, that in the meantime we'll be paying for this update with an extra 5% on our purchases, plus if it was going to end up on paper, it would have been better to stick with the credit card format rather than switching to an app.
As I go on, my tone rises a little, or rather, it becomes icy and slightly contemptuous when I think back on it, which was not my intention. So, when she returns to the “piece of paper” explanation, I decide to leave, both because I know that things are going to escalate and because I don't like the state I'm in. I shouldn't care at all, but I do, and I don't want to make everyone completely uncomfortable, even though I already have.
Queuing... In lines
We move on to other shops, and to thank Nikko, I suggest we take a break at a bakery/pastry shop/pizzeria/café where we can sit down and chat about this and that.
Upon arrival, we must choose a line: those on the left want bread and pastries, those on the right want pizza or drinks, with two cash registers, one at each end of the counter. So, on my initiative, we head to the right, where we are the only ones. We wait, but no one comes. Saturday at 6:00 p.m., and there are only two people serving. After a while, one of the employees tells us she'll be right there, it won't be long. She serves a guy who came in long after us, which is no big deal, but not great either. We order our coffees and, as Marie wants a croissant to go with hers, the sales assistant invites me to accompany her to the left-hand cash register to pay, as the one on the right is closed.
At this point, the Judge, with his old-fashioned logic, points out that if the second cash register is closed, there is no point in leaving the signs and other accessories in place, inviting people to split into two different lines.
— Yet it is only at the end of the day on Saturdays.
— Okay, but all you have to do is turn this sign around and move two posts. It'll take thirty seconds.
— Tell my boss.
I still think she sees him more often than I do, and that it's not a great experience for the customer when a store doesn't play by its own rules. I'm about to tell her this when I see in her eyes that the verdict has been reached: “Another old fart complaining about nothing.” So I refrain. I also notice that the other employee, a guy, approaches us when she hands us our coffees, presumably to protect his colleague. It's noble but largely disproportionate and unnecessary, given that we just want to drink our coffee peacefully.
Furies
Everything went well, but I learned several lessons:
- After a certain age, if the person you're talking to doesn't understand or doesn't want to understand what you're saying, they'll label you as #oldfart, #painintheass, #technologicallychallenged.
- I still get annoyed much more quickly than I used to, and it escalates more. When I was younger, I would nitpick about certain details in restaurants, but it didn't really bother me; it was more of a game, a desire to be a bit of a pain in the neck. That's another thing I don't know if it will ever go back to the way it was. I doubt it.
- Companies establish rules and put systems in place that are restrictive and sometimes even mandatory, while exempting themselves from following them. Since they are clever, they make sure that the only person you deal with is powerless or doesn't give a damn. I think that's what annoys me the most in the end, this vaporized and vaporous responsibility, broken down into small pieces, each of which can only be answered by pointing to someone else who will point to a third person, and so on, or by arguing that they are unable to fix the situation because their piece of responsibility is not enough.
- It's a good thing I'm not carrying a baseball bat around on me these days.
Basically, if you're sick and on heavy medication, expect to have to deal with and control reactions that you didn't know you had, that you didn't even suspect, and that you won't like. It's quite unpleasant and requires you to keep an eye on yourself whenever you're not alone. That said, this aggression may diminish a little for me because, following the Synacthen test, I was able to switch to a much lower dose of hydrocortisone than the corticosteroids I had previously.
