Once I was violently ill with uncontrollable nausea and vomiting. Went to the doctor. Had to ask for a vomit pan (“emesis basin” whatever) while there with the doc. I couldn’t make it 20 minutes without having to retch again. Got a 'scrip for anti-nausea meds. (Thank og for phenergan.)
I went to the pharmacy, turned in my 'script and sat down, queasy, with one eye peeled for the shortest path to the nearest restroom or other appropriate place to puke. Annoying Other Customer butts in and starts trying to ask pharmacist stupid questions about her vitamins or some thing that was clearly NOT critical. I was getting a little irritated, but was too sick to protest or tell the AOC to STFU and wait her turn. I watched a number of other AOCs step up to the counter and distract the pharmacist from her very important job of dispensing pills to me that would make me finally stop hurling.
Then the pharmacist actually looked at my 'script. I saw her pick it up, look at me, and verify that I was fairly green around the gills. She turned to her assistant and said, “This lady (points to me) is a priority – she’s very sick. Take care of her before all other customers.” Clearly, this smart, smart pharmacist knew what Phenergan is for and didn’t want me puking all over her clean counter in front of all the other AOCs. The AOCs, since they couldn’t obviously see that I was bleeding from the eyeballs or anything, still didn’t want to let me go first, even though I had been in the store before any of them. Despite their dirty looks, heavy sighs and expletives, I was brought to the front of the line, paid and ushered out of the store as fast as they could get me out of there.
I was just glad to get my meds and go home and pass out. But I’ve always been vividly aware that appearances cannot make it obvious to you why everyone is there at the pharmacy and you never know who is way sicker than you. I always use the drive through, or call in refills, take advantage of the conveniences they offer. But you just never know who’s on the verge of puking down the back of your neck…
That’d be the one. But the absolute quickest way to get prescriptions is to go to the pharmacy as soon as it is called in (you can check this via phone) and request they fill it immediately while you wait.
But anyway, I’m not bitching about the line; it’s just part of life; and I know because my dad needs his stuff ASAP, I’m destined to wait even longer. C’est la vie.
Always thought it was funny that the stuff they give you for nauesea is probably the one thing I wanted to expel out of my mouth faster than any other substance.
Really? What form did you get? I got a little white pill, which goes down with water before I can even taste it. I also had the choice of suppositories, which I let her fill that too, in case I couldn’t keep the pill down and got really, really desperate.
I never did get that desperate.
Ah, I haven’t taken it for maybe a decade, and that was liquid form. You think NyQuil’s bad? No, this shit was green fuckin’ death flavor. I can still feel the cells of my tongue trying to run out my mouth.
Dogzilla’s at all the pharmacies puking on anyone with a cell phone, a sighing problem, or anyone who refuses to adhere to line ettiquette.
I actually had a woman one time step into the ‘I’m leaving a respectful space so I don’t have to hear about all your personal medical problems’ space even though we were all in line waiting. When the customer at the window stepped away, she rushed to the empty window. The pharmacist stepped away, walked to the other window, and looked me in the eye ‘next please?’ Miss Oblivious waited for the other pharmacist to get off break 2 or 3 customers later.
No, I never raise my voice in places of business, it’s bad form, and can be perceived as threatening.
Of course lunch breaks are mandatory, but they don’t have to be between the hours of 12:00 - 1:00.
What I was suggesting is that businesses/services that have a heavy customer load at lunchtime should be fully staffed and adjust their breaks accordingly.
This is anecdotal ,but I have noticed that the post offices I have used “off-peak”
(== not lunch hour) have every station manned, with most of the clerks standing around waiting for customers. But whenever I go “peak”, there’s a line out the door and half the stations are unmanned. To me this is bad planning.
I could see having staff with shifts that are skewed so that they come in at 10:00 and leave an hour later so that their mandated lunch hour doesn’t overlap with the customer peak load.
On the flip side, much as I appreciate your wanting to verify that you gave me the right meds, you don’t have to announce it loudly enough for other customers (seated some distance away) to hear. I deliberately try not to notice anything about what other people are getting; could you do me the courtesy of being discreet about what meds I’m on? We’re in a small town and someone I know could be nearby.
You know, if you keep taking up for this lazy slack-jawed loafer he’s never gonna improve…
The pharmacy I go to handles crowds pretty well - 99% of the time there aren’t any. Plus, the pharmacist usually has a basket of fresh produce from her garden for giveaway.
Well, none of us want to be waiting in line at the pharmacy, so the only difference between us and the whiners- who you specifically support- is that the whiners keep whining about it, annoying the rest of us.
Hon, you march right into that pharmacy and you thrust the HIPAA under their oblivious little small-town noses. Bottom line, vastly oversimplified: it is now a federal offense for them to disclose any of your private health information, for example, to everybody within earshot of the pharmacy’s waiting room. And, lookie here: “How To File A Health Information Privacy Complaint”. Draw this section to their especial attention.
If they’re announcing what your meds are to the waiting room at large (“Gigi? Prescription for Prozac?”) then they are in massive, mind-bogglingly egregious violation.
At Walgreens, we verify that we got the right patient by confirming the address; we’re not allowed to say, out loud, what the meds are. Even if Gigi picks up her envelope and says, “What’s in this, anyway?”, we aren’t allowed to flip the front open and read it out loud to her, because someone waiting might overhear.
Oh, well then, I agree with you. Trust me, it sucks for the people on the other side, because you don’t have any help, people are screaming at you, and you feel like you’re going to faint because you haven’t eaten in 8 hours. (Because they send everyone else to lunch, even though you were there first).
This yuppie lady came into our pharmacy last week, jabbering away into one of those no-hands “mission contol” cel phone headsets. I was up to me to decipher that when she was talking about drugs, she was talking to me, and when about real estate, the person on the phone.
“Do you have the 72 hour pill” she asked, pointing at me (a rude thing to do, but that was so I’d know that I was being addressed). I almost wondered if she meant one of the 200 types of Sudafed I now have behind the counter, but I caught myself and asked “You meant the 'Plan B?” (“morning-after” pill). She did.
Then she was pissed off because her docotor had told her that she didn’t need a prescription from him for it. However, this doen’t mean that I can just ring it up like a candy bar. She had to fill out a form, then WAIT LIKE EVERYONE ELSE for the pharmacist to fill it.
“Well how long will that be!” (note the !, not a ? - meaning this was a challenge, not a quesion.
“Oh, maybe until the fertilized egg becomes a fetus. We’re really busy right now.” (Okay, that’s not really what I said.) “Just a few minutes ma’am.”
All this time she was still having her real estate conversation into her headset, and I’m this gnat she has to swat away while it performs its gnatlike duties manadated by the state board of pharmacy.
Finally she gets her pills and leaves, still talking on the phone. I couldn’t help wonder if that’s how she accidentally got knocked-up in the first place. Do yuppies even turn off their cel phones during intercourse?
Wow, involuntary whining? There’s probably a pill for that…ask your pharmacist! heaves a deep sigh
Um, holy crap. That is not only a huge violation of HIPPA (which DDG pointed out and is 100% correct on), it’s unprofessional in the extreme. There is no WAY you should be giving them your business or trusting them with your information. This is a serious ethics issue and highly illegal. If you choose to go back there, I strongly suggest you speak to the owner or head pharmacist about it.
Yep, “GIGI, GIGI’S MEDS, GIGI’S DOSE” as he gave me the bag. And he had a relatively stentorian voice anyway. I kind of said, Oh my God, Shhhh, with a horrified look on my face. He did this with every customer!! I didn’t complain but I did find out that he works Fridays so I don’t go in then. I haven’t seen him there in quite a while so perhaps he has shaped up or shipped out.
I’ve since switched to mail-order through my HMO for maintenance meds, but occasionally still go there for on-the-spot stuff because everyone else is very professional and friendly.
I’ll cast another vote for Walgreens. I’ve never waited for more than a few minutes thanks to phone refills and drive up service. I take meds every day and for some reason the scrip can only be filled once a month (grr on my doc), so I’m at the pharmacy a lot.
Likely that one-month rule is imposed by your insurance company, not the doctor. On most plans, everytime you fill, you’re charged a co-payment. Often a doctor will write for a 90-day supply, but the insurance company will reject all but a 30-day supply; so you get a 30-day supply plus 2 refills on file (and the insurance compay gets 3 copays, not one).
The only time this is “grr” on the doc is a scam played by doctors treating patients on public assistance. The patient will be given a prescription for a medication he or she should probably be on for at least the entire one year allowed by law for a prescription to last, but the doctor will write for only a 30 days’ supply (or sometimes even less), with zero refills. The patient will have to go back and see him for a new prescription month after month, just to sign in and sit in his waiting room while the doctor writes a new prescription and then the doctor will submit a bill to the public health agency for the office visit.
Yah, what Slithy said. This is usually an “Insane Insurance Company” issue, who are completely paranoid about paying for a refill on Day 29. “Refill Too Soon!” they shout, swatting away at the imaginary flies that cluster on their shoulders. “No pills for you! Hahahahahahaha!!!”
ExpressPay will speed things up a bit, if ya want. That way you can just zip through the driveup and pick them up, or even send somebody else to pick up your meds for you, they don’t have to sign anything, just confirm for the clerk what your address is so she’ll know she’s got the right Eustace T. Pennypacker ('cause there are four of them in your town, ya know…)
