Some suggestions I'd like to offer to my fellow pharmacy patrons.

The BBQ Pit
1

I’ve spent a lot of time in the pharmacy over the years. Generally I’m in there twice a week, minimum. Often I will have to wait anywhere between ten & sixty minutes while they prepare the prescription, because my dad doesn’t want to wait the 24 hours they ask for to fill. So as someone who is known by all the longtime pharmacists here, I’d like to offer some suggestions to make the entire experience, while not enjoyable, a bit more pleasant for all of us.

Cell phones
Of course, cell phones are a problem pretty much everywhere. Movies, buses, jackasses waving at the cameras behind home plate. Hell, it’s a joke that’s hopelessly tired and worn out when stand-up comedians do it. However, some of you don’t quite get it yet. Sure, cell phones have led to a change in society, and constant contact is pretty much a given nowadays. However, there is a right way and a wrong way do deal with this. The wrong way is to stand in the middle of the uncarpeted room using your “outside voice.” No one else in the room cares when the movie starts, what you’re in the pharmacy for, or what yo baby daddy bought his ho. Go to an empty corner of the room and speak quietly. If you can’t get out of line, speak extra quietly, or don’t answer.

Butting in
I realize that there is sometimes the necessity to speak to one of the cashiers or pharmacists immediately. However, unless it is an absolute emergency, do not shoehorn yourself into one of the windows where there’s already someone talking with the pharmacist. Not everyone knows what HIPAA is, but I would think it’s common sense that the person who’s at the pharmacy to pick up hemorrhoid cream or HIV medication doesn’t want your chin sitting on their shoulder as they try to get their prescription. Go to an empty window, or leave a respectable amount of space between you and the person whose actual turn it is, an try to make eye contact with a pharmacist.

Whining about the wait
This one really gets to me. Sometimes there are long lines. Sometimes there are very long lines. But as a society, we’ve all learned how to deal with them. We wait quietly for our turn. But some of you seem to think we hadn’t noticed we were in line, or that said line is long. So you start sighing loudly, mumbling “…can’t believe this,” or “jeeeeeeesus.” You may turn to the person behind you and ask rhetorically, “What are they doing up there?!” Then, you inevitably get on your cell phone and, using your “outside voice,” you tell yo baby daddy about the line. Of course, he won’t care, not being in the line, so you’ll hang up, and continue to whine and complain like a four year old who got his red ball taken away. “Man, I’m about to do something about this.” “They better open up more windows!”

Look, we know we’re in line. We can all see we’re in line. And we can all see how long the line is. In fact, to get to where we are right now, we all not only had to actively step into the line, but we’ve had to actively move with the line as it progresses. So I can confidently assure you that our awareness of being in line is quite sufficient. With this in mind, shut your goddamn whiny-ass fucking mouth up! Fuck, it’s bad enough that we all have to stand there in a room that’s not air-conditioned with people yakking on cell phones and people butting into confidential conversations regarding our father’s health, but now we have to listen to your pompous ass whine like a baby the whole fucking time?! I’m 23. I don’t “do” kids, if I can help it. You know why? Because they act like you. I’m sure you’re proud to be such a fucking role model, but you’re actually just being a fucking cheesedick, and if I ever suddenly discover I’e harnessed the powers of the Force, you’ll be a pile of lighting-seared meat in a matter of seconds. Look, unless you’re talking to someone who might have an outside chance of actually fucking doing something, stand the fuck in line, shut the fuck up, and quit making the whole pharmacy experience even more of a fucking pain in the ass than it already is! Fucking self-absorbed assholes.

Do you think it would be frowned upon if I were to post this in the pharmacy?

2

I personally would welcome this printed out in my local pharmacy. Print it in 48 point font, translate into spanish, russian, and korean, laminate it, and place it every damn four feet along the wall.

Also add…

People waiting in line at a pharmacy may be SICK. If a young man does not yield a seat for your elderly butt, he may be in acute pain, ya know. Don’t give me your “kids these days!” look and try and get ME (his girlfriend) to roust him out. You’re considerably more mobile than he is right now.

3

I have no idea what this means, but I am going to add “cheesedick” to my personal repetoire of expletives.

4

It’s somewhere in between “tool” and “douchebag.” Think Matt Dillon’s character from Something About Mary.

5

Whining about the line always peeves me too. Recently at the bank there was some guy constantly saying “why don’t they bring more cashiers out?” like there’s a crate of them that just needs to be unpacked.

6

And really, I know it’s frustrating that our health insurance plans pretty much bite nowadays. However, it’s not the pharmacist’s fault that someone at HealthNot made a change so that your prescription isn’t covered the way it used to be. Go and call your insurance people and give them hell rather than wasting the pharmacist’s (and everyone in line’s) time.

7

I’m on the side of the whiners here. Banks deal with the public sector. It is their responsibility to be fully staffed, especially at lunch hours when most people have to do their banking (not the crap you can do at an ATM, stuff like money orders), not just have 2 tellers available when they have 6 stations. Oh, your tellers want to eat too? Sorry, you have to cater to your customers needs first or they’ll take their business elsewhere.

Same shit goes for the post office.

8

Sorry I didn’t mean to hijack.

9

My husband hates waiting for anything. If he sees a red light 2 blocks ahead, he’ll detour. Hates lines too, of course.

He drops off the empty bottle (or the scrip) and goes back the next day to pick it up. It’s always ready, and he uses the drive-up window. No lines, no whining people, no parking hassle, etc.

I know that’s an extra trip, but it’s worth it to him, not to have to wait, and to deal with all the annoyances outlined in the OP. (We live in a small town, so the extra trip is no big deal, and we combine it with other errands.)

Something to consider (assuming you can wait a day to get the scrip).

10

I hope you’re not one of those jackasses that screams at the tellers for being short-handed.

(BTW, lunch breaks are mandated by law, and do you REALLY want to be waited on by someone who hasn’t eaten in 8 hours?)

11

I must be blessed. My pharmacy has a clearly posted sign stating that any refills not called in ahead of time will have a one hour wait. They make up the orders for the people who walk in with a new prescription first, seeing as how they probably just came from the doctor and may really need that penicillin right away.

I virtually always call the refill in the day before I really need it; how hard is it, after all, to notice when you take your daily whatever to notice that there are only a couple pills left? So I call it in and then when I pick it up it’s right there ready for me.

Of course, it also helps that I’ve been going to the same drugstore for decades, and many of the employees recognize me on sight.

12

As a former retail pharmacy worker, may I also add this? Dear asshole that doesn’t understand why they have to wait when it looks like there are only 2 or 3 other patients in the pharmacy: STFU and wait. The pharmacist may be calling a doctor about a dosage question, transferring a prescription for someone, counselling a patient, or some other task that TAKES TIME. They can’t just put those things off until some unnamed later time so you can grab your stuff and go. There may be someone ahead of you that just left the ER or outpatient surgery that needs to get their medicine and get the fuck home. Just drop the damned thing off and STFU or get out and come back. Staring at the pharmacy staff and sighing loudly does not help your case at all. Please remember that the pharmacist is performing a health care service, not slicing up deli meat. I’ve personally witnessed a pharmacist catching drug errors that could have resulted in death. Believe me, it’s worth it for them to have the time to look things up if it’s needed. Your doctor, unfortunately, does not always know best when it comes to drug choices and appropriate dosing.

13

My sister is a bank manager. After being a cashier for 6 years and dealing with complaints about being understaffed during busy times, she vowed that if and when she became a manager, that she would do things differently. Cashiers at her bank go to lunch at half hour intervals between 11 & 12 and between 1 & 2. They chose which times best suits them, the roster was put up and my sister once received a letter from a woman commending the bank for always being staffed. I love my sister for making the little difference in the world that makes many people slightly happier :slight_smile:

14

So would I.

Shameless plug for my new employer follows. :smiley:

It’s…Walgreeeeeeeeeens!

Permit me to draw your attention to our Express Pay option, in which you sign up online with your credit card number (or you can do it at the store, too), and the cost of your prescription is automatically deducted from your credit card. And if you combine this with our online pharmacy, you can order your prescription at your leisure online, specify the time that you wanna pick it up, put it on Express Pay, and know exactly when you can stop by Walgreen’s and pick it up.

And then when you go down there to get your meds, there will be an “EXPRESS PAY” notation on your little white paper envelope, meaning that you walk up to the window, tell them your name, confirm your address, and walk out with the pills. No signature, no swiping the card.

And if your dad is Internet-challenged, he can order refills of any Walgreens prescriptions over the phone, with Touchtone Prefills–just dial the “Pharmacy” number of whatever Walgreens he prefers, follow the voicemail trail, and punch in the prescription number. He can also specify when he wants to pick it up, too. And if this is a “maintenance” medication, meaning it’s a regular refill, he can order up “Automatic Refill”, which is where his prescription gets refilled by itself every month (or whatever interval), and we send him both an e-mail and a phone call to remind him to come pick it up.

And he can sign up for Express Checking at some locations, which is where you pay for a prescription with a purchase, and while you’re standing there at the register, the checkout girl will tell the cash register to enroll you in Express Checking, and all future charges will be automatically deducted from your checking account, and again, no waiting when you come in to pick it up.

And he can have his meds mailed to him, if he wants, so nobody has to stand in line at all.

15

:rolleyes: Time for bed…

Which is where you pay for a prescription with a check, and then when the cute lil check reading machine finishes twirling the document around, it’ll give the girl an opening to sign him up for Express Checking. Gotta have the 'puterized register do it with the super sekrit bank codes printed on the bottom of the check or else it won’t work, she can’t type it in herself…

16

Then you are a cheesedick.

Like I said, unless you’re talking to someone who can actually do shit, keeping your god damn maw shut and let everyone else wait in quiet.

17

Am I living in bizarro world? I’ve never waited at any pharmacy I’ve gone to! ooooooo :o

18

Kaiser lets you refill prescriptions by phone and receive them in the mail.

19

I have a new found love for my pharmacy. It’s nearly always empty. I just walk in, give someone behind the counter my prescription, sit down for a few minuites, and then it’s ready to go.

No phones. No people. No lines. :slight_smile:

20

This is something I don’t think I can help.

I try to go to the pharmacy during off-hours. I don’t expect them to open more windows; there’s only one window, and usually four people working. I don’t wonder what they’re doing up there, because I know: the same thing they’re going to do for me, as soon as I get to the head of the line. But the “[sigh]jeeeeeeeesus…” is a purely involuntary utterance, like saying, “Here we gooooooo!” when an amusement park ride starts up.