School withholds child's medication, don't know her stepdad is a local talk show host.
"School denies me my prescription. I told them I wanted to call a parent. Little did they know..."
Royal_Relief5553
Throwaway because this story could totally dox me. I don't care if people figure out who I am from this post alone, but don't want everyone knowing my anonymous reddit username. I will avoid/change details as much as possible and use fake names.
I was mistreated by my dad's wife growing up. My mom fought long and hard to gain custody, but my dad was a "good guy" with more money and he didn't fraternize with people that were different than him in any way. Given our location, my mom stood no chance. She finally got custody when I was old enough to where my opinion mattered.
I switched from a fancy, extremely competitive, snobby private school to the local public school by choice. I dyed my hair green and put a pride sticker on my car. Based on where I was coming from alone (I was a C student at Fancy School, so it was not my grades), I was placed in all the honors and AP classes the school offered.
Teachers didn't know what to think of me. I had green hair (this was considered absolutely shocking at the time and my friends and I were bullied for many things including this). My bumper sticker was definitely the most controversial topic in the entire school.
But I was quiet, I came from Fancy School, I paid attention in class, I was earning straight As. Thankfully, although most of my peers shunned me, my teachers realized pretty quickly that I was a decent enough kid.
I had a problem where I got migraines. Finally got a prescription for them, non-narcotic, and took it straight to the nurse's office because the district had a zero tolerance policy and being in possession of even Tylenol would get you expelled for drug possession.
Nurse: "You're going to have to get the doctor's signature on this form."
Me: "Why? It's a legitimate prescription with my name on it in the original bottle."
Nurse, condescendingly: "We're required to have a doctor's signature before we can dispense medications."
Me, giving zero F: "How do you think I got the prescription in the first place?"
Nurse decided to impress upon me the fact that I was powerless here, and that there was absolutely nothing I could do except comply.
I left the office stressed because I didn’t have access to my migraine medicine, and of course ended up stressing myself out into developing a migraine. Call me a Karen, but I felt entitled to go to the nurse's office and be dispensed my medication and so I politely requested it be given to me.
The nurse obviously told me no, so I asked for the principal. Got the Assistant Principal (AP), who simply reiterated district policy.
Then it occurred to me that it was within my power to get my medicine. Because I had a secret weapon. So I had to be sneaky.
Me: "I'd like to call one of my parents."
This phone call wasn't intended for my dad, a financial consultant. It wasn't to my mom, who worked in sales and advertising. Of course I wasn’t calling stepmonster. But my stepdad, on the other hand, just happened to be our region's most famous radio talk show host at the time. And he was on the air for another 2 hours...
The AP brought me the phone book (those existed back then), and I looked up the radio station's number in the yellow pages without the AP figuring out which business I was calling.
I called the radio station and got the front desk. Of course lots of people call them, ask for him, and get absolutely nowhere. But I knew they would interrupt his show and he'd take the call if I told them I was his daughter Royal. In all my life, I had never had a situation that warranted me calling him at work.
I was hoping he'd take the call while on air but he didn’t want to air what was likely private business, so he put commercials on while I explained the situation. Then I suppressed a shizz-eating grin while handing the phone to the AP to talk to my stepdad, "Bill." I managed a poker face.
The AP didn't realize he was talking to Bill Jones when he dismissed my concerns, and even suggested I should be denied my medication simply due to my pants, which I'd been wearing half the year without problem, but apparently were a uniform violation that day.
AP basically explained that's just how it is and tough luck and did not realize the shit he'd just stepped into. He hung up, dismissed me, and walked off looking pretty self-satisfied at winning his little power trip. I went to class feeling victorious. I hadn't won yet, but I'd played my cards and knew how it would turn out.
My stepdad got back on air and immediately changed the topic of discussion to the ridiculousness of the district's medication policy. The phone lines lit up. Turns out LOTS of people wanted to air their complaints. I was sitting in class, migraine kicking in. But I was feeling satisfied that their lack of respect for me (and all other more powerless students) was hitting the fan.
I timed it. 45 minutes after I was arrogantly denied my legally prescribed medication that I needed, the AP came into the classroom I was in, knelt down beside my desk, and whispered, "Hey. You want to come take your medication?"
Fallout: even more fun, because the school wanted desperately to expel me. But while I 100% can be a troublemaker when I want to be (evidence: this post), I never did anything for which I could have defensibly been disciplined. They had nothing on me. I knew it.
They knew I knew it. And they knew they couldn't get away with making shizz up because Bill Jones. All my friends were seniors, and the school admins didn't realize until the last day of school that I was a junior. I could see the panic in AP's eyes.
AP: "You can take one summer course in English and you'll be able to graduate early."
Me: "Absolutely not. I haven't submitted any college applications and most of the competitive schools I'll be applying to require more than the basic minimum to graduate. I'll be here for another year."
AP: "Would you like to take your high school classes at the community college instead? You'll get high school and college credit."
This was a barely heard of program at the time but they wanted to get rid of me so badly, I got to rack up a year's worth of college general education credits during my senior year. They tried to do me wrong, so I fought back and since they couldn't punish me, they rewarded me just to get me to go away.
Here were the top rated comments from readers:
Suspended_Accountant
Migraines are definitely NOT fun when you can't take your medication in time to avoid it getting worse.
triciann
I was getting one in middle school and had the office call my mom to get her to approve letting me go home (walking distance). I was on the verge of tears because my migraines felt like sledge hammers hitting me and would cause me to vomit.
The lady thought I was emotionally upset because of the tears, but my mom set her straight. People who have never had one really have no idea how much you don’t fuck with someone who needs their meds for it.
marsredkat
Sounds justified to me! As a doctor, the label with instructions are my instructions! That's why I write it so my patients take their meds correctly.
FactorOk4741
Those systemic assgoblins are gonna suffer more than a migraine after OPs wrath.
Gold-Marigold649
Nice petty revenge - with a chaser of reward! Awesome.