Over time, I kept seeing this man in McDonald’s.  I always made a point of saying hi whenever we saw him.  He always responded with a big smile.  One day, he was reading a tract from The Watch Tower along with other printouts from the computer.  I stopped to talk to him about what he was reading.  He said he had a meeting with someone from the Latter Day Saints and wanted to understand their religion before he met with them.  I told him I would be interested in reading the detailed book they had given him when he was done.  I was also interested in what they had to say after he met with them.  He agree to share the end results.

The next time I saw him in McDonald’s, I waved and walked over to where he was sitting.  He invited me to sit down.  He was still reading the detailed book from the Latter Day Saints.  After talking to him for a few minutes, he mentioned that we always seemed to be in McDonald’s.  I proceeded to tell him that we were homeless.  He wanted to know how we got in this situation.  I told him the story of being scammed out of our house on a refinance.

I invited him over to meet my daughter, Jennifer, and we both could tell him what we had been through.  Hie name was Rick. Afterwards, he gave us some money for food.  He started showing up at McDonald’s more and more often.  He also either bought us food or gave us some money.

He proceeded to tell us how he had been in the Air Force and could fly anywhere in the world he wanted to go if the “plane” was going there.  He just had to make sure his name was added to the passenger list and he had a free ride to wherever it was going.  He could eat and stay at the Air Force base free of charge where they landed and tour the city.  He had been all over the world.  We both thought that sounded like so much fun and wished we could go.

He offered to take us out to dinner and asked where we wanted to go.  My daughter really wanted steak at Texas Roadhouse.  So we made plans to go there.  He tried to talk us into going to the Golden Corral, but he couldn’t change our minds.  We wanted steak at Texas Roadhouse.  So that’s where he took us.  The dinner was absolutely fantastic.  We had a great time.  We had a little left over that we took with us.  My daughter had that eaten later that evening.

Then he wanted to take us out to dinner again.  He asked us where else we would like to eat.  We told him we would really like some crabs and mentioned a place that wasn’t too far away from McDonald’s.  We talked about other places we would like to eat.  We also talked about how to get into some kind of housing.  The van was taking a toll on both of us.  He said he was working on a place for us to live and it wouldn’t be long before he thought he’d have a place for us to move into.  We were thrilled.

We made plans to have crabs that weekend.  He said he took a ride to where I said the crab house was and it wasn’t there anymore.  I told him he didn’t drive far enough.  He thought only houses were after the 7-11, so didn’t check any further.  We were really anxious for crabs that weekend.  But we didn’t hear or see him for a week.  He finally showed up to invite us to I-HOP.  We said ok.  I dislike I-HOP, but my daughter likes it.  He said he’d meet us outside.  So we gathered up our stuff, went to the bathroom, and put our stuff in the van.  We walked all around McDonald’s, but couldn’t find him.

We were really pissed off.  We had been offered breakfast in McDonald’s and had passed it up because he was taking us to breakfast.  We were sick of McDonald’s food anyway and anyplace was better.  Of course, when we walked back into McDonald’s, the people who offered us breakfast were now gone.  So much for any food that day!

He showed up the next day and we let him know how we felt.  We said he should have come back in or texted us that something had come up rather than just leave us standing there.  He said he was sorry and since he was causing so many problems, we wouldn’t be seeing him anymore.  He doesn’t like confrontation and causing problems and said good-bye.

A week or so later, he was back.  He took us to Golden Corral for dinner.  It was a buffet and very, very good.  We had lots of leftovers to take with us.  The next day was very, very hot.  I was starving, so ate one piece of the steak.  It tasted ok to me.  But the next day, I was very sick.  I was vomiting and having a bowel movement both at the same time.  I couldn’t even get up to get out of the van.  My poor daughter had to keep cleaning things up and giving me bags to get sick in.

I went over to the doctor’s office and was told this would go on for about a week.  There wasn’t anything to take for it.  She told me I had food poisoning and heat stroke.  It was imperative that we got ourselves into a cool area, rest, and drink plenty of clear liquids.  We didn’t have any money.

Rick said we could stay in the townhouse they were remodeling, but there wasn’t any water, shower, kitchen, etc.  Jennifer and I discussed it and said no.  I was too sick to stay somewhere that didn’t have a bathroom and a kitchen.

I called a Church and they agreed to pay for 2 nights in a motel.  They sent us to a motel that was full.  We had to turn around and go back to where we had been and got into a hotel there.  It was like being in Heaven.  We had a bed to sleep in, a TV, a bathroom, and a shower.  My daughter got a free buffet breakfast every morning.  I ate toast and a muffin.  I didn’t want to get sick again. After the 2nd night, I called the Church back and they put us up one more night.  I called another Church and they put us up another night.

Thursday morning, we were supposed to be at McDonald’s at 6 a.m. to look at housing in DC we might be able to move into.  Rick sent Jennifer a message that the hotel wouldn’t take his military ID because the room wasn’t in his name.  We would have to pack up immediately as we knew we wouldn’t be back by 11 a.m. from DC.

We missed the person who was supposed to help us get a place in DC because Rick couldn’t give us any notice.  He also gave Jennifer $150 to get a room somewhere.  He told her he would give her the keys to a townhouse in Waldorf that we could stay in for about a month.  He was getting ready to head to California as he had a friend who was dying and wanted to die in Hawaii.

Then Jennifer got sick.  We figured we would be seeing Rick again so he could give us the key and directions to the place.  I sent Rick a message that Jennifer was now sick with heat stroke too.  We had spent the $150 on another night at the hotel.  We didn’t hear from him until 24 hours later.  He said he just got the message and was currently in California.  I got kind of mad.  I asked why he didn’t tell us he was leaving for Hawaii.  I said that if I had known he wasn’t going to be around for a while, I would have spent the $150 differently so it would have lasted a little longer.  He told me I was a very “bitter” woman and not to text, call, or try to contact him ever again.

My daughter and I thought he was a very selfish person not giving us some warning.  We appreciated everything he had done for us.  We just didn’t understand why he would tell us one thing then do something else.   His problem seemed to be that he thought only of himself.  It only took a quick text to let us know that he would be leaving town for a while.  He bragged about all this money he had, yet he only left us $150 to get by for who knows how long.

I think the main problem was that he had the “hots” for my daughter and she wasn’t interested.  He had tried to kiss her several times.  He was always trying to touch her inappropriately.  When he spoke, he spoke mostly to her and totally ignored me.

Jennifer got very angry with Rick.  She told him that was not the way to talk to her Mother.  She said that I was very scared because Jennifer was so sick and he never gave her any indication that he was leaving immediately for the airport.  What happened to the key to the townhouse he was going to give her before he left?  He never answered back.  Yet he was always telling Jennifer how worried he was about us especially Jennifer!  This is what we found most people who promise things tend to do.  They promise all this stuff, then when the time comes to give it to us, the story always changes.  All we want is a little break!

When we were finished selecting everything we wanted for the phone, Best Buy ran a credit check.  They informed me AT&T would require a $500 deposit.  I said that was fine.  We walked out of Best Buy with the phone my daughter wanted and she was thrilled to death.  The phone was a fantastic purchase.  It did everything.  She used it to the max that she could.  Her constant use made me glad I had made the purchase for her.

Six months later, our living and financial situation drastically and completely changed.  We had to move immediately and since there was no notice about this, we ended up in a motel.  The motel cost us approximately $465 a week.  We had been making it on my retirement income.  With the big increase in rent, my retirement income wasn’t going to cover a place to stay, food, and a cell phone too.  I even picked up a part-time job keeping books for a condo association.  It was still very hard to meet the monthly expenses.

Therefore, it was now going to be harder for me to make the monthly payments.  So I got on the phone with AT&T and explained what was happening.  They were very happy to work with me so I could skip 1 month’s payment.  Thereafter, I was a month behind.  Every month I had to call them to reaffirm that I was a month behind and to schedule the next payment, even though it was the same every month.  I had to schedule the payment around my retirement check, which arrived in our bank account on the first regular business day of each month.

AT&T was very cooperative in every way, shape, and form.  Unfortunately, they didn’t always live up to their agreed payment date.  On the date that payment would be due, we would find the phone was already shut off.  This didn’t happen every month, but it happened enough to be a real pain.  Are you aware that when you dial 611 through the AT&T network, nothing happens?  I was constantly told that I could ALWAYS get hold of someone at AT&T by dialing 611.  I would tell them that I tried that and all I would get was a recording that service had been temporarily suspended!  I would have to find someone who had a phone so I could call AT&T and get the phone turned back on.  I have NEVER had a cell phone that you couldn’t dial 611 and speak to a customer service representative.

After months and months of complaining about their 611 number not working, I was finally told that I could dial 611 and after the recording was finished, I should start pushing various buttons and eventually it would connect to a customer service representative.  Now why wasn’t this something that was told to a customer right from the beginning?  This is very important information for someone who has had their phone turned off and didn’t have access to another phone.

My 2-year contract expired in June 2012.  Now remember, AT&T collected a $500 deposit from me when I entered into the 2-year contract.  In March 2012, we finally moved into a shared apartment. When we moved, I was temporarily laid off from my part-time job.  Shortly after, our vehicle broke down.  Since I was no longer working, I could barely pay the cell phone bill each month.  I called AT&T and asked them if I could keep the phone on by using some of the deposit money.  Someone was always supposed to check and get back to me.  That never happened.

I finally informed AT&T that I had been laid off and was unable to pay the cell phone bill until I went back to work.  They told me that was OK.  Since they had the deposit, they wouldn’t suspend my service.  I wouldn’t have phone service, but the account would not be suspended and/or terminated.  I informed them that it was imperative I keep the phone number I was given, that it had a special significance for my daughter.  They told me that wasn’t a problem either.  I let them know I would contact them as soon as I was back to work.  Halfway through August, I went back to work.  I called AT&T to let them know that I was back to work and would like to start up the service again as soon as I had a paycheck.  They told me that would be fine.

I called AT&T in September when I received my second paycheck.  I told them I wanted to re-establish my phone service.  At that time, I was informed that I no longer had phone service to restore.  The account had been suspended and a check had been mailed out refunding the remainder of the $500 deposit.  I told them I had not received any refund from them.  As the customer service representative and I talked, I found out the phone service had been cancelled in the beginning of July and a check had been mailed out then.  They put a stop on the check and said they would reissue the check.  I also asked about the phone number that was so important to my daughter.  That was gone too.  As the customer service representative looked over my account, she thought it was very strange that the number had been reassigned 2 weeks after the service was discontinued.  The check had been issued at the same time.  She said that was really strange as AT&T didn’t usually reassign a number or cancel service until 45 to 60 days after nonpayment.  Yet, my service and phone number were done away with in 2 weeks.

Subsequently, I have to say I had a very disappointing and unhappy experience with AT&T.  I was happy that most of the time AT&T worked with me regarding my payments.  I was very disappointed with the fact that AT&T couldn’t be reached via the cell phone when service was turned off.  I was also very disappointed that they gave away the cell phone number after they told me that would not happen and that they would suspend the service on or before the payment was due.  In the current economic situation that many of us have found ourselves in, I think the various companies should be more understanding toward the consumer who has been laid off or is having a hard time making ends meet.  To date, I am still trying to get a copy of the last few bills so I can see where my $500 deposit went.  Out of the $500 deposit, I only received a refund check in the amount of $114.

My daughter and I walked into Wendy’s the other day.  We both ordered a chocolate frosty.  When they presented the first frosty to us, I commented that the frosty wasn’t filled to the top.  I asked that it be filled.  We’re paying for a frosty and I want the cup to be full.  The employee said I would have to talk to the manager and I said that was fine.  The manager explained that they are only allowed to fill the frosty to the line that recently showed up on the cups.  I asked when this rule went into effect.  He said it was a new rule, but would fill the cup to the top for us.

In the background, the employee who waited on us picked up the original frosty she gave us and tossed it into the trash!  My daughter and I were surprised and wondered why she didn’t just add more frosty to it.  There wasn’t anything wrong with the drink she gave us; I just wanted the cup filled to the top.  Everyone knows that Wendy’s charges an arm and a leg for all their fancy drinks.

Another day, my daughter and I walked into McDonald’s.  We wanted the new Coke glasses they are advertising.  I ordered one of the meals that includes the sandwich, a drink, and fries.  I didn’t realize the meals now came in various sizes.  The one meal contains just the sandwich and nothing else.  The middle meal comes with a medium drink, medium fries, and a sandwich.  The large meal comes with a large drink, large fries, and the sandwich.  I thought I only had to order the meal to be able to get the Coke glass.  When I didn’t get the glass, I asked for it.  I was then informed that I had to order the large meal to get the glass.  So I apologized and asked if I could exchange mine for the large meal so I could get the glass.  They said that wasn’t a problem and the cost was $0.60 more.

Instead of giving me the same sandwich, putting the fries in the large holder and adding a few more, and giving me the larger cup, they threw everything in the trash and started over!  It used to be they would give you the unwanted food and also give you your new order.  When did we become so wasteful?  No wonder the fast food companies have to shrink the container sizes or raise the prices of the food.  They waste so much when they just throw it away.  There wasn’t anything wrong with the sandwich I ordered.  I could have easily eaten the original sandwich rather than have them make a new one.  I would have been perfectly happy with the same fries just put into a larger container.  Nothing was put into the cup, so I don’t understand why it couldn’t have been used for another order.

I am sure my daughter and I could easily survive on just the food McDonald’s and/or Wendy’s throw away every day.  We wouldn’t have to buy any food, we could just eat whatever the fast food companies throw away!

I have found a temporary job, but I don’t know from day-to-day if it will be there tomorrow.  Today, I went into work and was asked what I was doing there.  I informed him I was here to work.   He said there wasn’t any money to pay me for work today.  He also said I should use today to get my license and van tags straightened out.  I asked him how I was going to do that.  He stated that he had paid me $1,050 for the past 2 weeks and to use that.  I told him there wasn’t anything left. He then proceeded to ask me what I had done with it all.  I explained again that rent in the motel is $450 (this week, at least), which leaves $50 for everything else.  I have an 18-year-old daughter living with me, who needs to eat.  I also need to eat.  Then there’s the gas needed to keep the van running.  As you can see, $50/week doesn’t go very far.  He didn’t have an answer for that!  Everything we eat is frozen and has to go into the microwave.  If it can’t be microwaved, then we can’t eat it as there is no way to cook it!  If it can’t be cooked in the container it comes in, we can’t cook it.

People tend to think everything is so easy because you can get all your food from the various pantries.  Have you tried getting food from the food pantries?  First of all, no one thinks about the fact that you probably don’t have a can opener; if you can’t cook it in the container it comes in, you probably don’t have bowls, pans, measuring cups or spoons, forks, knives, etc., to cook it in and all that stuff can be expensive when you can barely afford to pay the rent.  Where do you store all this stuff in a motel room?  It’s not like there’s a kitchen table and chairs in here.

I’m getting off subject.  I have found that jobs are hard to find.  Even though I have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with a major in Accounting, I haven’t been able to find anything.  I am in desperate need of getting my teeth worked on.  My dental insurance doesn’t go very far at all.  It basically covers two root canals and two caps and it’s gone.  On top of that, it still only covers 50 percent of the total.  Well, when you can barely cover the rent, how are you supposed to pay for teeth work?  It’s not that easy to find an accounting job when your teeth are noticeably bad and you don’t have any appropriate dress clothes.  All the dress clothes I had were either lost or ruined.

One of my neighbors said they’d be glad to store some of our stuff in their garage.  When we went over to pick up some of the stuff, he informed us he moved it all out into his back yard.  Since his house backs up to the woods, the animals had gotten into all the bags, as well as the water from all the rain we had.  Everything was basically ruined!  I asked him why he didn’t call and let me know he was moving everything outside.  He didn’t have an answer!

Finding a place to live hasn’t been easy either.  My monthly retirement income is $1,200/month.  I am reluctant to use the income from my temporary job because it is temporary.  I am afraid I will find a place, get it, then not be able to make the payments because I lost the temporary job.  So I look for places that are within my retirement income, which are impossible to find.  I would like at least a two-bedroom place so my daughter can have her own room, but she’s willing to share a room with me if she has to.  If we could just find a place, I would be able to put some money aside to get my teeth fixed and buy some dress work clothes.  I would be able to put us back on our feet.

My daughter does nothing but sit in the motel room when I am in work as I am afraid something might happen to her and I wouldn’t know about it.  We only have one cell phone and she keeps it so she can get hold of me.  She is sick and I don’t want her to not be able to reach me.  I have the phone I can use at work if needed.  I don’t use the work phone for anything but business calls.  Once in a while, I will ask if I can use it for personal business, but don’t like to.  This is his business and he has the phone for his use.  I noticed that he and his one employee use their cell phones for all family-related and nonbusiness calls, not the business phone.

Therefore, I can’t really look for a place to live or a job until I am home.  Since I am gone from 7:30 a.m. till 6:30 p.m., talking to people about renting a place or getting hired for a job is virtually impossible.  I am totally out of money.  Everything I had saved is gone now.  It either went to the lawyers to try to get my house back or toward our living expenses.  Originally, I thought this would be a good way to start over–a clean, fresh start.  Now, I’m not so sure.  No one wants to help.  I’ve been in contact with social services, homeless shelters, Churches, schools, and food pantries.  You hear about all this help that’s out there, but I sure can’t find it. The only help we’ve been able to get is a medical card for both of us.  It has helped us on prescriptions, but not much else.  My daughter was able to get dental work done, but I am not eligible.  You would think they would also cover the adult as the adult is usually the breadwinner.

Basically, I’m disappointed that we still aren’t in permanent housing.  I am also disappointed that jobs are so hard to find.  It makes me mad that I worked all my life to prepare for retirement and someone comes along and takes everything you saved and worked for.

We then left Target and headed to my daughter’s 3 p.m. doctor appointment in Crofton.  After the doctor’s appointment, we went back to Target to drop off the new prescriptions and pick up the one I left earlier.  When we get to the pharmacy, I was informed that my prescription was NOT ready.  Not ready!  Why not?  It had been at least 2-1/2 hours since we dropped it off.  The Pharmacy Technician informed me that the insurance company had rejected payment of my prescription because of the amount of Tylenol it contained.  While we were waiting for my daughter’s prescriptions to be ready, we went to get something cheap to eat.  I wanted ice cream as it had been a while since I had any from Dairy Queen.  I absolutely love soft-serve ice cream!  We sat at the mall while we ate our ice cream and waited for the prescriptions to be ready.

After the allotted time, we went back to Target Pharmacy to pick up the other prescriptions.  My daughter’s two prescriptions were ready, but somewhat expensive.  I questioned the cost as I expected it to have no out-of-pocket cost.  They had used the wrong insurance company, even though I had tried to give the Pharmacy Technician my daughter’s prescription card.  The Pharmacy Technician told me they already had the information.  It is also recorded in our records that one particular insurance company should be used first.  The pharmacist said she didn’t know what insurance company was used.  She informed me she doesn’t fill prescriptions.  She just checks them.  I wondered what the pharmacist was being paid to check or what she was even doing there if she didn’t have anything to do with the filling of prescriptions.  I thought filling prescriptions was the job of the pharmacist.  Obviously not!

If she was being paid to check prescriptions, why didn’t she catch the fact that the wrong insurance company was being billed?  Maybe that’s not what she checks either.  If the Pharmacy Technicians did all the work, why was the pharmacist getting paid more money when she didn’t do anything but stand around checking prescriptions?  How boring!  How unfair to the Pharmacy Technicians!  They should be the ones making more money than the pharmacists, not the other way around.  I wonder if all the pharmacists just “check prescriptions.”

Since the Pharmacy Technicians were busy, the pharmacist came over to wait on us.  I informed the pharmacist that the wrong insurance company was used.  If she only checked the prescriptions after the technicians filled them, why didn’t she catch this? Didn’t she read the record and see what insurance company was to be billed?  Isn’t she getting paid to make sure the technicians are doing EVERYTHING correctly?  Or is she getting paid to make sure they can count the number of pills that go into the bottle?  Hm.  If the pharmacy technicians can’t count, why do they work there?  Why were they hired?

After informing her that the wrong insurance had been billed, she went behind the counter to make the appropriate changes.  By this time, the pharmacy is packed.  Yet the pharmacist is wasting even more time billing the  insurance company that should have been billed in the first place.

When she brought the corrected prescriptions back to the counter, she mentioned the prescription that the insurance company denied because of the level of Tylenol.  She accidently informed me it wasn’t the insurance company that raised the questions.  It was her.  She called the insurance company about the level of Tylenol in the pills and how she thought I was taking too much.  She also informed me that Tylenol causes liver problems and I should be very concerned.  I told her I was well-aware of that and was periodically (every 6 months) tested for any damage.  Everything was tested through blood work to make sure I was OK.  If it wasn’t, adjustments were made.  She must think I’m stupid.  Anyway, she decided to take it upon herself to inform the insurance company how much better she could do their job than they could.  I wondered why she told me that she was the culprit behind the denial of the prescription payment.  She made the Pharmacy Technicians look like liars, since they told me something entirely different.  I would think they would have been taught to back each other up, not contradict each other.  Why didn’t the pharmacist tell the technicians the truth?  Why make them look like fools?

I told her that I had just received 48 shots in my back and was told by the doctor to take my pain medicine for the pain the shots would cause me.  I would no longer be able to do that.  Why?  Because she took it upon herself to call the insurance company and now they would not pay for it.  On top of that, it would be days before the prescription would be available to me.  I asked her what she thought would happen to me now that she just stopped my prescription after I had been taking it for several years.  She proceeded to tell me how I would get the shakes, sweat, freeze, get agitated, and irritable.  I wasn’t worried about that.  I was more concerned about going into cardiac arrest or having a heart attack from her abruptly stopping the medicine without the doctor’s approval.  Who would take care of my daughter?  My daughter has no one else but me.  She said that wouldn’t happen.  I disagreed with her.  I’ve known people to have heart attacks when they weren’t weaned off the medicines properly.

I asked her about the Patient Education Paper that Target Pharmacy includes with your prescription.  I informed her that it warns, “If using this medicine for an extended period of time, DO NOT SUDDENLY STOP taking this medicine without your doctor’s approval.” Why did it have that warning if I didn’t have anything to worry about?  Why was part of the warning in big, black letters if it didn’t mean anything and/or wasn’t important.  Why include the statement at all?  Was it there to cause heart attacks in some people who would panic over the statement warning?  Some people take these Patient Education papers to heart and worry about the side effects or won’t take the medicine because they are scared of the side effects and don’t want to go through them.

She had absolutely no answer for the statement on the Patient Education paper.  She couldn’t even tell me why the statement was there.  I informed her that I thought it was so people didn’t suddenly stop taking the medication and that there could be dire circumstances if they did stop suddenly.  She had absolutely no answer.  It was obvious from her look that she hadn’t thought through the consequences.

Target doesn’t want to be held responsible, yet she was taking the responsibility and/or risk into her own hands like the statement didn’t mean anything.  I asked her why she didn’t discuss her concerns with me first.  Or why didn’t she call the doctor’s office and talk to them about her concerns.  She didn’t have an answer for that either.  I honestly don’t think she put any thought into her actions.  I think she just decided to pick up the phone and make that call without any thought to the consequences until I pointed them out.  I don’t have a problem with her Tylenol concern.  I have a problem with her not getting all the facts before she took action.  I firmly believe she should have discussed this with me first.  She has no idea why I am taking this medicine or what my medical condition is.  She automatically jumped to conclusions about something she knows nothing about.

As it all turned out, the doctor’s office justified the amount of Tylenol I was taking and the insurance company approved the paying of the medicine.  All she ended up doing was inconveniencing everyone.  She cost the doctor’s office money when the staff could have been working on things that were more important.  She also wasted the insurance company’s time while they researched the medicine I was taking, how often they were paying for it, and the conversations back and forth with my doctor’s office.

As I mentioned above, the pharmacy was now packed.  There were long lines of people waiting to be helped.  We had already been there for well over an hour and a half and this was our second visit of the day.  The pharmacist brought over our prescriptions and another one was wrong.  By this time, I was getting angry.  It was now 6 p.m. and we had been there since 3:45 p.m.  trying to collect and pay for our prescriptions.  I asked the pharmacist if she was going to be done any time soon.  One of the customers told me to leave the pharmacist alone so she could do her job.  I turned around and told her to mind her own business.  She wasn’t there the whole time to observe the entire situation.  I informed the customer that I wouldn’t be so impatient if the pharmacist would do her job.  Another customer decided to put in her “two-cents’ worth” informing us that the pharmacist had been helping us the whole time. That was so NOT true.  My daughter turned around and informed the customer that we were homeless and didn’t want to make another trip back out here with the cost of gas.  The customer told my daughter that our being homeless wasn’t the pharmacist’s fault.  No one ever said it was.  My daughter is sick and being there as long as we had been was virtually wearing her out to the point she could barely stand.

With that, the pharmacist finally brought us the last prescription.  She rang everything up, we paid, and left.  What started out to be close to $150 in prescription costs was now only $30.  Too bad we couldn’t have cut down the amount of time we were there too.

In closing, the doctor’s office called the insurance company.  The insurance company thoroughly agreed with the doctor’s office on the amount of Tylenol in the medicine.  The insurance company paid for the prescription, as usual.

When the Bowie gym started their policy of no scarves, I didn’t think anything about it. What a surprise when I read in the Bowie Blade-News that one woman took offense. In the Commentary/Readers’ Views section of the Thursday, 22 October 2009, paper, a woman feels this is an insult directed at her because she is black. She went on about how hard it is for black women to maintain their hairstyles when they workout. She claims she wears a head scarf to her boot-camp class several times a week to keep her hairstyle. She was warned by the gym that she could no longer wear scarves or bandanas due to the new corporate-enforced dress code.

I could not believe this woman thought the gym’s corporate office went out of their way to make this new policy just to discriminate against her because she is a black woman. When I work out, my hair always gets messed up. I also get sweaty and need a shower afterward working out. This has nothing to do with the fact that I’m white as it has nothing to do with her because she is black. I could not find anyone who thought this new policy was against them.

She contacted the corporate office with her concern about the new policy and how it discriminates against black women who work hard to maintain their hairstyles by wearing scarves. The corporate office was unsympathetic and said their policy was “to promote a nonintimidating atmosphere.”

She continued going on about how gym members wouldn’t be scared that she was some gangbanger and would decide not to join the gym because she was there wearing her scarf. She went on about how disciminatory the dress code really was. By the time she was finished, she had cancelled her gym membership and planned to start a new weekend habit of working out while maintaining her “not-so-good” hair.

I could not believe this woman thought the gym’s corporate office went out of their way to make this new policy just to discriminate against her because she is a black woman. When I work out, my hair always gets messed up. I also get sweaty and need a shower afterward working out. This has nothing to do with the fact that I’m white as it has nothing to do with her because she is black. I could not find anyone who thought this new policy was against them.

We got home and started unloading the back of the van. We had picked up quite a few groceries and other things. In the process of running in and out of the house carrying numerous bags, my daughter noticed part of the tire cover was missing from the back door. The outside cover surrounding the tire was still there, but not the part that actually covers the tire.

I rushed through scanning the cold things in the bags as my daughter put them away. We knew we had to hurry so we could backtrack the route we took when we were running around. It was imperative that we find the rest of the cover before someone ran over it. If that happened, the cover would crack in a million pieces.

Mind you, in was already dark out and our left front headlight was not working correctly. It came on when it wanted and turned off when it wanted. I had already received an inspection ticket for the headlight being out and couldn’t afford to get another one, especially since I hadn’t gotten this last one taken care of yet. It had been several months since it had been issued too.

After all the frozen stuff was put away, we got back into the van to retrace our route working backwards. We were pretty sure that the cover was intact when we loaded the groceries in the back of the van at Safeway. So that’s where we headed first.

As I drove, I watched the road on my side as my daughter, Jennifer watched the road on hers. We even went so far as to stop at the space where we had previously parked. Jennifer got out to look under the cars in case it rolled when it fell off. It wasn’t there. We left Safeway’s parking lot, still retracing our steps.

As we turned back on the main road, still looking for the tire cover, Jennifer and I both saw it at the same time. It could easily have been mistaken for a manhole cover. Our van is maroon and with the road paved black, it would have been very easy to miss. I unlocked the van, put on the hazard lights, and put the van in park. Luckily, no one was behind us. Jennifer quickly jumped out, grabbed it, and put it in the back seat. She then jumped back into the van. Both of us were thrilled we had found it. It would have been quite expensive to replace.

By the way, we ended up with 23 inches of snow!