The Pharmacy Chick

I know I have written about this before, but it happened again today. Pharmacy Chick Pharmacy was closed. The lights were out and the gates were down. Somebody walked up and wanted to pick up their prescription after hours. I cannot explain it, but Pharmacy Chick becomes (internally) Pharmacy Biachi when this happens. It is not one of my endearing qualities and a characteristic I am not particularly proud of. I may have Jesus Christ living in my heart, but I must have Him hog-tied and blind-folded when people bother me after hours. I don’t go postal, but I am sure there is no mistaking that I am not thrilled. I guess every human has a button that shouldn’t get pushed. That’s mine.

One of the rx’s had been on the shelf for 4 days. Strike ONE. They tried to hand me a loyalty card–nope, sorry, everything is closed. Strike TWO. The loyalty card was expired anyway. Ball ONE. She was leaving on a plane for Africa tomorrow: Home run, so take your Rx go in peace.

The other guy’s had been on the shelf for two days. I told him this would cost him–he asked if his insurance would pay the fine. I told him no, but I could be bribed with chocolates, plane tickets to cancun, etc.

The third one wanted to rent crutches : “we ‘just’called (45 minutes ago) about renting crutches”. Perhaps we need to define “just”.

I cannot explain it, but when I close, I skate like a prisoner set free. I don’t even like to shop after work. I like to get into my car and go home. I give my company 100% when I work, and since they dont afford me the “luxury” of a lunch or break, I guess I don’t feel they are entitled to unpaid labor. I am surprised that I can be inconvenienced all day and not bat an eyelash, maybe I am too fiercely protective of my private time, or I am a damned good actress while I work. I think Hollywood should award an Oscar for “Best impersonation of a happy person while at work”. Every pharmacist in America should win one.

Its a tough call for me, I’d like not to have that feeling, but its been pretty consistent for 20+ years. Don’t approach a growling dog and Dont rattle the cage of Pharmacy Chick after closing. You might lose your fingers.

Time to untie Jesus.

Tags: customers, pharmacy life, ranting | |

I’ve wanted to write a post on this subject (non pharmacy related) but didn’t know how to begin until when I came across a news tidbit that a Thai restaurant in Silverton, Oregon was banning children under the age of 6. He felt it was his place and his rules and kids didn’t fit in with the experience he wanted his patrons to experience and has no plans to change it. I say hurrah for having the guts to do what you want to do.

You see, The Chick’s like to go out to eat now and then. Its a privilege that two incomes can afford, and some things just taste better when somebody else makes them. We probably eat out more often than we should, but I believe its a knee jerk reaction to our childhoods where we almost never ate out.

I can honestly say that my brain has virtually no memories of dining out with mom and dad. First of all, there wasn’t much money in the household for such extravagances and second of all, when Dad DID decide he wanted to eat out, it usually involved He and Mom getting dressed up and the neighbor girl coming over to babysit while THEY went out. Thats just the way it was.

Quite obviously there has been a cultural shift, and I pity the poor restaurants….and the rest of the diners. One night I went to dinner and was escorted to a table. Before the menus hit the table, I took a look at the view and said (quite discretly and politely) “may I sit someplace else?”. Sitting closeby were PWSC Parents With Small Children. It was clear they had just arrived because they were in an animated discussion with said children about what they were going to order. It seemed to be a futile exercise. “Do you want the mac/cheese or the hamburger?” “HOT DOG!” “Honey, they dont have Hot Dogs here, How about the Chicken strips?” …..see what I mean? F.U.T.I.L.E.

I sat down a comfortable distance away from them, but I could still hear them. Two of the kids were arguing about who got the better chair and being admonished with empty threats from the parents. The one in the high chair had been given some keys to play with because we could hear the clang of keys on the metal tray over and over. It made me wonder: How desperate were the parents to eat out that they would endure this to not cook? It couldn’t be fun, it certainly wasn’t relaxing. They were playing referee to 3 kids under the age of 6. They might have well been nailing jello to a tree for as much success they were having at controlling the situation. Had they never heard of a babysitter? For what they were paying for the kids meals, they could have ponied up babysitting fees AND a pizza for the sitter and had a nice “date night” for themselves.

I tuned them out ate the meal and got ready to leave. PWSC had left shortly before us. The carnage they left behind was embarrassing. It looked as though the kitchen had exploded all over the table. I wondered, did the kids actually consume any food? Most of it was scattered on the table, the chairs and on the floor. Someone’s milk was tipped over and was dripping off the end of the table. The high chair had food smeared on it from top to bottom. It was every server’s nightmare.

The irony of the situation is that its not uncommon anymore to have this happen. Almost every time we go someplace to eat, we see “family” dining. I’ll bet every reader I have has has a similar story to share. Because eating out is expensive and a luxury experience, I am not afraid of telling the servers that I will not sit near PWSC. I am subjected to uncontrolled kids at work all day, I certainly am not going to SPEND money to sit near their crying, whining and mess on my own time. I am not a parent, but some parents seem to be caught surprised: even I know kids can’t, don’t, or won’t sit still or stay quiet for extended periods of time, both of which are required when dining out (I am not talking fast food here..I am talking about ordering from menus, waitresses, bread, salad, the whole thing). Now I am not saying that you cannot take your kids out to dinner, it is a free country after all, but sheesh, your paying for dinner doesn’t give you carte blanch to leave a mess that a HAZMAT team must clean up.

Because this IS a pharmacy blog, I can relate this to PWSC who cause carnage and disaster in my store. I understand that its hard being a parent of a tot, but I didn’t give birth to your walking wrecking ball, YOU did. Its not my job to keep little Stevie off of my blood pressure machine and off my displays, and if he breaks this $450 porcelain figurine display because he is running away from you, you are getting the bill for it.

I never hesitate to tell a parent of a well behaved child, what a great kid they have. There is a lot of effort that went into that child and it shows. Too bad I don’t get the same option of telling the parent of Satanette, what a brat they have. One kid grabbed the electronic signing pen from my counter and ripped it from the housing. Another got into a fight with his mother when she wouldn’t buy him Grape Benadryl so he knocked over several bottles of cough and cold products to the floor. Mom didn’t bat an eye, nor did she offer to pick them up. She grabbed the one she wanted and walked away, brat in tow.

Don’t tell me its the “cost of doing business”. Thats a cheap cop out excuse for not owning up to parental responsibility.

Back at the restaurant, a teen with a bucket of water and a vacuum was quietly going about cleaning up.

Tags: customers, personal life, pharmacy life, rambling | |

Mary is one of my longtime customers. She is nice enough, in an obnoxious sort of way. She buys a few things here and there ( I think she uses mail order for most), but because of a particularily annoying habit, Pharmacy Chick doesn’t like it when she asks for help. You see, Mary disses every piece of advice she asks for. She not only did it again yesterday, but I told her she was going to do it in advance. And, of course, Pharmacy Chick was right..

Mary has a cold…or allergies…its hard to tell because Mary has already dissed the advice of her doctor who suggested she had allergies…but Mary said she NEVER has allergies. Either way, she was complaining of nasal congestion, a runny nose, headache and a cough. She came to me yesterday for advice.

Now every pharmacist knows that in their cough/cold section, they have probably 30 linear feet of merchandise that has maybe 10 drug ingredients in it. They are just mixed up and market-shared to death.

I said to Mary in a playful tone: “I seem to remember we had this conversation in November and everything I suggested, you said didn’t work, are we going to try it again?” She laughed, but I was telling the truth.

“Don’t make me drowsy” she said. Ok, I suggested DayQuil for the day, and Claritin for the “possible” allergies. Claritin is not my personal favorite because I find it rather weak, but she didn’t want to be drowsy so that excluded Benadryl and even Zyrtec. “I’ve tried Claritin, it doesn’t work, and I have the Dayquil Capsules at home, they dont work either”, she replied.

I couldn’t resist. ” See, Mary? Everything I suggest, you say doesn’t work…what do you want me to do?” “I’d rather you try Zyrtec, I think its stronger, but it may make you drowsy, and there isn’t anything in all these other products (she was holding a box of Tylenol Allergy/sinus whatever)that are any better than whats in DayQuil, so if they don’t work, nothing will and you are just gonna have to suffer”. People are just to accustomed to thinking that life should be like the TV ads, and their symptoms will vanish once they take a pill. It doesn’t work that way. “OK, OK” She said, tossing the Zyrtec in the cart. She still had Dayquil at home. “I’ll try it”

“Give it more than 1 day ok?” I asked her.

2 hours later her Doctor called in Hycodan Cough syrup

Whoo Hoo! Dissed again.

Tags: behavior, customers, pharmacy life | |

Pharmacy Chick hates working the day after a holiday. Let me repeat that: Pharmacy Chick HATES working the day after a holiday. She also isn’t so fond of working the day before a holiday either. Today’s excerpts:

1. Three people that decided that today was the day wanted to get an immunization. No, we couldn’t do it any other time, we had to choose today. What else do these retirees have to do on a tuesday? Bunco? Soap Opera? Checkers?

2. Some guy (who is still wearing the ER bracelet from 2 days ago) who hands me a script from Michigan….written in sanskrit (or looks like it) with no Dea number…with one of those generic scripts with someting like 6 clinics to choose from and he didnt’ bother to check which one he worked out of….for Vicodin and Ibu. Couldn’t have filled it in Michigan eh buddy?

3. Some girl who lost her Accutane Rx (good luck with that one). A few hours later its called in, from a different state. Thankfully Dr had the I Pledge number…but… No surprise that I Pledge Program said NO WAY. She had no insurance card (another long distance phone call for me). Finally SHE did her online stuff, then I did mine, and off she went.

4. Some gal with a script for a nebulizer…I dont dispense nebs…”whups, I needed Albuterol, can you call my dr?” (I make her do it). After much hand wringing, its determined that she already HAS albuterol and its PULMICORT that she wants..even tho she told the tech 3 times that she HAD pulmicort at home. She didn’t have her insurance card either. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall when she called the Dr office back to get her insurance number also…

5. Some guy says he is sick and wants me to call his family to pick him up. I ask him if he wants an ambulance. He says no and I call his wife/girlfriend/whatever. They spend 45 minutes sitting in my tiny wait room. More than once I go out to see if they want medical assistance, water, a bucket?(PC does NOT want puke anywhere around the pharmacy. They always decline. Then they both vanish.

6. No trips to the potty and no lunch all day…all 12 hours of it. You know, if you go hungry long enough, you quit feeling the hunger. Pharmacy Chick starts getting grouchy when she doesn’t get to eat so there were a few techs treading lightly this afternoon.

7. Piss off to every one of you who handed me a transfer to price match for $4 and then had the nerve to hand me a gift card coupon. May your butt break out in boils all over.

8. The woman who drops off 6 rx’s for herself and her kids, PC and staff scramble to get them ready and she then says “I only wanted one today, I’ll get the rest tomorrow” (Boils for her too)

9. Pharmacy Chick hates seeing a tech return to the computer with a filled script when its being rung up. How can I tactfully say “so, what the hell is wrong with THIS one?” when this lady’s insurance charged her $59 and some change for her Yaz. She wanted to try her other insurance. That one broke the $60 mark so back to insurance 1. She held up the line, she tried my patience and wasted my time. Boils on her backside too.

10. And lots of Boils to the guy who hands me several rxs to do, and after I fill them all, bring them to the cash register, counsel and walk off only to have him say “these are workers comp”.

11. Some lady who comes in asking for 2 prescriptions. Tech asks for the name and she gives her own. We look her up and she hasn’t had a script for 2 years at our store. She makes some comment about the MD calling the wrong store “again” and leaves. About a half hour later, this lady’s husband calls and complains that we told his wife that we didn’t have a prescription for HIM. She didn’t ask for one for HIM, she gave HER name and told us it was TWO. We had ONE….for HIM. She pissed and moaned about coming back. Its all our fault.

But lastly, the only thing keeping me from drinking tonight instead of blogging: the wonderful thanks I got from a patient for whom I prevented a drug interaction when her Dr prescribed Levaquin and Zithromax last week,and the cute older couple who think I walk on water and thanked me (again) for always taking care of them….Y’all keep coming back ok?

I still dont like working the day after holidays, but I survived another one.

Tags: customers, pharmacy life, rambling, ranting | |

I stumbled upon the scene quite by accident, delivering some papers to the back room. I hadn’t been a pharmacist very long, maybe 2 years or so. She was sitting on the concrete floor with her hands handcuffed behind her back, and was wearing a pink shirt (why do I remember the shirt?). A police officer was standing over her writing something in his pad. Her face conveyed an expression of shameful embarrassment. She couldn’t have been older than 15. It was an awkward moment and I hustled thru quickly. She dropped her gaze when she saw me. She had been caught shoplifting. My employer prosecuted shoplifters and this one was no exception. He was the owner and shoplifting was stealing from his own back pocket in his opinion. Later on, I asked what she was caught stealing…..Makeup. I guess I could have guessed that. What else would a teenager want in a drugstore? Aspirin? At the time I also felt pity for her but now that I think about it, pity is the last thing I should feel.

20 years have passed. So, if she was 15, she is now 35. I wonder if this event altered her future? Did she feel shamed enough to never steal again? Or did she harden her heart and determine to never get caught again? She didn’t look poor. The place that I worked at the time was in a pretty swanky neighborhood–and she was a resident of this neighborhood. I wonder how that first evening back home went when she had face her parents after they learned of her arrest.

Now I work for a corporation. They hire security people that occasionally patrol the store looking for shoplifters. I have no official stats to share with you, only that which the patrollers (who patrol for several companies) have told me. What they told me surprised me:

Most of the shoplifters have money to spend, they just chose to steal. Most of the time they weren’t stealing necessities. They were caught stealing makeup, expensive cuts of meat, wine, beer, and high ticket otc items. They were usually suspected chronic shoplifters that they just happened to catch one day. I can attest that pregnancy tests rate high for theft, because I find empty boxes quite often on the shelf.

Everyday around 3:30, school lets out and a flood of students pour into the store. I don’t know what they are looking for in a drug store, but they hang out, poke fun at items we carry, play with the blood pressure machine, spill their Starbucks on the floor, and occasionally ask me if I have samples of Vicodin they can have. “ha ha, so funny….not” Their presence usually alerts the staff to keep watch. I don’t suppose that students are any more likely to steal than any other population group, but we catch more students stealing than any other group. Maybe we are more attentive when they are there, I dunno.

I do know this, we all pay for it. Everything we buy has some “shrink” included in the price. “Shrink” is that missing product that comes up when we calculate what we buy minus what we sell. The shoplifters have gone high tech too. Some bring box cutters to cut open items that have security features imbedded in the package. Some actually use their kids as a ruse or diversion. Others have been caught being “green” bringing in their own bag, but conveniently forgetting to pay for the items they have self-bagged.

Even our own employees haven’t been immune to the temptation. We tossed one employee who was caught stealing a tea bag. Sounds trivial until you realize they had been watching him for a year. The tea bag was what did him in. Another had been very creative in “refunding”. He was caught when he “refunded” an item that our reports showed we hadn’t sold in a long time. One employee even stole another employee’s cell phone. Geez, how low is that?

I am repulsed now when I hear about these people. Its because of them that I have a camera on my pharmacy 24-7. Its because of them that we have scanners at the door. Its because of them that I can’t hang my coat in the pharmacy anymore. It takes an act of congress to open the cash pan without a sale anymore. “Can you make change for this Ten?” “No, not unless you buy something”.

Its just too bad isn’t it? I often wonder what happened to the pink shirted shoplifter. She was part of the problem. I hope that if she is now raising children of her own, that she is raising them to be part of the solution.

Tags: customers, ethics, pharmacy life | |

She wasn’t the most stable of individuals. Her profile was a plethora of antipsychotics and anxiolytics. She was also the poster child for the non-compliant patient. She wasn’t taking her meds regularly and given that fact, she might have saved her $2 copay and not taken them at all for what good they were doing her.

She came in for a refill on a Friday afternoon. She complained she was out (it had been around 45 days on a 30 day supply of meds)but she didn’t have the $2 until Saturday, so being the kind and benevolent pharmacist that I am, I gave her 3 chlorpromazine to “tide her over”. Even if she never showed up again, we’d be out about 15 cents of meds, 1 vial and a label. So what.

I filled the rest of the meds and put them on the shelf, minus the 3 tabs, marked as such. I finished the day and went home.

Unfortunately (as it turned out) the next shift was to be covered by a relief pharmacist from an outside agency. I got a call late Saturday afternoon from the pharmacist. No conversation starts out well with “I thought you should know about this”….

This gal had decided to go to a different store (in our same chain) to pick up the chlorpromazine. It was about 5 miles away. In her unstable mind it didn’t matter where she went. The pharmacist went to the shelf, discovered we had advanced her 3 tabs and refused to transfer the prescription to the other store. This enraged the patient. (remember: profile filled with antipsychotics and anxiolytics?) She drove to our store, made a complete scene at the counter, pretty much ruined the day for the pharmacist and the tech, and just just to complete the tirade, grabbed a display of wine sitting on an endcap and pulled it to the ground, shattering about 2 cases of wine in the process.

I was speechless. All I could think of was “Linda (fake name), it was 15 cents worth of drug. Do you honestly think it mattered that much?” She muttered something about the principle and her not being in a position to make that kind of decision. The tech thought I would be proud of them for not transferring the prescription.

For 15 cents of med, an enraged woman brought $200 worth of wine crashing to the floor.

The next monday, I had a LONG discussion with the tech about looking at the big picture.

Tags: behavior, customers, employees, pharmacy life, words of wisdom | |

Pharmacy Chick recently had some work done on her home. They figured it might take around 4 days but I looks like it will take a little while longer, maybe 5-6. I didn’t complain. This is my home, my abode, my domicile, my sanctuary. My home is important to me, I want the work done correctly, and its not costing me any more money if this project takes 4 days or 6. If I rush them, they may make a mistake or cut corners. It was hot outside so I left some sodas in a cooler for the workmen as I bid adeiu for the day. Every day I would come home to see what they had done. I compare it to opening Christmas presents every day: “oh, look at this! Cool!”

How might things work in the pharmacy if people adopted the same attitude: I am having a prescription filled at my pharmacy. The clerk told me it may take 15 minutes, but I looks like it may take 20-25. I am not complaining. This is my body, and its important to me. I want my prescription filled correctly and its not costing me any more money if it takes 10 or 30 minutes to fill. If I rush them, they may make a mistake and give me the wrong medication…..

Too bad it doesn’t work that way. “HOW long??” “All you have to do is put pills in a bottle!” “I have to go to a meeting/basketball game/pick my kid up from soccer/get to the airport..” “Can you rush it?”

It happened the other day. A lady was pissed because the Dr had left a message (new script) on our machine about 1/2 hour before she arrived. I hadn’t pulled it yet because we were slammed. I told her we were busy and I would get to it as quickly as I can. She pulled attitude on me.” You’re busy? My husband’s in pain”. I rushed the rx and didn’t check it as good as I should have. I put the wrong doctor’s name on the rx (same last name, wrong first name). She made a point of telling me a few days later while I was out on the sales floor. With a bit of haughty in her voice ” I called your other pharmacist to make sure I got the right medicine too”

I just calmly replied as I walked back into the pharmacy “serves me right for rushing it for you. huh?”

Tags: customers, mistakes, pharmacy life, ranting | |

Pharmacy chick is rarely at a loss for words. After practicing for 20+ years, I have answers for just about anything. I am used to digging myself out of holes and looking like the winner. If I forgot to send the order some night and I had to call somebody to tell them that their item would be one day late, I could say there was a “transmission failure”. It was an honest truth…I failed to transmit, hence: tranmsission failure. Its all in the spin.

When I talk to customers, I generally try to speak in normal street talk. I dont want to talk over them, I want to speak to them like we were talking over drinks or something. One night I filled a rx for a med that was rather expensive. All the strengths cost the same so there was a lot of benefit in buying the larger strength and taking half-tab dose. When I filled the rx, I automatically subbed the higher strength and gave him half the tabs. When I rung him up, I explained that by doing this, he saved a lot of money, getting “more bang for the buck!” I said. I finished the transaction and sent him on his way.

I turned back into the pharmacy and my two techs were virtually ROLLING on the floor with laughter. “WHAT?” I said.

“I cannot BELIEVE you just said that!” one said. I had no clue. Then the sorry realization hit me.

The prescription was for Viagra.

Tags: customers, employees, pharmacy life | |

I am gonna go out on a limb here and state that most of us who take vacations probably need a vacation AFTER we have cleaned up the messes and disasters created by those covering for us while we were gone. This is not going to be a rant about relief pharmacists. No way Jose, I am not cutting my own throat by insulting my fellow professionals. Its a hard sucky job. I run my store wonderfully, but I fully realize that if I had to walk into Big Box Pharmacy down the street and run their business, that I’d probably have it royally screwed up in oh, 1 hour tops. The fact is, every store runs uniquely. It cannot be changed. We will never completely standardize every single store in the chain, no matter how many corporate directives to the contrary. I must say however that I wish that more of my relief pharmacists would prescribe to “go with the flow” and work within the existing framework of the store instead of forcing my techs (who already know how I like the place run) to conform to a new and unfamiliar routine, thereby screwing everything up. That being said:

With the 5 total employees in my department, we have a combined 50 years of experience within our company, half of them in the two pharmacists alone. This means that we have accrued a significant amount of vacation time, 8 paid weeks between the two of us. Neither of us are workaholics that claim victory by never using vacation. I use every single hour of it. I earned it and I deserve it.

More and more however I am thinking I need to prepare my customers for my iminent departure. They just don’t seem to get it. Perhaps I need to create bag stuffers and distribute them a couple of weeks before I leave:

Dearest Customer: One of us is about to go on vacation. Because of this, do not expect that everything will run exactly as usual. In fact, it might actually get chaotic around here. It will likely take longer than usual to process your prescription. Thats just how it is. We’d be grateful if you’d make yourself scarce for a change instead of breathing down the neck of the staff wondering why its taking so long. The pharmacist you dont recognize will be a guest one day and the next day it will be somebody different. They do not know the store. They do not know you. They will not know that you go by “Scooter” but the name on your label is Harold. They will not be familiar with the store so don’t get your tail in a knot when they cannot tell you the aisle that the english muffins are on. Find them yourself or ask a courtesy clerk. Thats what they are for. The Pharmacist might not even be all that familiar with our computer system so if you need a prior authorization or a weird split bill for your loyalty card, accept the fact it probably won’t get done til we come back. Since they dont have any roots in the store they don’t have any particular allegiance to your needs so don’t expect them to perform any special services. Honestly, they are here just to keep the place open and legal… They may be unfamiliar but they are not idiots, so don’t lie to them. Don’t even think about saying “but Pharmacy Chick always does such and such for me”. Even if its true, doesn’t mean that they have to cater to your whim. I may do such and such just to keep you from throwing a toddler tantrum at my counter. I would also appreciate not hearing a blow by blow analysis of your miserable experience here at the hands of the relief pharmacist. It does not make me feel any better. It will only validate my opinion of you being an impatient impish whiner. If the pharmacist actually wigs out and calls you the impatient impish whiner that you are, then I will make a convincing but half assed apology to you but tell the pharmacist “way to go, gutsy dude”. In short, do us all a favor and cut us an inch of slack for a change. Thank you.

Oh, I know it will never happen. I’ll go away and come back to a weeks worth of unopened mail, a stack of notes to call a half-dozen people, and 50 phone calls within the first 15 minutes of my first day back (since everybody who asked was told exactly what date and time I would be back). This came to my mind today when I was fed a sob story of the horrible injustice a customer had to endure because the relief pharmacist changed (correctly) the quantity of a drug to meet the insurance company limits. The customer felt so wronged and didn’t appreciate my telling him the pharmacist was correct.

It will never stop me from going on vacation, but I’d like to have a little less anxiety about coming back.

Tags: customers, employees, general junk, pharmacy life, rambling | |

There are not many things invented in this world that can bring such ranges of emotion, from adoration to rage, as the cell phone. Personally, I find it a minor convenience, and a major headache at my job. I have a cell phone, and like my Palm pilot, it is usually OFF and at the bottom of my purse someplace. I use it only slightly more than my Palm, and even then, only when we travel. I have a minimal plan with shared minutes with Mr Chick and we have never come close to using them all up. I don’t know how to text, read mail or contact the International Space Center from my phone. AND, if I hadn’t dumped it in the toilet one day, I’d probably still have my original phone from 6 years ago.

What I am saying here is this: I have it for my convenience, not everybody elses. I simply believe that I am not obligated to be reachable by phone 24-7. Apparently not everybody shares this view and herein lies the problem! I ask you–what is it about this 4 ounce piece of electronic hardware that makes otherwise decent individuals into a complete idiots when it comes to common courtesy?

I was taking information from a patient at the drop off window. She asked me a question about some health issue and I was in the middle of answering it when her phone rang. She raised her finger to me (!?! What the he**?) and proceeded to answer the phone. What ticked me off was not the mere answering the call, it was the fact that she TOOK the call to its completion that irritated me so. I am not the servant to be shooed away at the whim of the mistress. I walked away. I looked at my tech with the best “Can you believe this?” look I could muster up and she just shrugged her shoulders.

If it was an isolated incident I could let it go, but it seems more and more commonplace to have a patients with cell phones glued to their ear when they come to pick up a prescription. We even have a sign at the counter telling people to hang up before they approach. Do they hang up? Some do, but others regard it as a sign that applies to everybody but them.

One Type A guy in an expensive business suit was yakking it up when he approached the counter to pick up a new rx. It required counseling and I told him (very nicely) that I would talk to him when he was off his phone. He snapped his phone shut and I went over the directions for his prescription etc. As I was finishing it up he piped up and asked, “So, it is YOUR personal policy to have me hang up my phone? I pointed to the sign and said “No, actually its the COMPANY’S policy. For your safety I must have your complete attention when I tell you about this medication you are about to put into your body and its potential violation HIPAA to have your caller listening in on this conversation.” He grabbed his sack and flipped open his phone as he walked away.

And when ya think it can’t get any worse, somebody invents the Bluetooth head set, so you can appear to the world that you are talking to yourself! This may be a marvelous invention for the person who must talk on his phone while driving, walking, shopping, and peeing, but I am oh-so-close to ripping one right off of somebody’s head the next time he/she is taking a call while at my counter. At least with a cell phone, a person looks like they are on the phone. Now I have people who look like they stepped out of Star Trek. Is he or isn’t he on the phone? Beam me up Scotty, all the intelligent life on this planet is gone.

A friend of mine is a receptionist at a Dr’s office. He practices alone so he writes the rules at his office. I’d like to run his pharmacy should he ever have one. Their policy is written on the wall. Turn off the phone before you enter the office. If your phone rings while you are seeing the Dr, your appointment is immediately over and you (not your insurance)will be charged for a full office visit. Way to go, Doc!

Because I don’t sign my own paychecks, I can’t lay down the law like I’d prefer. Too many people have learned to play the R card….. Rude. All somebody has to do is say the R word and management comes unglued and starts throwing gift cards and apologies around like it was confetti. Truth doesn’t matter, and the customer knows it. All he has to do is say that I was rude and it becomes fact.

If Pharmacy Chick was queen of the world, I’d pitch the nicely written sign at my window and replace it with my own sign. ” Don’t even THINK of using a cell phone here- We will confiscate and put it in a bucket of water”

heh heh heh..

Tags: cell phones, customers, ranting | |