Third shot!

I tried a week ago to get my booster shot at Walgreens or CVS, but they were both booked up until mid-November (!). I was able to get an appoinment at the largest regional hospital for last Wednesday, though--the last slot available, at 5 pm.

There were quite a few people there--at least fifty. They had three computers and vaccination stations. I checked in, no problem, and got my shot after about a 15 minute wait. Then I did the wait to see if I had an adverse reaction thing.

Interestingly enough, my side effects were almost the same as with my first two shots: just about exactly 24 hours later, I felt kind of achy and overall crummy, like you feel when you've caught a cold. Then, a few hours later, I felt fine. The vaccine did not make me grow antlers, and darn, I was so looking forward to that after Tucker Carlson promised us that it would. However, I did feel a strange compulsion to run out to my car, jump in, and drive north to Redmond to serve my master, Bill Gates. But that passed quickly.

1) I can now walk safely among Republicans!

2) I'm so glad that I don't live in a red state where the Delta variant is having a party and the cowboy yahoos are dropping like flies. There's obviously a lot of demand here for the shot(s), unlike the Trumper toilets where people listen, slack-jawed, to the propagandists who tell them the vaccines are unsafe and doses expire, unused.

3) This was my criterion for traveling to Vegas, as I'd read that the effectiveness of the first two shots could dwindle to as low as 65% after six months, and that was too low for me. So now, I can make travel plans (whether I actually want to go to Vegas is an open question, but I do have a fair amount of unused comps that will expire by the end of the year).

4) A big thanks and a shout-out to the medical professionals, in good states and Trumper states alike, who are and have been working so hard to get us all immunized.

I was delighted to get my Moderna booster last Tuesday.  Like Kevin, I endured the relatively minor side effect of feeling achy, chilly that night and part of the next day, then over with.  No biggie.  

What mystified me was that CVS, independent pharmacies, and numerous other institutions in my area have obtained the Moderna vaccine while my Walgreen's hasn't had the Moderna yet.  I did learn that at least one more Walgreens in my city has closed (one recently closed though it served, for a while, as a testing center) and others have temporarily closed due to lack of pharmacy staff.  "My" Walgreen's has had at least two stores shuffle their prescriptions to them, trippling their Rx workload without staffing support.  Pharmacy staff are retiring or just quitting.   My Walgreen's is doing Covid testing but corporate made them do it in their drive through, which greatly slows down folks who like to just pick up their Rxs at the window.  I heard (unconfirmed) they are doing the "quick" test by which the person has to wait to get the result, further slowing down business at what was formerly the pick up line only for Rx pick up.  I spoke with the supervisor who expressed extreme frustration about how everything is going:  She said at the time I spoke with her they were processing 3000+ Rxs, some of which would have been done at the other Walgreen's; plus complaints from people about slower service, particularly at the pick up window.  (They had two lanes at one time, now just one, making it worse!).  Anybody seen any issues with their Walgreen's?   I had earlier signed up with three different pharmacies who were giving vaccines, but my Walgreen's came through before I had to use another source.  But this time (booster) I'd gotten an email notice from one of the independents and I jumped on it.  That place had it very nicely organized, not in the store but in a vacated store (former uniform shop, but that's beside the point) next door.

Just wondering what is happening with pharmacies these days, if anyone else has had experience of this type.

Candy

Well, my local Walgreen's is staffed by people who have apparently been hit repeatedly over the head, so I don't know if their current dismal performance is an aberration or just par for the course. In the past, I've called them to ask about the availability of products and half the time, the phone just rings and rings; the rest of the time, somebody eventually answers: "Uh...yeah?" Usually followed by "I dunno." It's like talking to Homer Simpson when he's drunk. Maybe everyone competent has quit and the ones who are left are the dregs.

Of course, the general staffing shortages present in just about every industry have made customer service a travesty no matter where you go, but I keep noticing bright spots--exceptions to the rule--and if and when I inquire, I more often than not discover that they're paying people $2 or $3 more an hour than their competitors are now/or than they did a few months ago. The fact of the matter is that $12 or $14 an hour is barely enough to stay alive on, especially here in Portland, so if you offer $2 more an hour, that really boosts the amount of money someone will have left over after paying the bills. You pay someone $12 an hour and their keep-me-alive expense is $11.70 an hour, then you boost them to $14, you've increased their spending money by over 600%.

This is what the fat cats (who rake in half a million a year or more) don't understand when they bleat about staffing shortages. There's no real incentive for people to return to shitty jobs that pay barely enough to live on. But when you throw the peasants a few coins, they'll go back to work. The businesses that are doing well now and providing good customer service are the ones that have realized that.

As an example, In and Out Burger is paying $18-21/hr DOE. And y'know, they haven't raised their prices! The reason: they get all the best burger workers--people who would have left Burger Thing or McDoofus in a heartbeat--and they serve many more customers in an hour than anyone else does. Their staff appears motivated. They bust their asses! Amazing, how they've solved this conundrum! How on earth do we get our employees to work harder???? Pay them more????

There's been such a lag in wages vs. cost of living, for the last two decades, that the basic jobs no longer pay enough to keep a person housed, fed, and clothed. So maybe the Walgreen's stores in your area haven't been paying people enough and they aren't incentivized to return.

And yeah, I know that paying people a living wage leads to inflation, socialism, earthquakes, outbreaks of unsightly blemishes, hordes of Canadians streaming across the border, and critical race theory, but maybe corporate America should try it for just a little while anyway.

Kevin still does not grasp the fact that when businesses are forced to pay unreasonable wages, that when these wages go into effect 1) businesses are forced to charge more for their products/services, 2) cut staff, 3) businesses will have to pay more social security matching funds, unemployment insurance, family and medical leave, and workers compensation  4) the remaining number of employees will have to take a cut in hours. The result of charging more will turn away customers who refuse to pay more and these customers will either find another place to shop or will stop purchasing the product or service that the businesses offer. Forced raising of pay has a domino effect, affecting services and businesses. After a period of time, the buying power of these forced wage increases will be negated with the rising cost of services and products. As has been seen, many small businesses have no alternative but to close their doors - they can not earn enough money to stay in business. But then, I am not saying anything that an intelligent person would know and understand.

David, you are absolutely correct when you say that you are "not saying anything that an intelligent person would know and understand."

After I finished laughing at this (and Stalker probably doesn't even realize what he actually said), I reflected that this foolish argument of his is exactly what conservatives have been using for decades to justify not paying people a living wage. And the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. A conservitard dream world!

  You are truly so ignorant that you don't realize that the laugh is on you...

Stalker is not saying anything that an intelligent person would know and understand!

Again, I find his candor refreshing.

Just got my booster. I am doing my 10 minute after wait right now.

Was there a large crowd waiting to get boosted? Demand here has been off the charts.

I had a VA clinic appt. for a physical exam.  One of the first things they offered was the booster.  It was Moderna.  Same side effects as the first two.