A Thank You

Wow, I haven't posted in a while. Not cuz I didn't want to but, the personal life has been a bit hectic lately. Not surprisingly it trumped the blogging, but I'm back so hopefully I can start to be a little more regular. Probably not as regular as as our favorite pill poppers call with the neverending question "When can I have my vicodans?" but close.


So I just have the urge to heap praise on my pharmacists today. I have been very lucky tech. In all the years I've worked I can count on one hand the number of truly horrible pharmacists I've worked for. What made those pharmacists horrible? Attitude mostly, they were all basically what I would describe as Anti-Pharmacists. Most pharmacists would be the first to tell you that a tech can make or break your day. Its the same for us. We'll gladly lay in front of an old lady's walker just to give you time to run to the bathroom before she traps you at the consultation window with her 30 gallon garbage bag full of meds. What will make us this loyal you ask? Its simple really. If you treat us well, give a little praise every now and then where its due and have our backs when red faced customers are screaming that we messed up their insurance and "it can't possibly cost $1.05 its supposed to be free!"

Where I work now we tend to get yelled at a lot. We are just down the street from the country club if that tells you anything. Most of our patients are the local Dr's and their families, lawyers, judges. I'm not saying all of them but a good portion of them have the mentality that if they say jump we shouldn't ask how high but should instead immediately do it and read their mind to know how high. It leads to a lot of people being nasty to us. I had a woman pull into the drive through recently. I picked up the phone and said "May I help you?" Her response was "Smith, look in the refrigerator." My pharmacist at the time was Dr. Cookie. He looked at me and said, "No." Then took the phone and said, "May I help you?" She repeated the same line to him. He said, " So you are picking one up?" She looked at him like he had two heads. He ignored her and said, " If you need to pick one up I need the full name of the person the prescriptions for." You could tell it made her angry but she finally complied, and he got her prescription for her and finished out the transaction. I know it may seem silly but if I had done the same thing she would have complained and I'd probably have been reprimanded. He could do it without fear and did. So for all of you awesome pharmacists who treat us as team members and not lackeys and who actually value our help and opinions. I love you. I will do anything I can to make your day better. Thanks for being Awesome

Be A Dog

Our stores Lead Cosmetician gave us all a new philosophy to live by today. I'm sure someone else imparted this wisdom to her and that person deserves much credit for I think its probably the secret to life.

"We should all live life like a dog. If you can't eat it or hump it, piss on it and walk away"

Etiquette Schmetiquette

There have been rules for socially acceptable behavior recorded as far back as the 5th century. Those rules have changed in many many ways...but I have always believed that the basic ones have stayed remained relatively unchanged. Like, addressing people older than you with respect. Calling them Ms. or Mr. not John and Jane. That you don't say "Hey You" when trying to get someones attention. Instead say "Excuse me Ma'am, or Sir" You don't call people unflattering names when you don't get your way. You don't interrupt others conversations. You wait your turn patiently and never break line. You say please when asking for something and thank you when it is received. I was these lessons from a young age and still put them into practice but its taken me most of my life to realize I must have been raised on another planet. Very few people in society today use these rules. They must be extremely archaic. I'm very behind the times. What made me finally become aware that I am living in the dark ages? Two very enlightened customers.

I was bopping along doing my job, working the oh so important drive-thru. I had the telephone receiver to my ear speaking with the patient in the lane. When I hear over the sound of my own voice, "HEY! Where're the Hydroxycut?" Now, point number one, there is a phone in my hand and to my ear. Point two, I am very clearly speaking to the person through the glass. Point 3 my back was to this man and until I heard him I had no idea he was anywhere around. Now I must say the rudeness of this man thouroughly pissed me off. I made the decision to ignore him until I was finished. He continued to talk to my back the entire time I finished the transaction. I of course continued to pretend he wasn't there. When I was finished I turned and pretended I had just noticed him. "Can I help you sir?" He wasn't very happy by this time and demanded again to know where the Hydroxycut was. My drive-thru buzzer was going off again at this point and it was petty of me I know but I couldn't stop myself so I said, " Its in the diet section, to your right on the wall." Then I turned and picked up the phone to wait on the drive-thru. I felt him staring a hole through me but I didn't let it bother me. I know I solved nothing with my attitude, but lecturing him on manners wouldn't have gotten me anything but a customer complaint.

The second person with more modern manners was a drive thru customer on you guessed it...a CELL PHONE. This woman refused to hang up. Not only had we not filled the script she had dropped off over an hour earlier we couldn't even explain why because she would NOT get off the phone. I managed to tell her it required a PA in between her talking to her friend about some meeting. She finally stops the person shes talking to long enough to tell me she'd had 3 weeks of samples and couldn't just stop the drug. Coming up with a solution was tough, cuz basically i was talking to myself. Finally I just walked away and let the Pharmacist deal with her. Get this, her call ended and in the middle of getting counseling from him it rings again, she holds up her hand to stop him and and answers the call. I think at that point had I still been over there I would have lost it. He just let her finish her call and continued on.

This is getting a little ridiculous. SURELY something can be done. I know you can't FORCE people to behave in a civilized manner but we shouldn't be forced to pander to people with no couth.