You came storming into the pharmacy with your 3 children. They were already at the back of the store before you were half way down the aisle. Screaming and hands flailing, things were clearly out of control. For that one moment, the entire staff in the prescription department came to a grinding halt to see what the noise was all about.
While your children were banging on the blood pressure machine and tearing magazines you yelled at our pharmacist to get crayons for your unruly children! Are you serious?
I stood there in disbelief, wanting desperately to say something. Luckily for me a client I was serving looked at you and said, "Do you think this is a Day Care Center?".
Awesome! I could have kissed her for reading my mind.
You told us to hurry the prescription up, you didn't have time to wait. As with all prescriptions, we did our best and completed your order.
When I got up to the cash, you started to question me whether or not your husband needed these 3 prescriptions only after you saw they were $63.87. I told you I imagined he did seeing how a doctor examined him and wrote the prescription up.
He had a very bad sinus infection and you still doubted he needed the cortisteroids.
I casually mentioned from the sinus things can spread up to the brain if left untreated.
It was your next reply that still haunts me.
"Would you pay for medicine for your husband"?
I quickly replied I sure would at any price as well.
You then said to me, "No man is worth this".
Wow.
What about the $143. worth of cosmetics you just purchased?
Should I charge you for the damages your children made while you left them unattended?
What about the mental damage you've done to your children now? They heard everything you said about your husband.
Just another day.....
The sweetest man came up to the counter the other day. He was escorted by his 50'ish son and together they were looking for liners for him to tuck in his underwear at night.
I walked over to the section with them and showed them the ones specifically made for men and he cringed at the size of them and said they were much too big. After looking at several different brands he and his son decided they should probably go off to the competitor because he knew they had them.
He was telling me his age (98) and how he felt it was annoying at the thought of having to tuck one of these in his underwear but he said like every thing else, things start to falter. He had such beautiful eyes and a smile that could melt anyone's heart.
I didn't want to give up to easily and asked him if he could describe the packaging a bit to me and I could make an order for him and get them in the following day.
"Well", he said. "They have wings on them"! It suddenly dawned on me that perhaps he's using Always with wings! We walked over to the feminine hygiene department and sure enough, there they were! He was tickled pink. I mentioned that these were made for women but if they worked, why not?! He snickered and got a good kick out of that.
Just after he thanked me and started to leave, I noticed he left his cane hooked on the counter. I grabbed it and ran up to him to give it to him. He said to me while leering at his son. "I don't need this cane"! Then he said to me, "I use it to keep the old ladies off of me". I nearly died laughing!
I love elderly people so much and nothing gives me more satisfaction than serving them and listening to their great stories.
I hope I live to be 98 years young too.
Behind the counter can be a challenge! First of all we come into contact with all kinds of germs just waiting to leap over the counter.
I find it really rude when you come up to the counter and start coughing without covering your mouth.
Just last week a man came into the pharmacy with a horrendous cough. While I was writing his information down on his prescription he started to cough and horked a yellow piece of (I don't know what) right into my mouth... OMG!
After he left, I ran to the aisle and grabbed some Listerine which kills 99% germs at the advice of the pharmacist.
Gross! By this time I had already had it in my mouth for more than a minute.
Please use your manners and cover your freakin' mouth.
From the doctors office to the pharmacy I don't know what happens but it's really distasteful to bring in your prescription with stains of God knows what fluids. It really makes my stomach curdle and it's just down right nasty.
No one wants to touch your prescription yet we have to!
People with infections in private areas, please see a doctor. We had one lady come in with a tissue and asked us to see if this discharge on it was a sign of infection. Not only did that make me want to vomit, I couldn't eat for the rest of the day just thinking about it. What the hell? Are you insane?
It still makes me sick just thinking of it.
You've waited an hour at the doctors office. Big deal! At least you have a doctor. Don't come into the pharmacy and start yelling at us because you now have to wait 15 minutes for your prescription. And.. don't tell me you could do it quicker. You can't and don't know what you're talking about.
Take your anger elsewhere. Trust me, we're doing your prescription as quick as we can because we want you out of here as quickly as possible.
Talking to other customers and badmouthing us isn't very nice either.
How would you like it ?
We are professionals, doing each prescription with respect and professionalism and your constant interruptions and pacing doesn't make it any easier for us.
Take it or leave it.
Just please cover your mouth!
Enough already! Stop coming into our store and dashing to the pharmacy counter asking if you can use our washroom.
We do not have a public restroom. There are restaurants on either side of us that will let you use theirs as well as a medical center near by.
We used to let people use the toilet but here's what happens...
You see a staff locker open, you take out the wallet, scurry into the toilet, take out the money and flush the wallet down the toilet. Why??
Would you flush a wallet in your own toilet? Do you know the mess it makes and the cost of a plumber to fix this problem? Now the staff can't go to the bathroom for the rest of the day. And someone has been robbed. Stop it!
You read the sign on the back of the toilet that says, Please Don't Flush Paper Towels or Sanitary Napkins ... but yet, you challenge it and do.
You decide it's more interesting to make your deposit beside the bowl on the floor or on the seat.
You smear the walls with your bodily deposits.
You leave the sink running.
You still merchandise and leave the empty packaging in the bathroom and seem to get away with it.
You don't return the key and we think after a few hours there may be a dead body in the bathroom and dread being the one to go in and check.
I don't like cleaning up after you. No one does.
We sell depends in Aisle 4.
No, we don't have a public bathroom ANYMORE!
It's five minutes to ten p.m. and we are all tired from a days work. There are things that have to be done in order to close the store for the night. Garbage bins are overflowing, two separate types. One for shredding which holds confidential information... like your empty pill bottles you love to bring back, unused prescription receipts, anything basically that has your name on it. The other is regular garbage with the smell of food we didn't get to finish eating during our shift... Narcotic report must be printed and each name must match a prescription and be checked off. Daily sales report, empty vial drawers must be filled up, prescription receipts and labels replenished, counters cleaned, compounding materials washed and put back in place, filing, and the large bins on the floor with the days order need to be put away on the shelf. We try to get this done in between customers. Problem is, someone always arrives at 5 to 10 with a discharge prescription from the hospital, or a dispill change and always...... I mean always...... someone arrives with a prescription dated at least 5 days ago and suddenly decides they need this a few minutes before we close.
Come on people! Give us a break!
The pharmacists and techs even sacrifice their lunch and suppers to serve you and wait until at least 2 to eat, and what happens? As soon as our food is heated up, in you come, expecting your prescription immediately. I can understand the ones that are really sick and just coming in from the doctors office, but the ones that hoard prescriptions for a couple of months always seem to be the ones in the biggest rush. It's so typical!
We come back day after day because we love our work.
But sometimes, it's hard and sometimes we just need to hear 'thank you', 'well done'.
:)
Questions asked in an 8 hour period daily:
Do you sell urine test kits?
Where do you keep the polysporin?
Do I need a prescription for Oxycontin?
Other Pharmacies give it to me without a prescription, why not yours?
Where is the toilet paper on sale?
How long will it take you to fill my 4 prescriptions?
Why 15 minutes?
Why isn't it ready?
Do you have change?
Do you deliver?
Can you phone my doctor for a renewal?
What is this medication for?
Can you refill my blue pills? I don't remember their name.
Can I have a receipt for last years income tax?
Is the Pharmacist here with the brown hair?
Can I speak to the person who called me today? I don't remember who it was.
Will you fax my doctor today?
Will my prescription be filled today?
What aisle is lanocaine in?
Do you sell stamps here?
Can I renew my bus pass here?
Do you have rain checks for Colgate toothpaste?
Can I use your bathroom?
Can I use your phone?
Can I have a plastic bag please?
How much did my insurance pay?
Did the Gov't pay for any of this?
Why isn't it covered?
What do you mean my prescription is over? It has 9 repeats left (dated 2009)
Do you sell the day after pill here?
Where is the Gravol?
Where can I find dental floss?
Is the manager here?
Did my husband call in his renewal today?
Can I add this?
Can I pay for all of this here?
Can I speak to the Pharmacist?
Do you have the phone number for the doctor?
Has the driver left with my delivery?
When did the driver leave?
Can you fill all these prescriptions from another pharmacy?
Why do you want to know what kind of infection I have?
Can you check my daughters file and tell me what meds she's taking?
Are there any side effects to this medication?
Do you speak Spanish?
Can I leave this here? I don't want it.
Can you change the lids on these vials? I can't open them.
Are you sure there are 30 pills in here? Doesn't look like it.
Can you cut my pills in half?
What time do you close?
Can I drink with this medicine?
Did the price go up?
While counting a 3 month supply of meds for a patient I noticed a lady in aisle 4 jiggling her legs and doing an odd dance. I continued to keep an eye on her while counting 360 of Mr. Booths blood pressure pills.
Strange I thought to myself that this woman was still fidgeting around all this time and once in awhile looking around with a guilty look on her face. Once I was done with 9 different scripts for Mr. Booth I decided to walk down to aisle 4.
Usually after someone has shoplifted we find empty packaging on shelves. What I found was definately not that!
Good grief! There on the floor was human poop. Not just one but 4 neatly piled poops. Unbelievable. How on earth had she managed to do this without removing her clothes still has me stunned.
Shaking my head in disbelief I paged for the stock clerk to clean up in Aisle 4.
A really nice guy,newly hired and first job came eagerly out of the stock room with his mop and bucket totally not expecting this neat parcel on the floor. He stared at me as if to question if I had had an accident!!
"Does this happen a lot?"
I started to laugh so hard. "I've never seen it happen before", I answered.
As I was laughing a man came running down the aisle from another store in the mall to warn us that a lady was going around pooping in stores. He looked down and realized he was too late!
Okay, really now.. how many times can someone poop on demand, and why??? why on a floor in a store? Why?
So you think you've had a shitty day?
This has a whole new meaning to that expression.
- Man: Excuse me, where can I find the anti-oxygen?
- Me: Anti-oxygen??
- Man: Yeah anti-oxygen! It's suppose to be good for you.
- Me: ...You mean antioxidants?
- Man: No... the tv said anti-oxygen! Does your store sell it or not?
- At this point I am trying my best to not burst out and laugh in his face.
- Pharmacist, could you please council this man. Thank you.
OMG! Mrs. Fitzgerald is on line 2 and she's livid. She was reading her prescription receipts and noticed on Mr. Fitzgerald's receipt a charge for Viagra.
"There must be some kind of mistake by you people", she hollers on the phone.
"I want a print out of all of Harolds prescriptions and I'm coming down there right now". After she finishes yelling at me on the phone I tell her that I cannot give her a print out of her husbands prescriptions without permission from him. "Oh you techs, you think you know everything, put the pharmacist on the line now and do as I tell you".
"Pharmacist, line 2 please.".
So it would seem Mrs. Fitzgerald doesn't get it, but her husband sure as heck seems to be!.
A typical routine Monday. Phone lines open at 8am and before you know all 5 lines are blinking. The familiar 'robot' voice keeps repeating over and over there are lines to be answered. Schedule is one pharmacist and one technician until 10am.
Mr. Edger is on line one and he wants to go over step by step on how to apply his hemorrhoid cream. Sadly, Mr. Edger calls daily and asked to go over this each time. While explaining this professionally over the phone his breath quickens and and one can only imagine what kind of a kick is he really getting from this daily call.
I've even tried to re-direct him to a health professional hot line for his daily call but to no avail he insists on talking to one of us.
For 10 years Mr. Edger has called to talk about his hemorrhoids and then just one day the calls stopped. I've often wondered what has happened to him. Once in a conference there were several technicians gathered around a table at break discussing some of their stress management relief and I overheard a story very similar to Mr. Edgers. We concluded that all of us were getting these daily calls and they had now stopped. I guess this was the 'end' of Mr. Edger. Excuse the pun. Now this leaves me with line 2.
Welcome to my world!
As a way of venting and dealing with the general public, I've decided to create a blog in order to share the ups and downs of life in the world of the health industry! To be more specific, the pharmaceutical industry.
After 30 years of working in this field and sharing laughter with my colleagues I was urged to jot down some of these events ..... so here we go!
All the names are changed in order to respect the privacy act and there in no intention of harm to anyone, it's merely to share laughter and let you know what really goes on behind the pharmacy counter!
