Friday, March 27, 2009

CAUTION: Before going to the Pharmacy, please be advised...

FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

1. If you are picking up your medication in drive through and are not a) physically disabled b) accompanied by screaming or deathly ill children or c) deathly ill yourself you are stupid and/or lazy. Pharmacy personel know you are stupid and/or lazy if you don't fall into the aforementioned categories and (despite your inflated sense of self importance) are not falling all over themselves to help you...that is why you sat on your lazy, stupid ass for 30 minutes waiting in the drive through when you could have been helped in 15 minutes if you had just walked your lazy, stupid ass in. Yes...I know you can't smoke in the building while you're picking up your prescription (idiot)...

2. Do not attempt to drop off or pick up your prescription (or even talk to me) while you are on your cell phone...it's rude and disrespectful. Do you talk on your cell when you're in the exam room with your Physician? Don't get bitchy when I tell you that "I'll help you when you're through with your phone conversation"...chances are you'll lose your place in line and end up behind one of the other 20 or so people who just followed you in.

3. When you come to the Pharmacy, bring your insurance information. Contrary to popular belief, the Pharmacy is NOT responsible for finding your insurance information for you...you are responsible for providing YOUR healthcare information if you want us to bill it for you. Let me make this simple for you: When you go to the grocery store and wheel your cart to the register and find that you don't have your debit or credit card...do you get mad at the cashier when he or she can't look up your bank information? Think of your insurance card as your method of payment (I know that "payment" and "responsibility" are hard concepts for you Welfare Mommas to comprehend...but try to stay with me...).

4. If the drive through lanes say "closed", chances are they are closed. Now, I know I'm assuming you all can read...my bad...the person who designed the drive through was smart enough to assume you probably couldn't (it was his/her only shred of intelligence)...they used universal colors for stop and go. So...red = stop/closed....and green = go/open. If you pull into a closed lane and ring the bell we all will know you are stupid. If you continue to ring the bell when noone answers...we will all know you are really stupid. And...if you come into the building to complain because you pulled into the closed drive through and are mad that noone helped you we will know you are lazy and stupid. This means one thing for you: Get your lazy, stupid ass in line and wait your turn.

5. If you request your prescription be filled and don't come to pick it up we will not hold it on the shelf for you indefinitely. Do not act surprised and put out when you come to pick up the prescription you called in last month and it's not ready...if you needed it you would have come to get it. Do not act surprised and put out if you were not called to come and get your medication...we are not babysitters - you are responsible for your healthcare. Do not lose your temper and yell at my staff...you will wait extra (I like to call it "time out") so you can ponder over your stupidity and bad behavior.

6. Do not attempt to purchase pseudoephedrine for any purpose other than what it is intended. You know who you are...you are a "pseudo-head"...you make meth. You're not fooling me...I see your scabby face, stained fingers and rotted teeth...and (not that you care because you are a hot mess) I can smell you. Go away...I will refuse you...and if you push, I will humiliate you in front of every patient in the pharmacy.

7. Do not ask me to sell you 3 syringes and then tell me they are for your Gramma. Bullshit. If you're desperate and need a clean needle and syringe just be honest...I won't sell you any if you lie to me.

8. Do not go to store management to resolve an issue in the Pharmacy. Address the Pharmacy with your issue if you really want to get what you need. If you are just looking to be an ass and cause trouble...go see the store management. They don't have any authority in the Pharmacy, but they are much more adept and interested in listening to your mindless ranting...I don't have the time nor the inclination to do so (plus I really like it when you've gone and ranted and then come back to the Pharmacy all full of yourself thinking you're going to get me in trouble only to find that you're not getting shit...).

9. Do not threaten to transfer your prescriptions when you are upset unless you really are intending to do so. I will call your bluff. If you are misbehaving and wasting my time I will do whatever necessary to get rid of you so I can take care of my other patients. Remember...you are not a "customer" in the Pharmacy...you are NOT always right.

10. Do not call me a name like "bitch" or "dumbass"...or say "fuck you". Do not turn to other patients and try to rabble-rouse. Any of the previous behavior will get you one thing...O-U-T...without your medication...carrying your hard-copy prescription...looking for your next Pharmacy victim...

3 comments:

princss727 said...

And if these instuctions left any questions then you are even more stupid/lazy/retarded than we initially thought and you should really have a care-taker to help you!!!!!

"Ms. Mean" said...

No shit!

Shalom said...

OK, some comments here, in order:

1. On the rare occasion I fill my own or my family's prescriptions elsewhere than my own store, I will sometimes use the drive-through. If I do, it is invariably accompanied by the following sentence: "I'll be back for that this afternoon, thanks."

2. Preach it, sister. I've long coveted a cellphone jammer. The worst is when *they* think *you're* rude for interrupting *them* in their so-important conversation. There have been occasions when someone comes up to the counter yacking away on their phone, and I just take the next customer after them. "Hey, I was first!" "Well, you were busy doing something else, I figured you weren't ready for me."

I remember back before Bluetooth was common, I was dispensing a prescription, and trying to counsel the patient. I spoke and she responded, but every sentence was a total non-sequitur -- I even looked to see if she was on antipsychotics, she seemed so out of touch with reality. Finally I noticed the bug in her ear. I leaned over the counter and said, enunciating exaggeratedly, "EXCUSE ME, I NEED TO SPEAK TO YOU ABOUT YOUR PRESCRIPTION!" She smiled at me, looked me in the eye, and said to *someone* "I'll call you back." Of course 15 seconds later the damn thing rang again and she was gone again. I just walked away and documented her refusal of counseling. Her lookout if she gets any side effects.

3. I used to use the credit-card analogy, but I stopped, because people were dropping off scripts, telling us they had no insurance, and then once we filled it for cash, they'd try and swipe their Medicaid card at the cash register to pay for it. (Their idea is, food stamps work that way in NY, why not prescriptions...?)

4. One night I worked at a 24-hour store with a drive thru. The bell rings, I look over there, and there's nobody in the lane. So I go about my business. The bell rings a second time, still nobody there. Finally I hear someone pounding on the window. I walk over and look *down*, and there's a guy sitting in a little convertible sports car, an MG or something, with the top down, and nothing but the top of the windshield was sticking over the windowsill...

7. Once a guy came to buy *one* syringe. Normally the junkies buy 10 at a time, which is the legal maximum without a prescription; the only ones that get one at a time are the ones who are so strung out that they don't have enough cash for more, and this guy didn't look like a junkie. I asked him what size, what gauge needle, etc., and he just shrugged and said, I dunno, just a regular one. I asked him what he's using it for: SQ, IM, IV, or what. He said he's trying to clean out the carburetor on his lawn mower, and what size would I recommend? I don't recall what I sold him, but rest assured he wouldn't have been comfortable using that for any injection...

9. I have asked some of our problem patients why they keep coming back, if every time they come they have a problem. I once had a patient (who wasn't getting what she wanted, I don't remember what) say that she's taking her scripts and never coming back. I said have a nice day, next customer please? She starts fuming, aren't you going to fix my problem? I said no, you just told me you're not my customer any more.

Keep on ranting, we've got your back...

(Word verification: s1estfuc. What's that supposed to mean.)