Minor annoyances: AQ Annoyance Quotient
One of the things that makes or breaks a day for Pharmacy Chick is the general smoothness of the day, in other words, how many petty annoyances I have had to deal with. You all know what I mean, its all those little straws that add up and finally break this camel’s back. What bugs me may not bug another pharmacist, and vis-a-versa. Here are a few “straws” that start adding up after a while. Best stay away from PC when they do.
1. Visitors: when some guy from the corporate office comes by and pretends to be interested in talking to me when actually all he is doing is keeping me from getting my own work done. Giving me a firm handshake as he leaves, I have no doubt he had forgotten my name before he hit the door. Meanwhile I am 15 minutes behind from this 5 minute encounter….Any Rep who wants my time to extol the virtues of his new $400 a bottle me too antidepressant/PPI/antihistamine enantiomer.
2. The pointless cash register questions: why is it that some people cannot take one prescription from the counter without having to have it taken back to the computer for SOMETHING? “How much would this cost without my insurance?” Why? are you losing your insurance? “Just curious.” Well, I am sure the 6 people behind you are more curious as to why you are holding up the line than you are about the price of this rx. OR “I only paid $25 for this last month…why is it $35?” (trudge to computer and find that she has paid $35 every month since Jan and tell customer..to which she replies) “Are you sure?” NO, I AM A COMPULSIVE LIAR!”
3. Out of everything: Some days we get RX’s for every weird item under the sun, none of which I have and have to special order. Must be the moon.
4. The price checker who wants to know BEFORE she fills her 4 prescriptions what her copays are…right now…while she stands there….Come back in 15 minutes. If you dont want them fine, but go away for now.
5. The refill auths that have to go back because something is different and no notes are added. We ask for Fiorinal, they fax back Fioricet. We ask for Levoxyl 112, they fax back 125. We ask for TAC 0.1% cream, they fax back ointment. We ask for 90 +3 and they fax back 30+11 refills. Geez, dont they even READ the refill requests?
6. I have a transfer max. Give me more than 2 copies a day and you are pushing the Annoyance Quotient dangerously high. Same for price match requests. (an aside: Pharmacy Chick is of the firm belief that when you put the control of price in the hands of the customer, you have lost control of your business) …probably a entire other blog post on that one statement.
7. No time for food. Pharmacy chick needs to eat something between 2 and 3 pm. Thats when her body speaks to her and says “feed me or I will become surly”. I get testy when people annoy me and keep me from eating my food…especially for piddly, pointless, petty questions like “My dr told me to take Advil–should I take tablets or caplets?”
8. The normally brilliant Tech who left her brain at home. “How do I ring up this WIC?” Its on the wall, follow the procedure..” Where on the wall?”. Look up! ” I dont see it” (walk over and almost hit her nose taking it off the wall) “Oh, thanks” Then she still F’s it up despite the fact its written so clear a 6 year old could follow the directions. AND “Do you want me to ring up this insurance check?” We do it every day. why would this day any different?.. “Do we carry Harry’s Hair Potion?” I am apparently the all knowing psychic because I am assumed to know if we carry everything without having to check.
9. Any more than 2 calls per day from any customer wanting to know if a prescription is ready when they have called it in only 2 hours ago…on a friday afternoon…
10. Any more than 2 conversations that begins with ” I know you are busy, but….”
11. my Annoyance Quotient gets into the red zone when too many people come back to pick up their prescriptions BEFORE they are done. I tell them 20 minutes, they come back in 10 and hover over the counter. I dont lie folks, 20 minutes means 20 minutes. I get testier when I hear a tech say “yea, its ready, all the pharmacist has to do is check it”, like its no big thing. Sometime I have to remind my techs that THE PRESCRIPTION ISN’T READY UNTIL ITS CHECKED, SO DON’T TELL THE CUSTOMER IT IS. THATS THE FINAL CHECK, AND ITS NOT TO BE RUSHED OR TAKEN LIGHTLY. I have caught a fair number of mistakes on this final check.
12. anybody who orders a refill at the checkstand…and wants to wait…right there..and the clerk lets them… They come in bunches, they do.
Some days I skate thru a day with few of these annoyances, other days they make me ready for the loony bin. I find that its rarely the big things that make me crazy but the little ones that bring me to the brink. I dont mind the challenge of a big project, but when you tap on my shoulder every 15 seconds, the breaking point comes into view.
….I’m just sayin’
More to come. I have decisions to make.
Tags: behavior, customers, employees, pharmacy life | |