Today was chaotic. It was one of those days where people were impatient. It was apparently our fault that they were late for work, or had another appointment, and they seemed surprised that the prescription-filling process didn't consist of merely pulling the next Big Mac off the conveyor. No matter what estimated wait time we gave people, they kept coming back to the counter after a few minutes, wasting the time of staff members who went chasing down their prescription to see how it 'was coming.' It's just insane behavior. SIT DOWN and WAIT for your name to be called.
What really drives me nuts is when someone comes up and declares, "they told me it would be 15 minutes and it's now been 35 minutes." So I get their prescriptions out there, and lo and behold, they're not in such a rush anymore!! They proceed to tie me up at that counter for another 15 minutes by settling in for a long discussion about just plain stupid stuff. Now, I don't mind answering any questions about the prescriptions. But I don't want to listen to long bitch sessions about insurance, or about why the doctor wrote for naproxen when you told him it doesn't work, or why the doctor only gave you 10 ambien (dammit, I wasn't in the room with you, I DON'T KNOW!!). I don't want to stand there while you decide whether or not to actually purchase the prescription you've been waiting impatiently for, and needed so desperately. All I know is you've been chomping at the bit since you handed these prescriptions over, you've rushed me and everyone else like you're our only customer, and now you refuse to let me get on to the next customer who's also been waiting longer than we told them they would (and will probably repeat this scenario.)
People need to understand: if you want me to spend time with YOU, you have to be willing to wait while I do the same for others. Just a little awareness of your surroundings would be super. And 'wait times' -- well, they're just an estimate. Get over it!!!!
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One thing that I find helps is that we have a clock hanging on the wall at the drop off window. We give them a time "It will be ready in 15 minutes at 4:15 **points at the clock** seems to keep the 15 minute people coming back after 5
Bravo! Could not have written it any better!
Unfortunately my company advertises "most rx's ready in 15 min or less." We have asked them repeatedly to pull that ad. When you work in a store that fills 600 a day, there's no way you can do a Rx in 15 min. We ended up putting up a dry erase wait-time board. But we were told to take it down. If people complain saying that we aren't following our ad, I tell them to feel free to call home office and complain about the ad. Maybe they'll pull it after too many complaints. Here's hoping!
This was why I liked to give pickup times rather than waiting times. "Come back at 2:47." they come back at 2:26 "Why isn't it ready yet?" "It's not 2:47 yet."
I love the ones who come back *exactly* fifteen minutes later on an extremely busy day and want to know why their prescription isn't ready RIGHT NOW. Because OF COURSE there isn't anyone waiting in front of you. And wait times *aren't* approximate...Just reading through the backlog of your posts at the moment, keep it up.
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