Thursday, March 08, 2012

A little cash on the side. Yeah, right.

My visit to the cardiology clinic on Tuesday entailed a lot of waiting between various phases of the nuclear stress test, which meant I was stuck in the waiting room for long periods of time with a number of other people in the same situation. Near me sat a man and his wife. The man was taking the stress test, and his wife was creating stress by talking loudly to anyone who would listen to her.

At one point when I was the person seated closest to the woman (Kim had been there with me but had left for a few minutes to run an errand), someone on the TV news mentioned marijuana. That was all it took for the woman to begin telling me what a big problem drugs are in the parish where she lives.

She said that a recent drug bust in the parish prison "proved that the police must be in on it, because how else are those prisoners getting drugs?" As further evidence, she cited relatives of hers, saying, "Everyone in that family sells drugs," and adding, "I've called the cops on them more'n once, told 'em where to go, what time to go, and all that, and the cops never did nothin'."

In the next few minutes she told me how drug use had affected her immediate family, resulting in her son's current imprisonment. "I've spent so much money on him over the years you wouldn't believe it, but never again. I told him I won't spend another dime on him; I'll gamble my money away instead."

What do you do when someone you've never seen before in your life begins sharing personal information with you--loudly--in a public place? All I did was listen and try to nod or shake my head sympathetically as seemed appropriate to her most recent revelation. But in the end, just before the woman's husband returned and she changed the subject, I had to bite my tongue to keep from responding.

"It's all the Medicare people," she said in a disapproving tone of voice. "Those Medicare people can get all the drugs they want. Doctors just give 'em to 'em, as many as they want, and then they turn around and sell 'em. That's where all the drugs are coming from, those Medicare people. Someone needs to put a stop to it."

I'm a "Medicare person." It wouldn't have occurred to me in a million years to ask my doctor for extra pills so I'd have some to sell. It wouldn't even have occurred to me to share my personal business and opinions with a complete stranger in a doctor's waiting room. But that's just me. I'd rather spill my guts here.

So, are any of you readers making a killing in the prescription drug trade? Looks like I'm losing out again. I wonder how many other business opportunities I've blindly failed to recognize.


7 comments:

  1. Maybe you and the waiting room woman could become bounty hunters since there are so many drug addicts in the parish. I hear there's a lot of money in that, plus the chance of a reality TV show.

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  2. Writing My Novel, that's an excellent idea, LOL! And bounty hunting is even legal.

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  3. If I had prescription drugs to sell, I wouldn't know where to start-what do you do, go stand on a street corner? and then how do you attract buyers? put up a sign that says "oxycontin $5/pill"?

    Your waiting room story makes me glad I'm deaf-at least I can read in peace. But then again, I miss out on stuff that makes good blog posts! :-)

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  4. Oh Velvet, I'm sad to say that the woman could have been my own 89 year old mother. She would talk to a fence post about every personal detail in our family! I've been horrified many times to approach her in a store and see the mortified look on a stranger's face that she had "cornered." I always wish someone would simply be rude to her and walk away... but people are always nice. I have walked up to a few strangers and interrupted by saying 'Your husband is over there looking for you." They flee gratefully...no one has ever pointed out my lie.

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  5. Linda, you are so funny! I'm laughing out loud. Yes, I have met people like this. Nope, never sold a leftover Oxycontin in my life. Now, if only the cops could hook up with the Medicare people and supply the prisoners and have the government fund the deal, NOW that would be an accomplishment!

    Thanks for your visit and for making my day,

    Kathy M.

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  6. Janet, I don't know, but if you'd have to stand on a street corner with a sign, why bother selling drugs? There was a guy standing on a street corner right by the cardiologist's office, and his sign read simply "Need cash!" The money might come in in smaller dribbles, but at least it would be legal, right?

    Holly, I think this woman's husband must monitor her storytelling the way you do your mother's. She certainly zipped it up as soon as he came back through the door.

    Kathy, wow! You think BIG! If my waiting-room companion could have come up with a conspiracy theory of such enormous proportions as you just did, she probably would have taken it all the way to Rush Limbaugh. :)

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  7. Velvet, Mother zips it up for nothing... the more she embarrasses us... the more she talks!

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