Around Town
The CFO's cell phone died on Sunday and, since there are no Carolina West dealers in Cary, I had to buy a replacement phone here at Radio Shack, the Carolina West dealer in Sparta.
But, just how to get it to her?
That's simple. You go the florist shop inside Halsey's Drug because they are the UPS agent in Sparta.
Now, we have two (legal) drug stores in Alleghany County, Halsey's and Kerr. Halsey's is a chain of one and, with the singular exception of the florist shop, they only sell drugs and medical supplies. No food items, no electronic products, no stationery products, no pet food. The shelves are low (chest height) and when you walk in the first thing you see is the pharmacy counter, Nice store. Refreshing.
Kerr, on the other hand, looks like a combination Dollar General/Food Lion. They just moved into one of those new stand-alone CVS/Rite Aid/Walgreens type buildings. If you didn't know the pharmacy counter was in the back, you would never find it.
I began using Kerr two months ago to avoid the drive to Rite Aid (Eckerds) in Jefferson. (I chose Kerr over Halsey because Halsey has no store that I can for emergencies in Cary.) The first time, they were short five of my brain chemistry pills. The next time they were short 25. (Hint: 5+25=30) So, I stopped by the other day and told them that I would be buying 30 a month forever. I suggested they increase their inventory by 30 pills. "Oh," they said, "it takes the computer a few months to figure that out." I suggested that I was way ahead of the computer, would be coming in to refill my prescription next week, and would like them to communicate said to computer in order for them to have more than those 5 pills remaining in one of their bottles when I came to pick up my prescriptions. Clickity, clickity, clickity. "OK."
On my way home, I stopped by The Alleghany Times office to renew my subscription. The nice lady at the front desk was working on the company books ... with a pencil on paper ledgers! In fact, there was no computer screen or keyboard of any kind on her desk. I paid my subscription and she wrote me a receipt ... with a ball-point pen on a pad of receipts. While there I spoke with the general manager and asked what desktop publishing software they used to compose the newspaper. "Well," he said, "Quark Express for the front page." The other pages? Manual pasteups. You know those cut, copy and paste functions on your computer? Well, they come from doing manual pasteups in which the content you see on the printed page is first cut or copied and then pasted on a paperboard. A negative print is made of the pasteups by the printer which, in turn, are used to make the printing plates. I must admit that I was so dumbfounded that I forgot to ask how they managed to find a printer that would still work from pasteups!
But, hey, it works and the stockyard report is still there every week.
Now if can just convince the computer at Kerr ...
But, just how to get it to her?
That's simple. You go the florist shop inside Halsey's Drug because they are the UPS agent in Sparta.
Now, we have two (legal) drug stores in Alleghany County, Halsey's and Kerr. Halsey's is a chain of one and, with the singular exception of the florist shop, they only sell drugs and medical supplies. No food items, no electronic products, no stationery products, no pet food. The shelves are low (chest height) and when you walk in the first thing you see is the pharmacy counter, Nice store. Refreshing.
Kerr, on the other hand, looks like a combination Dollar General/Food Lion. They just moved into one of those new stand-alone CVS/Rite Aid/Walgreens type buildings. If you didn't know the pharmacy counter was in the back, you would never find it.
I began using Kerr two months ago to avoid the drive to Rite Aid (Eckerds) in Jefferson. (I chose Kerr over Halsey because Halsey has no store that I can for emergencies in Cary.) The first time, they were short five of my brain chemistry pills. The next time they were short 25. (Hint: 5+25=30) So, I stopped by the other day and told them that I would be buying 30 a month forever. I suggested they increase their inventory by 30 pills. "Oh," they said, "it takes the computer a few months to figure that out." I suggested that I was way ahead of the computer, would be coming in to refill my prescription next week, and would like them to communicate said to computer in order for them to have more than those 5 pills remaining in one of their bottles when I came to pick up my prescriptions. Clickity, clickity, clickity. "OK."
On my way home, I stopped by The Alleghany Times office to renew my subscription. The nice lady at the front desk was working on the company books ... with a pencil on paper ledgers! In fact, there was no computer screen or keyboard of any kind on her desk. I paid my subscription and she wrote me a receipt ... with a ball-point pen on a pad of receipts. While there I spoke with the general manager and asked what desktop publishing software they used to compose the newspaper. "Well," he said, "Quark Express for the front page." The other pages? Manual pasteups. You know those cut, copy and paste functions on your computer? Well, they come from doing manual pasteups in which the content you see on the printed page is first cut or copied and then pasted on a paperboard. A negative print is made of the pasteups by the printer which, in turn, are used to make the printing plates. I must admit that I was so dumbfounded that I forgot to ask how they managed to find a printer that would still work from pasteups!
But, hey, it works and the stockyard report is still there every week.
Now if can just convince the computer at Kerr ...
Comments
Post a Comment