Maybe You Should Have Been Picking Up Valium...

[WoodenSunshine]

I gotsed a new job as a drug dealer. Okay, I'm a tech in a pharmacy. I'm being trained very quickly, because my pharmacy is losing a lot of it's techs in September for college and they need me to be independent by then. I did about a day strictly on pick up (where people pick up their already filled prescriptions) before they started throwing me on drive through (which is pick up, plus some people dropping of their scripts). Pick up is super easy for the most part, basically confirming their information, collecting copays, etc. Drop off is a little more complicated, because there are quite a few more keystrokes. /background

My first drop off customer was this amazingly patient woman. I've learned to explain to patients that I'm new and I really appreciate their patience. If they're really in a hurry, I let more experienced techs do the work and I watch and take notes in my head. This woman was dropping off a couple of new scripts and picking up some other scripts. I got both of those taken care of with a little help and the woman was on her way.

The next woman pulls up and starts ripping me a new orifice demanding to know if the woman was dropping of scripts why she was getting them right away and just being a general you-know-what. Most of the questions she was yelling at me would violate HIPAA and were just plain rude. In addition, the more time she spent bitching was more of my time and her time she was wasting. I just metaphorically patted the woman on the head and offered her some BS apologies and finally got the woman on her way.

I get it. Drive through is meant to be quicker and easier for some people, but, being a very busy pharmacy, we get a lot of patients with a lot of different, sometimes complicated situations. It happens. Relax, breathe, shit happens.

Side Note: Other than that lady, pretty much everyone else has been pleasant. The benefit of being out of a competitive sales environment is that I'm 100000% more tolerant of people and I'm much better at empathizing and sympathizing when I'm not being screamed at to sell more things

[WishfulSpirit]

People go nuts about medication that is for sure. Usually because they haven't kept track of when they'll be out / when they'll need refills and now need their pills RIGHT THIS SECOND due to their lack of planning (I'll cop to having done that once or twice but I tried not to be a bitch to the staff). Was she picking up anything for a mental health condition? I get really irritable without my zoloft before I start thinking about taking a nap on the train tracks.

[Argabarga]

Ah, another drug seller. I used to do that before I turned to auto theft. You'll like it. Because, as you astutely pointed out, HIPPA is on your side, along with the DEA and the State AG and pretty much everyone who has the ability to make your day really really really unpleasant.

Just one word of warning.

If you run out of the orange pills, you can't substitute that with one half a yellow and one half a red..... (rookie mistake, It'll never happen again)

[Slave to the Phone]

Back when I was gong through that time of my life, I had a prescription for some really good stuff. Suddenly, it was not available due to the demand.

I went to the pharmacy and politely asked if my script was available. The poor clerk looked panic stricken and explained that it wasn't available because they couldn't get it from the warehouse. He moved back away from the counter.

I asked if there was an ETA for it, and he started moving back even further while apologizing.

At no point was I mean or abusive, but the poor guy ended up pressing against the shelves with a panicked look on his face. I'm guessing that he had already had someone grab him by the tie and slam his face against the counter. Menopause is a bitch.

[Food Lady]

What business is it of hers what ANY other patient is doing there?? One smiley does not convey my anger at people who dare to stick their nose in other people's medical business. I don't think I would've patted her on the head, given my last reaction to someone trying to get information about my own condition. I got in trouble for that one, and now that I've had time to think about it, I'd do it again!

[Teefies2]

People go nuts about medication that is for sure. Usually because they haven't kept track of when they'll be out / when they'll need refills and now need their pills RIGHT THIS SECOND due to their lack of plans.

So much this. I had a guy come in one night THREE hours after our pharmacy had closed (it was a weekend, they close at 6 on weekends, and yes they have had these weekend hours since 2011). He wanted me to break into the pharmacy and get his medicine because .....

"I'll DIEEEEEEEEEEEEE if I don't take my pill by 8 o'clock in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Really? You're gonna expire/check out/cease to exist if you don't have this pill in the morning?? I would think that if that was REALLY the case, you would have thought about BEFORE 9pm

Oh, and by the way?? I am so NOT gonna "break into" the pharmacy for you. I value my job and my freedom, thank you very much!

[Shyla]

The pharmacy drive through is not like McDonalds. Too much info has to be exchanged for it to be quick. The other day I picked up a script inside. There were two of us, each being help. When I left, there were 6 cars in the drive through. That was going to take a while.

[Food Lady]

"I'll DIEEEEEEEEEEEEE if I don't take my pill by 8 o'clock in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Then he should be in the hospital. Somehow I don't believe him....

[Monterey Jack]

"I'll DIEEEEEEEEEEEEE if I don't take my pill by 8 o'clock in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Just like people who pull out the "Starve Card" when they find out they can't eat RIGHT THIS SECOND!!!!11!! Sorry, pal, but no one in the history of ever has starved to death because they missed a meal...or even several meals in a row. "Hungry" is not the same as starvation. And it's almost always overweight people who pull this shit, the kind of people who probably have enough fat stored in their bodies to live off of for a month.

[Food Lady]

Yeah, I've used the phrase "I'm starving" but at this point I feel weird about that.

[Monterey Jack]

Yeah, I've used the phrase "I'm starving" but at this point I feel weird about that.

I mean, it's one thing when you use the phrase joshingly with family or friends, but when customers start yelling "I can't get food right this instant?! I'm going to STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEE EEEEEE because of you!!!11!!11!!!" in a restaurant or supermarket or wherever, it's like, dude, chill!

Equally annoying are the "I've got hungry kids to feed!" people, especially if it's 10:00 at night and the eating establishment is closed or is no longer doing deliveries. Hey, maybe you should have fed your STARVING children at a more reasonable hour.

[Argabarga]

I was lucky, my Pharmacist had a strict "we close when we say we close" policy. Anyone banging on the gate after hours claiming they were dying was told to go to the ER, anyone banging on the gate for maintenance meds after hours and claiming they were dying was laughed at.