Hello Rod Serling...

[kybearfuzz]

I knew when I opened the lunchroom freezer at work to get ice for my morning Diet Coke and thick syrup from a frozen can of A&W Root Beer dripped to the floor that today was going to be a Twilight Zone sort of day..

One of the brighter spots of the day was meeting with one of the bears at the company I'm inspecting. He's so cute... Work is going okay, I guess, but the driving every day is wearing on me. I'm still wondering about the drama unfolding at work, as I'm not there to see it every day. Part of me is also kind of relieved to be down in the trenches.

After I got back to the office, I checked my work email to find a request for volunteers to do drug inspections in India. It's not one of the more desirable locations. Apparently, my office is having trouble getting someone to do the trips. I'm not shocked. The email was forwarded from higher-ups (not in my office) who made sure management knew that they could essentially force someone to go if volunteers didn't appear.

This freaks me out a bit. India is not a place I'd care to visit. The email was sent to my whole office (and my region), but I'm one of only three people eligible to do this kind of work in my office. I don't like these odds. However, part of me almost wants to volunteer because I think I could use it as leverage for a promotion. Anyone been to India?

It took over an hour-and-a-half yesterday to get home from work. It made for a long miserable day yesterday and I thought that today would be better. I was wrong. Today the traffic nightmare was in Northern KY, which made getting home more of an insult as I was so close, yet so far away. Lots of cursing ensued. I'm so tired of idiot drivers.

I saw a debate on Court TV once home about pharmacists who are refusing to fill prescriptions of birth control pills because it goes against their personal religious beliefs. Have we really gone this far over the edge?? Who is the pharmacist to make that judgment for someone else? Does he or she not realize that this is part of the job? They are supposed to provide a service to the pharmacy's customer and their personal beliefs shouldn't enter into it. I'm sure many complaints will start if this gets to be widespread and possibly lawsuits.

How far will this go? Will librarians refuse to check out "The DaVinci Code" to someone because they think it's disparaging to their religion? Will CD shop clerks not sell you a CD because it contains explicit lyrics or themes they don't agree with? Ugh!!!

Comments

[mat-t.livejournal.com]

I've got no desire to visit India myself. Actually, my boss's boss was just there, and one of my Indian coworkers just went back after spending about 6 weeks here. Do you know which city it'd be near?

The driving sounds stressfull. Massage will be available should you so desire it when I visit (highly amateur to be sure, but I haven't had complaints) . :)

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what cities are going to be involved in the India trip. Part of me hopes that they find volunteers, I was hoping for a trip to Germany instead.

Massaage sounds good :)

[jkusters]

The pharmacist thing has been brewing for a while. I believe Michigan recently passed a law allowing doctors and pharmacists (and perhaps others) to refuse to provide service if it violates thier religious standards. Many are expecting that gay people are going to be in lots of trouble if that law is enacted. (I'll have to look into where that law currently stands.)

Yeah, if we haven't gone over the edge, we're rapidly approaching it. As the years go by, there is more and more strain between the coastal states and the "heartland". Something's got to give before things go *snap*.

JOhn.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I find the idea of a physician denying treatment to someone based on their religious beliefs horrifying. Wouldn't that be a violation of their Hippocratic Oath? If someone should get ill or die from the denial of treatment, wouldn't the offending physician be legally liable?

[scifibear99.livejournal.com]

Hey Mark,

I hope you have a better day tomorrow. Talk to you soon.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Thanks Mike :)

[bookish-cub.livejournal.com]

Traveling to India could be an interesting experience, although I wouldn't put it at the top of my list of countries I want to go to.

The whole pharmacy thing has me worried. If something is legal, then there should not be any restrictions on where a person can get it.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

The idea of being stuck in India for THREE weeks is distasteful, being there one week just doesn't sound good to me.

And as for the pharmacy thing, I agree. These people aren't clueless, did they not think this could come up when they decided on a profession?

[cincycub.livejournal.com]

I thought India had a really fascinating culture. *shrug* Didn't they go there on The Amazing Race a few times? ;)

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Beats me... I don't typically watch the show. I guess it could have some good points, but it just sounds like a place I'd like to avoid.

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

I've actually been to India, though it was nearly 20 years ago, and it was with a college performing group from Brigham Young University... think "Up with People" but with a Mormon slant.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. It helped, of course, that I was in the protective cocoon of the group. When you go to India the rich folks in charge really want to shield you from seeing the poverty, but we managed to see it anyway. Calcutta was really depressing that way. The good news was that we quite by chance managed to get an appointment to visit Mother Teresa's convent, one of her orphanages, and a home for the destitute and dying. It was pretty inspiring, actually.

But the trip also included a visit to the Taj Mahal... Nepal where we almost got a glimpse of Everest through the clouds... Sri Lanka and its amazing tropical climate... Bombay and its schizophrenic combination of extreme wealth and extreme poverty... etc. etc.

I really enjoyed the food. It was often hard to find things that were not too spicy, but seeing how you pour the tabasco on your Skyline, I'm thinking you'd be all right with that. Water is a challenge; you should only drink bottled water, but in some restaurants they might bring you water in a bottle that has been refilled and not tell you. If that happens you may find yourself with the trots... all of us in the group (except for one kid) did. Take some Immodium and some Pepto-Bismol with you.

I'm sure a lot of things have changed in the last 20 years in India. Of course somewhere there are industrial parks filled with people on telephones providing customer support to Americans... ha! Other than that I wouldn't know.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I guess it could be an experience to try, but THREE weeks... ugh. The only saving grace would be that I'd be traveling with one other person for these inspections, so I wouldn't necessarily be there alone.

The idea of three weeks of diarrhea doesn't help....

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't be three weeks of diarrhea! ;-) Our trip was SIX weeks. And the icky stuff didn't happen right away... as a matter of fact, those of us who had problems had them very close to the end. One of the young ladies on the tour had some Septra (I think that's what it's called), a sulfa drug, that really helped. Anyway, you could probably be more careful about your drinking water than we were, naive kids that we were.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

LOL.. knowing my luck, I'd get the trots the first week. Happy happy .. joy joy... :)

[cincy-dave.livejournal.com]

I used to have 2 co workers from India. The two things they were constantly talking about was the heat and the crowds. One of them told me that India only has two seasons. Summer and Hot Summer.

Three weeks is a long time, but it would be interesting to take in another culture for a while. If you love it, then you will have a great time. If you hate it, then you will appreciate life over here that much more.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Well, I've had some culture shock before when I was dropped in Italy for the first time solo with no knowledge of Italian. For some reason, India scares me in that I have no desire to go there and have heard stories from folks who have visited that they didn't like it. To spend three weeks in a place you're uncomfortable in sounds like a trip to the Bible Camp from Hell!

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

*Where* in India would you be going? Would it be a lot of different locations, or just one? India's a large country with several different climates...

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

That's the crappy part of this kind of assignment, you don't get the cities until you agree to the trip.

[bleuvalentines.livejournal.com]

First and foremost let me say that, I too, am hoping you get a trip to Germany! =)

However ... I think India would an amazing experience! Dave and I were in the midst of planning a two week trip. I'd found an amazing deal on a string of very nice hotels (all owned by one company). You decided your itinerary and which cities (and hotels) to stay in, but had 13 nights for the price of 5. We were very excited, I ordered some guides and started reading. That's when I discovered WHY I had found such a wonderful deal ... it was during monsoon season. I should have known! =)

We're still planning to go one day, but I'm fully prepared for culture shock. It was interesting to read the medical preparations a lot of the books were suggesting, as well as the list of things to be cautious about (not just of a medical nature). Still ... I think it would be an amazing experience!

But again ... go for Germany! ;)

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

There is still a chance the trip will go to someone else. I'm not feeling that adventurous this year to go to India. Germany sounds so much more fun for obvious reasons. Three weeks in India just doesn't sound appealing.