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At the pharmacy counter, we have these little computer pads for the patients to use when they buy their medications. We ring up the sale, then we direct the patient to use the little pad. Basically, this pad asks "Were you councilled by the pharmacist? Yes () No()", signature, then press "okay."

Apparently, this is the most complicated device ever invented, as customers who come in several times per week cannot seem to remember how to use the damn thing. Funny how when they were first installed and I never saw one before I was able to walk a customer through how to use it without ever being instructed how to do so because it is pretty straight forward if you take the time to read the goddamn instructions right on it! I think the fact that it is a touch screen device only compounds the complexity as the elderly folks look at the thing as though it fell directly out of space.



Here is me ringing up a sale:



"Okay Mrs Smith that is three prescriptions totalling $30.00, will there be anything else?"

"No, thank you."

"Alright, that will be $30.00 then, please. Thank you, now if you could use this little computer pad with the 'fake pen' attached to it?"

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Take the fake pen there, okay?"

"Okay, and what, sign somewhere?"

"First, do you have any questions for the pharmacist?"

"So, where am I supposed to sign?"

"Ma'am, before you sign, do you have questions?"

"What? No. I take these all the time."

"Okay, if you could use that fake pen to tap that second square incating no questions?"

"What square?"

"The second one. It says "no" for "no questions.""

"Oh!"

"Alright, NOW you sign at the bottom please."

"Sign where?"

"In that big blue rectangle that says 'signature'."

"Here?"

"No, down at the bottom. In the blue area, please."

"Okaaaaay."

"Now press 'okay' at the top when you've finished."

"This?"

"No, you just pressed 'clear". That's okay, just sign again because it got erased."

"Sign again?"

"Yes, please."

"Now press 'okay'?

"You got it."

"They should make these things easier to use..."

"$10.00 is your change and here is your receipt. Have a good day!"



I'd like to say "it's only 3 steps, how much easier do you want?" or "don't some back until you can follow simple instructions" but ALAS! nay. It's a good thing I don't drink because I'd probably go through a bottle of scotch a day dealing with this crap.

One of the problems with my job in a pharmacy is having to deal with drug addicts. For real, though I am talking about legal drugs with high potential for addiction such as percocet, vidodin, xanax, valium, et cetera.



See, if someone gets, oh say vicodin filled september 1st, 90 tablets, with directions reading "take 1 tablet 3 times a day" and they are looking to get a refill on september 10th, then something is rotten in the state of denmark. Why? because of math. Oh math, you treacherous nemesis! 90 tablets, three pills per day. 90 divided by 3 equals 30. 90 tablets should last 30 days, and yet after 10 days the patient is looking for more? Not good.

However, we are not allowed to confront these people or ever accuse them of being addicts when it is blatantly obvious that they are either an addict or a seller. Pretty much one or the other. But of course we can't SAY that to them.

My strategy is to be REALLY polite and act dumb to try and give thme a chance to redeem themselves. If they start insisting, then I start giving them the Math-Facts which are pretty straight forward. If they continue to argue and get rude I reinterate the facts of the situation, give them their options (usually involving speaking to their doctor), and don't give in no matter what. If they carry on being rude, THEN I get rude right back as a last resort to end this madness.

A sample conversation with a drug abuser:



"Thank you for calling RST Pharmacy how can I help you?"

"yeah, my name's Steve Smith and I need a refill."

"Certainly Mr. Smith! What's your date of birth?"

"January 1, 1980."

"Ah, yes, here's your record. What is it you need refilled?"

"I need more vicodins."

"Alrighty, let's see here... oh, I see you last got a 30 day supply 10 days ago, I'm afraid that is too soon to be refilled."

"What? When was that?"

"On... September 1, sir."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Well, when will a refill be due?"

"You should have enough left for 20 more days, but a refill should be available in 18 days, on September 28th."

"You mean I got to wait until September 28?!"

"Yes, sir."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Well, you received 90 tablets on September 1, right?"

"Yeah."

"You do still only take 3 pills a day, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Then 90 divided by 3 pills per day, is a 30 day supply, right?"

"Um, yeah."

"So, you be running out of pills completely on September 30th, but you can always get a refill a couple of days early, so September 28th would be fine."

"But I'm out of pills NOW!"

"Sir, you just said you got a refill 10 days ago, for a 30 day supply."

"Right."

"Why are you out of pills in 10 days when you received a 30 day supply?"

"You must have counted the pills wrong."

"Well, I see that it was me who filled your prescription on the first of the month and I always count controlled drugs at least twice and have someone else double check my work as well, so it is very doubtful."

"...sometimes I got to take an extra tablet for the pain. I get pain so bad sometimes. My doctor said it's okay to do that."

"I thought you said you don't take more than 3 pills a day? But sometimes you have to take 4 pills? Is that right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Even at 4 pills per day, you would have enough to last you 22 days, not 10."

"Oh."

"Yeah, so it would still be too early for a refill."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"So, when can I get more vicodins?"

"September 28th."

"But you just said 22 days!"

"In order to fill it at a 4 pill per day dose, I would need a new prescription from your doctor stating 4 pills daily and not 3. Right now all I have is the 3 pills dosage, so it's September 28th. If you can get me a new prescription from your doctor stating the 4 pill daily dose, your refill will be due September 20th, but we WILL need that prescription to do it."

"So, unless I get a new prescription from my doctor, I got to wait until September 28th?"

"That's correct."

"I'll see you on the 28th then."

"Have a good day, sir."



This is really close to an actual conversation I had on the phone the other day. From what I can remember of it anyway. I swear, some of them can keep you on the phone for 15 minutes trying to loop you around until you agree to fill their medicine waaaay early. Little do they realize I am going to win because my argument is based on fact and theirs is made up of lies and accusations. I've got Math on my side, and math ALWAYS wins. Skadoosh!

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Maledicta
07:28 Sep 29 2008

Oh I can identify. I worked in a pharmacy for 4 years and I've lost count of the number of conversations like this I've had. Either that, or they insist that because a drug is a different or generic brand to what they're used to, it's not the right pill. Gaaaah! We should swop stories lol

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Xzavier
08:39 Sep 29 2008

Ah I remember those days. They think their plans are fool proof and yet simple logic tricks up those poor tweaked out devils lol.

You should try working in a Federal pharmacy, the drug of abuse there.. Viagra. They'll do anything to get those lil pills haha

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RxDarkFairy
04:51 Sep 30 2008

Ahhh..

try to have a similar conversation in the hospital, for the "patient" who is having to wait 2 more hours for their next shot of morphine...... add moaning and crying... but only when you walk into the room..... wasn't born yesterday!!!



Hate to see that ya'll have to go "there" too...

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This might be something that turns into a series, but I'm not sure yet. I work at a pharmacy, and I'm going to give you, the viewers at home, some advice on how to have a smoothe and pleasant experience with your pharmacy people. Now, I read quite a few online pharmacy journals, some are from the USA, others the UK and even Australia, but it seems like we all encounter EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEMS with customers, doctors, etc, regardless of where we are on Earth, so I'm hoping some weirdos out there will read these tips and get a clue.



Tip #1 is this: if your doctor tells you to take your prescription pills in a way that is different than currently stated on your prescription bottle, make damn sure he gives you a fresh prescription with the new dose.



You'd be surprised how often I hear "I'm early on my refill because my doctor told me to double-up on it" and yet we at the pharmacy do not get relayed this important information in any way from the physician. It's scary, really, how frequently this happens and it occurs with all types of drugs: blood pressure, diabetes, pain meds, you name it, and unfortunately, the patient telling us the dose has increased does us no good at all. See, we at the pharmacy cannot take YOUR word for it that the doctor told you to take more. This DOES NOT mean we do not believe you, we are simply being professionals looking out for your well-being and crossing our T's and dotting our I's, so to speak. We need to be absolutely sure of your current dose, and only someone at the doctor's office has the power to officially change it in any capacity. We need proper documentation because otherwise you could sue our ass, this way if there is an error you will sue the doctor's ass and not ours.



So, you got that? If your doctor tells you at your appointment to change how you take your pills, you better ask him for a new prescription reflecting this change otherwise you have no one to blame for yourself when the pharmacy staff won't refill your meds when you run out because it looks as though you are early and your insurance won't cover it yet.

There is a big corporate pharmacy chain called Wal-mart. I do not work there, but one is located in my area. Wal-mart has this hellish "$4.00 for generic prescription drug" dealie where certain low cost generics will only cost their customers $4.00 for 30 tablets. Now, like I said, I do not work at a Wal-mart, but the pharmacy where I work has a policy of matching this $4.00 price on those same drugs if a patient asks for it. It sounds simple enough, right? A customer has no insurance instead of payiong the regular price of,say, $10.99, for a 30 day supply of medicine will ask us to check the Wal-mart list and we'll knock the price down to $4.00 if it applies.

Well, unfortunately, people are stupid. Like, really really stupid. I rang up a customer's sale for 2 prescriptions the other day. This customer had insurance and it was $1.00 for one prescription and $2.00 for the other, grand total of $3.00. I scanned her order into the register and told her "that will be $3.00 please." She said "can I get those on the Wal-mart price match?" I told her Wal-mart's prices would be $4 each. She said "yeah, I want that." I told her, "but ma'am you are only paying $3.00" She stared at me like I didn't make any sense.

Senior citizens are the worst when it comes to this. They always lay the big pre-emptive "and I want that for $4.00!!" on you before you even tell them how much it is. Most of them have special Medicare coverage these days so they get them for less than $4.00 but they don't care. "ma'am you're only paying $2.25 for this..." "i don't care, I want the $4.00!!" "So, you want me to raise the price?" "Wait what?" "If I change it to $4 you will pay more..." "Why do you want to charge me more?" "I don't WANT to charge you more, but at v$4..." "So you're saying I can't have it for $4?" "Well, no..." "Let me speak to your manager!!"



I swear it's a miracle I haven't physically assaulted any 80 year olds yet.

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Sinora
13:31 Sep 06 2008

Hey....lay off the oldies, if it was'nt for us how dull would your life be lmao

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RxDarkFairy
04:55 Sep 30 2008

LMAO~~~



Don't you think that some days you should offer a

"senile" discount?? hahahahahah

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I have to answer the phone a lot at work. It is part of my job. I am usually the one who answers it the quickest and therefore the one who gets to talk to the most customers. I also get the most random, weird crap sometimes.



Me: "RST Pharmacy can I help you?"

Phone: "Yeah hi, is this ABC Pharmacy?"

Me: "No, this is RST Pharmacy."

Phone: "Are you sure?"



You know, I really want to say, "Ma'am, I'm pretty sure I know where I work." but no, I simply say "yes."



Keep in mind that I was asked this question after the customer listened to a computer messaged which said "thank you for calling RST Pharmacy" as well as me saying the exact same thing. You'd think it would sink in...

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RxDarkFairy
04:57 Sep 30 2008

I think that I am going to die LAUGHING!!!!!!



Dear lord~~have mercy...... thanks for giving us a peek into your world of insanity~

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