a different experience at this year's flu shot

Last year, around this time, I went to CVS and got my flu shot. There was one other person there. I remember because she was afraid of needles. I remember, too, that my shot hurt. 

This year, like everything else, is different.

Yesterday I went to CVS and was told the same thing I was told earlier at Duane Reade. "Sorry, we're out of the vaccine." But unlike DR, I was told at CVS to come back tomorrow, after two, as they are expecting a shipment. 

I should add that I was asking about the senior flu shot, the more potent one for those who fit the category. How did it happen that I got to be this age and not notice myself getting there?

Today around three I walk over to CVS. The store is packed.  There are lines everywhere. I get in the one I'm told is for the flu shot. It's long.

About ten minutes into my wait, the white-haired lady in front of me asks, "Is this where you pay?" 

I strike up a conversation with the very nice woman behind me (the one with the black mask) after I hear her tell the person behind her that she is too close. 

When I look, I see that not only is the woman too close, but she is wearing some ridiculous spur-of-the-moment-makeshift-mask that is mostly transparent. In other words, useless.

We decide not to say anything but we both keep our distance. I learned my lesson on the bus this summer, though this woman hardly looks like the type to start a brawl.

The line moves quickly and soon I've completed the check-in process and am waiting for my shot. I hear that nice woman behind me say to her son, "When you're about to get your shot, pinch yourself hard somewhere else. This will refocus your brain and it won't hurt as much."

I've never heard this before. 

I try it.  

I barely feel the injection. More like a quick prick and it's done.

I had no idea.

I'm passing this on because it was really helpful. I just hope it isn't one of those things that I'm the only one in the world who didn't know it.