It’s Time to Ease the Pain of Flu Shot Appointments, Great Falls

This is the awful story of trying to get my flu shots in Great Falls.

(If you're anti-vax you may as well leave now.  Nothing you can ever do or say will make me think your dark walks down conspiracy theory row make you smarter than the scientists you say are trying to kill me.)

Like any civilized human that doesn't want to run to every drug store or walk-in clinic in Great Falls, I made an appointment for my shots on line.

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The trouble with the appointments:

Most of the usual places you can go to get vaccinated, would run me through the reservation system, only to tell me at the end they didn't have one of the shots I wanted to get.  Then, out of curiosity, I called 2 of them to see if they really didn't have these shots, only to be told "We do, BUT, you have to make your appointment on line."  Hmm.  Then, I finally hit one of the places I go for vaccines, and they took my appointment.  Hurray!  Vaccination day is set.

The trouble with multiple locations:

The store where I made my appointment is usually very busy.  I planned for waiting in line just to tell them I had an appointment.  It works that way every time I go there, that's why they're the 5th choice when making an appointment.  A person has to wait in line to tell them they have an appointment then you have to wait for the person who's giving shots to come and get you.  Ick.  But, it's what you do to put a safety net around yourself.

I FINALLY get my turn, and they say, "You must have made an appointment at the other store."  I said, "No, I purposely made it at this store because the other one is WAY out of my way."  Then I show them the appointment made at THIS store at THIS TIME.

I'm then told that I will have to drive across town to get my shot because they're "all out".  Hmm.  I ask if my appointment will still be honored because it's time for my appointment RIGHT NOW, and they assure me all is well if I go across town.

After all these shenanigans, I thought I'd better call the other place, just to be sure.  I call them and they say, "We're really tired and we'd like it if you made another appointment."

WHAT?  Umm, no.  I, TOO, am tired, guy.  I've been given the run around all day trying to get these stinking shots.  WTF?  So, I let the guy know I'd be there in roughly 10 minutes to get my shots.

I get it that we all have bad days at work.  I get it that people suck.  I get it that flu season is super busy for some stores in town.

What I don't get is giving people the run-a-round and acting like going to a pharmacy for a flu shot is the strangest thing ever.  What I don't get is treating people who have an appointment with you as a burden, and actually TELLING ME TO MAKE A NEW ONE!  I wasn't late, I wasn't walking in and demanding shots.  I had an appointment. An appointment I made around YOUR parameters.

I was treated like I walked into a restaurant 5 minutes before they closed and ordered 10 meals.

Thanks for coming to my another reason I just hate people so much Ted Talk.  Here's to a healthy winter.