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Suck from the pharmacy (long)
It's been a long time since I was so bothered by a customer that I had to go take some time to chill out in the back.
There's a guy who antagonizes and insults whichever unfortunate technician happens to be at the window when he comes in. I hoped he was going to be okay, but boy, was I wrong.
It was a normal interaction at first, but when it came time for him to sign the slip of paper that accompanies certain medications and is part of our policy for handling these meds, that was when things started to go wrong.
He signed the slip with no problem. But then I asked him to sign the electric device that acknowledges that he did in fact pick up his meds. He did not like that. He demanded why he had to sign twice. I attempted to explain that the first signature he gave on the slip of paper was part of our policy concerning the medication he was picking up. I said that the second signature was acknowledging that he had picked up the medication.
That wasn't sufficient. He got angry then and said that he should not have had to sign twice, even though the first signature and the second one were for two different things. He wouldn't accept any of my explanations, so I just went to get the pharmacist, who repeated everything that I had said. The customer finally dropped the subject and went on to the next part of our interaction.
He handed me his membership card, which I thought I scanned, but the way he was grilling me made me nervous, so I didn't notice that it hadn't actually worked. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes the cards don't work even though we've scanned them. That was not my fault.
I was a little rattled by this point, so I asked him a second time for his membership card, which he had already put back into his wallet. He didn't like that either, and so he angrily said that I had already scanned it. But I said that it didn't appear to have been accepted by the hand scanner, so I would need it a second time.
He argued about this for a little while, throwing in such barbs as "you're a liar" and "you must have something personal against me". He actually asked me if I had something against him. I don't have anything against anyone, not even the worst customers. I don't know them personally, so why should I have a personal vendetta against them? I told him that I did not have anything against him, but that I would need his card again.
He then demanded that I get the pharmacist again, but instead of the pharmacist, one of the other techs stepped in. She told him exactly what I had told him, and finally got his membership card to scan it again. This time it worked, and she handed it back, but not before the man called me a liar again and said that I was out to get him.
I was tearing up a little by this point because hey, he was being rude and a little mean. He gave me his money, I put it into the register, and gave him back his change. I was crying so I was finding it a little hard to talk at that particular moment so I didn't tell him what his change was (it was like $2.50). He stood there glaring at me until I managed to get out what his change was. He made a "hmph" noise and stalked away.
Management refuses to back us up when it comes to this customer. According to them, we're the ones who are inconveniencing this person. We all want him banned, but management refuses to allow it even though this customer has a history of treating the technicians badly and making almost all of them cry.
One of the techs called the manager to give them a heads up about this customer, and the manager's response was pretty much that he wouldn't do anything, that I needed to learn that some customers are going to be like that (something that I already knew... it's kind of a common sense thing), and that maybe they should have gotten someone more experienced to handle this customer.
It had nothing to do with my experience but everything to do with this guy being a total and complete jerk. I'm not sure what I'll do the next time he comes back, but right now, I don't want to deal with him again.
There's a guy who antagonizes and insults whichever unfortunate technician happens to be at the window when he comes in. I hoped he was going to be okay, but boy, was I wrong.
It was a normal interaction at first, but when it came time for him to sign the slip of paper that accompanies certain medications and is part of our policy for handling these meds, that was when things started to go wrong.
He signed the slip with no problem. But then I asked him to sign the electric device that acknowledges that he did in fact pick up his meds. He did not like that. He demanded why he had to sign twice. I attempted to explain that the first signature he gave on the slip of paper was part of our policy concerning the medication he was picking up. I said that the second signature was acknowledging that he had picked up the medication.
That wasn't sufficient. He got angry then and said that he should not have had to sign twice, even though the first signature and the second one were for two different things. He wouldn't accept any of my explanations, so I just went to get the pharmacist, who repeated everything that I had said. The customer finally dropped the subject and went on to the next part of our interaction.
He handed me his membership card, which I thought I scanned, but the way he was grilling me made me nervous, so I didn't notice that it hadn't actually worked. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes the cards don't work even though we've scanned them. That was not my fault.
I was a little rattled by this point, so I asked him a second time for his membership card, which he had already put back into his wallet. He didn't like that either, and so he angrily said that I had already scanned it. But I said that it didn't appear to have been accepted by the hand scanner, so I would need it a second time.
He argued about this for a little while, throwing in such barbs as "you're a liar" and "you must have something personal against me". He actually asked me if I had something against him. I don't have anything against anyone, not even the worst customers. I don't know them personally, so why should I have a personal vendetta against them? I told him that I did not have anything against him, but that I would need his card again.
He then demanded that I get the pharmacist again, but instead of the pharmacist, one of the other techs stepped in. She told him exactly what I had told him, and finally got his membership card to scan it again. This time it worked, and she handed it back, but not before the man called me a liar again and said that I was out to get him.
I was tearing up a little by this point because hey, he was being rude and a little mean. He gave me his money, I put it into the register, and gave him back his change. I was crying so I was finding it a little hard to talk at that particular moment so I didn't tell him what his change was (it was like $2.50). He stood there glaring at me until I managed to get out what his change was. He made a "hmph" noise and stalked away.
Management refuses to back us up when it comes to this customer. According to them, we're the ones who are inconveniencing this person. We all want him banned, but management refuses to allow it even though this customer has a history of treating the technicians badly and making almost all of them cry.
One of the techs called the manager to give them a heads up about this customer, and the manager's response was pretty much that he wouldn't do anything, that I needed to learn that some customers are going to be like that (something that I already knew... it's kind of a common sense thing), and that maybe they should have gotten someone more experienced to handle this customer.
It had nothing to do with my experience but everything to do with this guy being a total and complete jerk. I'm not sure what I'll do the next time he comes back, but right now, I don't want to deal with him again.
No manager will take him seriously, but they also won't take any steps to banning him, because he is *just* this side of being evil (and is also a little on the slow side, as well).
and good wishes that this guy finds someone else to pick on, or does something too egregious to ignore and gets himself banned!
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