Nothing makes you forget your problems...

I've had a bad week in consumerism. I've had a lot of bad customer service experiences; from movies to meals. It's frustrating to the point of actually writing griping e-mails. The one to AMC theaters, first draft in my mind, reads more like an essay opining on American culture than an actual complaint. I'll probably post it here.

But after a nasty attempt at ordering dinner, I was I was at Rite Aid, buying medicine (Meg's got some sort of whooping cough) and frustrated.

A middle-aged woman, in poor shape physically, was there with her daughter (also in poor shape). This is not a surprise, as the Rite Aid near our house isn't in the most affluent area of our town, which is quaint but by no means terribly affluent.

The woman was telling her daughter that she'd like to buy a heated knee brace, but couldn't until the next day, when her husband's check comes in. Then, the pharmacist told her that the Allegra they needed - that's a prescription I take, for allergies - isn't covered on their insurance. It was, apparently, but her husband's insurance through the Teamsters doesn't cover it anymore. That sucker's $70 a bottle.

So she has to get one pill, for her child, for tomorrow, until the check comes in.

It made me feel like my problems were just a little smaller. Yeah, I'm carrying a very heavy student debt load. But my health insurance covers Allegra, and even if it didn't, I could swing it without having to wait until payday. So I have that going for me, which is nice.

Vonnegut, maybe, said something to the effect of "nothing makes you forget your problems like meeting someone who has worse problems." That's about right.

But, then, in the midst of a shopping trip that was clearly shaped by economic concerns, the woman's daughter notes that "lighters are on sale."

With the right couple of inferences, that does make this woman seem a little bit less sympathetic. If the woman is a smoker, quitting would save money and help (or even eliminate) her daughter's allergies.

So, then, comes the interesting moral dilemma, through which knowledge of self might be gained. How I feel about what I just observed and overheard is fairly complicated, and I won't examine it here (yet). More than anything, though, I just wish that kid didn't have to worry about getting her medicine.