The Pharmacy Chick

Comment by KCcpht

June 8, 2008 @ 7:17 am

True story:
Easter Sunday- 3 minutes before closing. Everything BUT our main gate closed/shut down. Man comes up with 6 Rx’s to be filled. We ( PIC and I) stated that we were not filling any more, but there was a 24 hour store less than 3 miles away. He *would not hear of this*,and insisted that we fill his scripts NOW!!!

I looked at the scripts and sure enough- they had been written in FEB! He’d been sitting on those things for 2 months, and now I had to mess up my already messed up Easter just for him??? NOT IN THIS LIFE! ( and my PIC agreed!)

She told him;
A- It was Easter
B- our hours for the day were clearly posted WAY in advance
C- We had been open 8 hours that day- when he could have come down and gotten them filled with no problems
D- She was not sticking around on a holiday just because he didn’t have the presence of mind to get his scripts filled in advance.

He could go to the 24 hour store, or he could wait until tomorrow.

I love my PIC!

Comment by Carol

June 8, 2008 @ 8:34 am

You are not alone in this feeling. If we asked that person to stay late (unpaid) at their job, would they be happy? You bet your sweet ride home they would be pissy. But since it has to do with their health, they think we should bend over backwards. The problem is that this happens way more regularly than it should. People do not take responsibility for themselves and then expect us to helpp them out of the hole they dug themselves into.

I have never asked ANY establishment to stay late. Ihave asked if they are still open, when it wasn’t obvious, but if they said no, I went home!

Comment by Elizabeth Rouxelle

June 8, 2008 @ 10:47 am

I worked at an independent retail pharmacy that had one Jewish pharmacist, he is one of the best pharmies I ever worked with (the Jewish comment is necessary for the story). One weekend after we had closed for the day, a Good Customer comes along and wants in so she can get her prescriptions (that have been on the shelf for days). We had our coats on and were walking out the door, the alarm was set and the door was locked. She couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t let her in; she’s a Good Customer, it won’t take long, and besides (this is the best part), a Jew wouldn’t do this to a Jew. HUH? We just wanted to go home for the day, she could come back another time. Sheesh!

Comment by PharmacyJim

June 8, 2008 @ 4:02 pm

How about the call 5 minutes before closing where they say “Can you wait for me?” You know their Rx has been on the shelf at least all day, but they promise you they are only 5 minutes away. Fifteen minutes later, they show up. One night, many years ago, I promised to wait for a Dr. who was calling in this patient’s Rx. She had to have it tonight (small town and we stayed open the latest at 8PM). After 25 minutes, I set the alarm and started out the door when a car full of people pulled up. Sure enough, it was the patient and about 6 of her family. My question immediately was where have you been? Ready for this? The momma said they had to go thru the drive thru fast food window cuz they were all hungry. Chick, that was a tough nite to remember I was a Christian. I prefer to call the emotion I exhibited as righteous indignation, lol.

Comment by pharmacychick

June 8, 2008 @ 8:08 pm

Jim
I had an uncannily similar experience when I was a first year pharmacist out of state. I agreed to wait for this woman to get her rx. She said she was 5 minutes away. I waited 20 and nobody showed up. I finally left and met her in the parking lot. I asked her the same question: ” Where were you?” She said she stopped at McDonalds. “Too bad, see you tomorrow”. Pharmacy Chick went home.

Comment by The Ole' Apothecary

June 8, 2008 @ 11:52 pm

Many a joke is said in jest. If I came into the store on my day off, people would say, “Watch out, or we’ll put you to work!” This is actually the viewpoint of everyone except the subject pharmacist. The “rule’ is, if you are present, you must perform. The only solution is to hide! Once you pull down the gate, put a mask that looks like a section of shelf.

Comment by Shalom (R.Ph.)

June 15, 2008 @ 6:12 pm

The worst is when you work in a store where the pharmacy closes earlier than the rest of the store. I was S.P. in a pharmacy, part of a regional chain, in which the RX department closed at 8:00 but the store stayed open until 9:00. This was always a problem because I never once got out at 8:00; we had to finish the people in line first, etc., but my pay stopped at 8:00 sharp. G_d forbid you should be one minute late, you’re “stealing from the company”, but when you stay late on your own nickel, the company isn’t stealing from you, oh no.

Now in this store, the pharmacy department was a separate room behind the cashier’s counter, with a window through through which we send the scripts, and a few steps up to the door. (If I need to counsel, I have to leave the department and go down these stairs to talk to them.) The will-call rack stays down in the cashier’s area during the day, and at 8 PM it gets manhandled up the five steps into my department and locked in. So one night, I was still in there at 8:40, doing some of the myriad things that you don’t have time to do when you’ve got a long line at the counter. The window was closed, the door was locked, the rack was upstairs, and someone comes in the store and wants to pick up his prescription. The cashier knocked on the door and asked for this guy’s medicine. I told her the pharmacy closed at 8, and he should come back tomorrow. Now I should probably have come up with some BS excuse about how the computers shut down at 8 sharp or something, but I didn’t feel like lying, I just said I wasn’t dispensing it — I shouldn’t have been there in the first place, and if I’d left when I was supposed to, nobody would even have answered the door.

Of course customer goes to the manager of the store (who is not in my chain of command, incidentally). The manager came and knocked on my door; I told him pharmacy’s closed. He kept knocking. Finally I asked him what he wanted; he asked why I wasn’t dispensing this guy’s prescription. I told him the pharmacy closed more than 40 minutes ago, I was off the clock, and not officially here — in fact by that time I should have already been down at the Port Authority waiting for my bus. If you want me to do something that requires the official presence of a pharmacist, such as opening the department, then pay me for the hour. “Well I can’t do that.” “Then I can’t dispense his medication.” Of course Mr Tardy Customer got torqued off at this, and demanded to speak to the pharmacy manager. Well, says the store mgr, he *is* the pharmacy manager, so there really isn’t anything I can do about it. Boy that felt good.

I’d like to say that I stood fast, but unfortunately, if I remember right, I eventually caved. Probably I shouldn’t have, because if I’d made it stick and it escalated to a complaint to corporate (as it was sure to) I’d have had them over a barrel: either they have to pay me for time actually worked, or else they have to ensure that I’m out of there by 8, no matter how many customers are lined up out there. One way or the other I come out ahead; they’d look really stupid trying to insist that I work for free.

I did quit that job shortly thereafter, though.

Comment by Drug Lord

July 19, 2008 @ 8:30 pm

Drug Lord is THE hospital pharmacist in a sleepy little hamlet town. He fills employee scripts but demands they be requested the day before they are to be picked up. There is no shift before him, and no shift after, so when he finally breaks away three hours after his 8 hours are in, he runs like a prisoner set free. Once, he ran straight to fareway to pick up a nice ribeye and a pack of guiness. While standing in line to pay, there was a tap on his shoulder. When he turned, he found a fellow hospital employee handing him a list of meds to refill. “You open at 7 tomorrow morning? I’ll pick these up about five after. See, I let you know the day before.”, she said, before gimping towards the produce section. A little part of Drug Lord died that day, right there in line at fareway. Even the guiness did not comfort him. Jesus gave Drug Lord permission to smite the next person who pulls that trick.