I came into Rite Aid this morning looking for a back brace, as I struggle to stand for more than an hour due to a herniated disc and sciatica, which makes my manual labor job quite unpleasant!! This store thankfully had an affordable brace in stock, and I was so relieved as I headed to the checkout line...
...which is where the trouble began as both my debit cards were being declined, one of which was my $350 Middle Class Tax Refund card!! The other card was due to lack of funds, but my cashier, Angelica, was able to work around this issue to help me pull out whatever funds I had available while I struggled to figure out what was up with my Tax Refund card!
As I was painfully waiting through minutes of prerecorded messages, Angelica took the initiative and was hard at work getting me a discount on the back brace, which I did not ask for nor expect but very much appreciated!! I am of course apologizing profusely throughout this whole ordeal, and she reassured me each time. Her coworker, Teresa, has also joined in offering support to both Angelica and I, and listened to the painfully long prerecorded messages alongside me as we tried to figure out What Is Going On With This Dang Card.
Unfortunately, everything seemed perfectly fine with the card, it just didn't want to help me pay the $3 left in the balance to get this back brace I desperately needed to, you know, not have to deal with intense pain while trying to work!! After coming to the conclusion that we were not going to get this card to work anytime soon, Angelica was kind enough to cover the final $3 for me, which was such an incredible relief!!
This whole transaction took *at least* ten minutes, through absolutely no fault of anyone but my own unfortunate luck, and both Angelica and Teresa were nothing but kind, patient, and helpful the entire time-- which I appreciated so incredibly much as I felt so bad for making them have to deal with all this!!!
Bonus points to Angelica for, even while not assisting me directly and working the shelves, seemed to always be smiling and speaking with an upbeat friendly tone, and I caught a moment of vigilance from her as she called to a coworker who may have needed a little extra assistance! :D
I absolutely plan on stopping by tomorrow afternoon on my way to work to pay back those $3!! And I very much hope to see both Angelica and Teresa there again!
PS: Thank you to the pharmacist who let me know the new COVID vaccines should hopefully be coming in very soon!! Fingers crossed I can get jabbed within the next couple days! (also I got my flu shot earlier this year at this location, and they gave me a free ice cream cone for it. that was awesome) read more