Anticipating Too Much Incompetence

I have extolled on the virtues of pessimism, that is, where appropriate. There is a such thing as going too far, of course. One example happening to me today.

I take some drugs for physical problems. I have my prescriptions at a low-cost community pharmacy. My plan has changed recently, but the community clinic for which the pharmacy is a part wouldn't call in the prescriptions to another pharmacy. That is to say, the insurance provider couldn't get them to return calls and neither could I. No, to get them to move I had to make a doctor's appointment. While this was going on for weeks, of course, I'm running short of meds. Today, I ran out of a particularly important one. I called it in. I couldn't get a person on the phone for an expedited refill, so I entered the prescription number and asked that they expedite it.

When I go in this afternoon, there's a big line, and a sign up saying the computers are down and they can only take pick ups. Of course, I'm wondering if they got my message, listened to it, and whether they had time, with the computer being down.

I almost gave up and would have called for the refill at the pharmacy in my old neighborhood, which was seven miles away. Given all the trouble I had, I was anticipating more incompetence, which in turn raised my blood pressure. I told  myself it was irrational to fold before I knew whether they had filled it or not.

To my surprise, they had.

It reminds me of the time at my writers' group where our leader was waiting outside the door to our usual venue, a gallery. She had the key, but didn't have the alarm code, and was afraid of setting off a false alarm, which would cost us a fine. She was waiting for the caretaker to call her back. After talking about it, she remembered she had just asked the guy to leave the alarm off, that she had the key. So, she wondered, had he done as she asked? There was no sign telling her, by why would one leave sign saying that your burglar alarm was de-activated? That would be even more incompetent.

So, she tried the lock, no alarm. We were able to go in and go on with our readings.

It's in human nature to try to find a pattern and anticipate things. Optimism and pessimism describe not just prediction, but they dictate strategy. If you've had problems with an organization in the past, you'll think it'll be a problem in the future. But errors in anything like pharmaceuticals, are rare. Usually you can call in and they will listen to your request and expedite the your order, even on a day after a holiday.

But it's when the usual goes wrong, anxiety and frustration overcompensate. Afterward, you begin to respond to the residual fear and anger itself rather than anything that's really going on.

Even after I reason all of that out, I still end up anticipating based on the emotional response in the past and not anything actually happening in the present real world. It goes to show how limited knowledge of your own behavior can be.