Trying to close the pharmacy before a holiday is always a daunting task. About 10 minutes before closing a woman calls up and tells me she's trying to make it in to pick up her refills but the traffic is terrible and there's road construction along the way. She tells me where she is, and I know she's at least 20 minutes away on a good day. She launches into a fairly long whine about how our hours make it hard for her to get there and why were the hours changed (especially when there's so much road work this summer)?
I tell her I am sorry, but the hours had to be changed for financial reasons and in fact some people lost their jobs entirely. She is thoroughly wound up and all I can think of is the accident that's waiting to happen with this woman on her cell phone racing through construction on the interstate.
So I launch into the list of possible alternatives here.
1. We'll be open again at 8am tomorrow.
Answer: No, I can't get back there tomorrow and I need to pick it up tonight.
2. I can transfer the prescriptions to (chain pharmacy) that has later hours so you can
pick it up there.
Answer: No, I don't like them. I'd rather keep it with your pharmacy.
3. I can transfer the prescriptions to another one of our pharmacies that's closer to the area where you work so you don't have to race over here.
Answer: No, I don't like going there, it's too hard to park and the traffic's even busier.
4. I can mail you the prescriptions -- no mailing fee.
Answer: How do I pay for them then? Give you my credit card number? NO, I don't want to do that, it's not secure.
At this point, I really think she thought if she could just keep me on the phone long enough, she would force me to stay open till she got there. What am I supposed to do for you, lady ??? I feel for you, I really do, but I've been here for 9+ hours and I want to go home and sit down. Do you do this type of thing to other businesses too? Do they even give you the time of day? I feel like I'm trying to negotiate with a 2 year old!
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8 comments:
I was looking at a blurb about how banks have the worst hours. Haven't we accomodated a whole lot by being open EVERYDAY?
Lemme guess... Lortabs? lol
Screw them. Lock the door and go home.
SHE is the one being rude here, NOT YOU!
The reason they do this with pharmacy and with no other business is that we BARGAIN with them on this!
YOU BARGAINED WITH HER!
If you simply told her that you close at X:00 PM, PERIOD, that would have been the end of it.
When I close, we usually never shut it down on time. Somebody is always walking in and stands in line always looking up and left to right. Like they've never been there before and need to make sure it's a pharmacy they are at.
What has worked for us though, dim the lights 15 minutes before. It usually lowers the number of stragglers wandering over to the pharmacy.
Why do people think this is ok to do in pharmacy? If I hadnt planned my time right and phoned a supermarket and said, hi, i'm stuck in traffic can you stay open longer, they would say no, flat out and be closed.
We always get someone that comes in a 1 minute to 6pm with a list of medications they want, due to the NHS contract we are obliged to do it if they come in before closing, even if it is 1 minute to closing and they have 20 odd scripts. We also get people phone up all the time asking us to stay open. We even get doctors phone up and say, this patient has just left me and is on the way to you, do you mind staying open until they get there, if its next door, then fine, but the one that does it most is 25 minutes across town in evening traffic.
I am not able to go to the bank Monday through Friday because I work until 6:00 PM on the weekdays. So what do I do, I go on Saturday morning. People need to schedule their time more efficiently throughout the week.
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