Hello and welcome to the Anthropocene Reviewed, a podcast where we review different facets

of the Human-Centered Planet on a five-star scale.

I'm John Green, and today I'll be reviewing historical outbreaks of bubonic and pneumonic

plague, because, you know, I want to keep it light and fun around here.

The other day in the midst of a global disease pandemic, I called my pharmacy to refill my

Mertazepine prescription.

Mertazepine is a tetracyclic antidepressant medication that is also used to treat obsessive

compulsive disorder, and in my case, it is pretty mission-critical.

So anyway, I called my pharmacy only to learn that my pharmacy had closed, so then I called

a different pharmacy, and a very sympathetic woman answered.

When I explained the situation, she told me that everything would be fine, but they did

need to call my doctor's office before refilling the prescription.

She asked when I needed to pick up the medication, and I answered, well, I guess in a perfect

world I'd pick it up this afternoon.

And then there was a pause on the other end of the line, before finally stifling a laugh,

the woman said, well, hun, this ain't a perfect world.

And then she put me on hold while talking to the pharmacist, except she didn't really

put me on hold, she just put the phone down, and I heard her say to her colleague, he

said, get this, he said, in a perfect world he'd pick it up today.

Anyway, in the end I was able to pick up the prescription the following afternoon, and

when I did so, the woman behind the counter pointed at me and said, it's the perfect world

guy.

...