#bureaucratic stupidity

[vr-trakowski]

What bugs me the most is that they made it so hard to do the right thing

I got sick this week.

High fever, fatigue, chills, shortness of breath, loss of appetite. Some kind of virus. A lot, in fact, like the time I got COVID a couple of years ago.^

My OTC test popped negative. But - it took two days to go positive the last time. And I know the OTC tests aren’t always accurate with the newer strains anyway.

So I thought I’d better get a PCR test. Where to start? Why, with my state’s testing centers, of course. My wealthy, blue state.

Found the page. Link to the search is dead. The phone number’s disconnected.

Okayyyyy…on the county.

County site says “call this number”. Which is the CDC.

CDC at least gives me a live person. Why aren’t you asking your primary care physician? she says. Well, for starters, because I don’t want to walk into a room full of people most likely not wearing masks and potentially give them what I’ve got, even though they’re idiots for not wearing masks in public and particularly at a doctor’s office?

All right then, here’s a site where you can search for places offering the test.

They’re all pharmacies and the like. Apparently there are no testing sites left, at least in my area. Oh well, one of them is my pharmacy. Nice and convenient, even if it presents the same risk to others as the doctor’s office. Not like I have a choice at this point.

I go online and make the appointment. I’m very clear that I want the PCR test, not the OTC one. At least I can get an appointment later the same day.

Arrive for appointment. Breathless walking in from the very small parking lot, even with cane. Took ibuprofen to break my (almost 104) fever because an hour and a half of shivering with chills is ridiculously tedious, so I’m now soggy with sweat. Check in; have to wait about ten minutes but at least there’s an unoccupied corner.

Medical professional takes me into the appointment room and opens up the test…which is the OTC version.

No, I say, I wanted the PCR version.

Oh, you have to make an appointment for that.

I did make an appointment. I said so when I checked in. I specifically wanted the PCR version.

We go around this circle a few times and get no forreder. Finally I tell her I’ll take this test, in part because it apparently checks for a couple of varieties of ‘flu as well and I’ve already paid for it, but I want the PCR test.

Test done, she sends me out to wait for a bit, then calls me up to the counter. Spends about seven minutes on the computer (not her fault that I can barely stand at this point - standing is always harder than walking) and finally confesses that she can’t make me an appointment, there’s something wrong. Here’s a corporate number I can call, they should be able to help.

(This test comes up negative too, on all counts.)

Next day: I call the number. It’s one of those artificial person phone systems that’s designed to make it nearly impossible to reach an actual human, but eventually I do. I explain the whole mess, she’s sympathetic but I’ve ended up in the wrong area, she’ll transfer me to the correct one.

Which turns out, of course, to be where I’d originally gone in. This time I get to a point that tells me the only way to make a testing appointment…is online, or in person at the pharmacy. Not over the phone.

Somehow I resist throwing my poor phone at the wall.

The sites have failed me, the pharmacy has failed me. I call my primary care doctor. Sorry, they don’t do COVID tests.

The only other thing I can think of is urgent care. I call the one near me. Yes, they do PCR tests. I can even get a same-day appointment. Of course, my insurance hates this brand of urgent care, so I’ll have a copay and then a stiff bill later, but what choice do I have?

I manage to clean myself up a bit, and go. Traffic’s appalling (about two miles out of my way due to mismarked detours), my blood sugar’s in my socks, and the online check-in (on my phone, whose stupid idea was that, typing on the phone is slow and miserable) is absurdly repetitive. Certain information has to be entered at least three times and the choice of “have you been exposed to COVID-19” is limited to “Yes” or “No”, no option for “I have no fucking idea because people are stupid”.

At least they don’t make me switch out of my Flo Mask, which I appreciate deeply.

Finally, finally, a PCR test. They tuck me in another room to wait for the results, and while the TV in there (why does it need a TV?) is playing “Zillow Gone Wild” (gag)* it is at least doing so at minimal volume (I do look for a remote but I can’t spot one).** I can ignore it in favor of my phone, or drowsing.

PCR test…is negative.

I don’t need Paxlovid, I don’t need to worry about taking more brain damage from that wretched virus. I don’t need to isolate at home for a week, trying to WFH with a truly terrible Internet connection (it took two minutes for an email to send this morning).

I don’t need to worry about infecting my elderly, frail parents, or my immunocompromised friend, or my idiotic (affectionate) colleagues who don’t wear masks. I mean, sure, I won’t go near the first three until I’m recovered, but. But.

However.

It shouldn’t be this hard.

It took me two days to get this test. While dealing with the illness itself. A little bit sicker, a slightly higher fever, and I wouldn’t have had the stamina to keep trying.

I know. The cruelty is the point.

But still.

^Fever dreams are wild. I particularly liked the one with the bunnies.

*The commercials were interesting, though. Decent mix of ethnicities, and I kept seeing things like laundry detergent or ovens being advertised using men as well as women. I stopped watching commercial TV years ago so maybe that’s standard now, but it wasn’t what I was expecting.

**I really, really hate the modern trend of TVs that can only be used with a remote. At least put on/off and volume buttons on the device itself! And while we’re at it, any computer monitor that requires more than a blind button push to shut off is unnecessary. One of mine at work requires three separate moves to power down.

[podcast-hemocytoblast]

When you think about it, it was pretty on brand for Elias to start the apocalypse by giving Jon Evil Paperwork.

[july-19th-club]

funniest thing criminal minds ever did was a two-scene gag late in the series in which dr tara lewis is working as an in-house counselor at the fbi and her clients are two agents played by young actors bearing a striking resemblance to mulder and scully and who are in fact mulder and scully - his theories are just alien woo; she's religious; he manspreads delightfully, it is clear that they've spent the whole session complaining about each other; dr tara lewis asks them if they've ever considered putting in for different partners and they both get very indignant and the scully goes he's my best FRIEND!! . then later in the episode dr tara lewis has been reassigned back to the regular team and they're just sitting in her office without her looking at each other and then after a second they start making out

[afabulousjello]

I know it in my heart of hearts, soul of souls, that if Tarkin ever found out that his decrepit Emperor was a crazy magic ligthning wielding Sith, he would have been so disappointed

[disasterhimbo]

If I try hard and want it bad enough I should be able to just get past and ignore my disability, that’s how it works, right?

[defira85]

on GOD I finally passed the medical legal exam after two weeks

I'm just gonna lay here on the ground wheezing for a bit

[missymurder]

first time im posting smth from twitter to tumblr whooooaaaa woooow anyways look at the demon lesbians

[running-in-the-dark]

I don't want to be a man or a woman, I don't want to choose, I just want my boobs gone and then think about the rest. like I'd love to have a beard but I don't want to go on t probably so that's unlikely to ever happen, but I'm okay with that I think. not okay with the boobs tho

[pummelingbat]

tuesday afternoon post-errand date 🥰

[itssideria]

it's so. God. thought I'd at least be able to pirate the songs i loved the most n hang on to them. idk if I'll feel happy doing that now.

[prommethium]

.

[llycaons]

3:30 for this one ain't so bad. we'll likely be out before 9 pm. unless there's another clamp delay.

[dipstick-university]

Both charmed and horrified at the innocence of these Canadian immigration application questions

[Image ID: Screenshot of a form with Question 5: “Are you, or have you ever been a member or associated with any political party, or other group or organization which has engaged in violence as a means to achieving a political or religious objective, or which has been associated with criminal activity at any time? Question 6: “Have you ever witnessed or participated in the ill treatment of prisoners or civilians, looting or desecration of religious buildings? Both are checked ‘no’ of the ‘no/yes’ option] 

[wizard-mp4]

Bureaucracy makes me very mad

"It's the only way to do things at scale"

Don't scale up then

[nature-played-a-trick-on-me]

So sleepy after being spammed with phone calls grrrrrrr and now I'm surrounded with laundry I have to fold and I've to make my bed and I just want to sleep already. This was supposed to be a rest day and not a day to get even more stressed out. 🙃

[sunflowercider]

I thought the one in 62 just meant an ordinary necklace with the family symbol but what a hologram appears because its actually a magical device?! Wait so they really can use magic freely or its limited? I mean why never use magic for constructions or why does Javier ever question Lloyd skills if it can be explained as 'its magic'… Hmmm but thinking about it it feels like the only mention of magic is about necromancers and black mages and the interrogators and siluria, thinking about it again the only ones who freely uses them are helkaros, the dragons, the angels, so maybe magic is limited, unless there are some that i don't remember

Magic is limited in the same way giant flowing garden projects are limited - they're expensive!

It's true that most of the magic we encounter from humans seems to be black magic, but that's because most of the magicians seem to work in the capital! And there are so few, that when a few bad apples turn, its quite noticeable.

It seems like magicians are the classic wizard-type in Lorasia, where you must study the art of magic. So nobles and some merchants, who can spend that kinda money, are the only ones who can get someone to educate their kids or send them to learn at an academy. And then, being such a rare job, magicians are really expensive to hire and thus only nobility can really afford them.

Argh, its killing me that I cant find when he said this, but Lloyd mentions once that hiring a magician to help with construction would be incredibly expensive (i feel like he said it would be like the equivalent of the construction itself? But i have no proof (-᷅_-᷄๑) I feel like it was an earlier construction). When the palace magicians help with the Magenta suspension bridge (bc its a palace construction order afterall) Lloyd is overwhelmingly happy about how much easier everything is!

My assumption is that once someone becomes a noble (born or otherwise), then that person is given an identifying necklace by the palace, as a means of maintaining the legitimacy of the nobles (we dont want fake ones wandering around *cough*) and as a sort of census tracker for the kingdom. You need the necklace to prove youre a noble, and we know who all the legit nobles are because we have a list of necklaces!