Today I was caught flat footed....I ran completely out of one of my meds, so I called my doctor and asked them to send over a Rx to what the CVS website said was their closest pharmacy. In no time I received an automated phone call saying it was ready to pick up. Easy peasy.
I got in my car and entered the address into my Google map app and it popped right up, telling me to get on the Dallas North Parkway. Just as I passed the Stonebrook exit, the Google map lady said to continue straight for 7.5 miles. Huh? The pharmacy was on Stonebrook....shouldn't I have exited back there? I took the next exit and did a u-turn, all while the Google lady was screaming "recalculating, recalculating....no...no.....go straight 7.3 miles."
Back on Stonebrook I found nothing. I pulled over and called the CVS and an oriental lady answered. I asked her where they were located and all she could tell me was the address (which I already had), and then, "It nice place....you like....come see....bye-bye."
Hmmm....maybe I should just trust the Google lady. So I got back on the freeway and did as she said. It wasn't long until I was in another county, and another town. What the....? I followed her to FM 423, the right to CR 2937, then left, then right....on and on.
Finally she turned me into an older residential neighborhood and proudly announced my destination was on the left. NOT EVEN CLOSE! And to make matters worse my phone was quickly counting down its battery life to 0.
I called K at work and declared an en-route emergency. She looked it up on her 'puter and told me to get back to Stonebrook and she would try to figure something out while I was driving. I was soon in the 5100 block, and I needed to be in the 200 block. The Google lady only missed by 49 blocks!
Thanks to K I found it, got my med, and returned home....45 minutes for a couple mile trip. Grrr!
Remember road maps? I NEVER got lost as long as I had a road map. Oh how I miss those! Maybe I should offer to teach the Google map lady how to read one.
S
TomTom has sent me the wrong way a few times, too. I still have a road atlas that we take on longer trips, even though we know how to get there. I love maps - the world atlas was my favorite book when I was a teenager. Please don't tell anyone.
ReplyDeleteI was the same way!! I would close my eyes & point to a place in the index just so I could have the pleasure of finding it on one of the maps :)
DeleteGet the map directions first, then get Google lady as a backup. Or do like I do and trust a walking map know as Mrs. cranky.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a cell phone but when I use our Garmin GPS I swear the lady sounds angry if I don't obey her by following instructions precisely. She kinda scares me.
ReplyDeleteI've been thrown for a loop a couple of times by my GPS lady but generally she's right more often than I am. And, Pixel Peeper, don't be ashamed of that map love. I've always been the same way and late in life I heard that a new National Geographic map was my uncle's favorite reading material at lunch time.
ReplyDeleteAlright...a kindred spirit! I still have my world atlas from 5th grade (lots of countries are wrong now -
Deleteha!), so a few years ago I bought a new National Geographic world atlas.
My Nephew the wild West explorer only uses Benchmark maps. He will not drive if a GPS is turned on inside his truck. He never gets lost and takes the most scenic routes. I drive like Mr Magoo with a Garman lady getting hostile at my failure to follow directions. I was in a bad part of Denver in July and my GPS just plain quit giving directions. She said it was not possible to get to the airport from there. I finally asked a man for directions to the interstate the airport is on, then as I was going up the ramp..." drive seven miles to destination......." I wanted to throw that thing out the window!
ReplyDeleteWhat's interesting to me is that you didn't already know where your local CVS was located. I'm in one of three different Walgreens & one Rite Aid several times a week :)
ReplyDelete