Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Hey, Remember ME??

What's the deal with people who come into the pharmacy and treat you like you're so much gum on the bottom of their shoe, then return later in the day and act like nothing happened?

This woman comes in with a narcotic prescription that clearly states, "Do not fill before xx/xx/xxxx" --- the date being 2 days before today. We were not rude to her, and simply informed her that we could not fill the prescription due to these instructions, and of course she flips out, raises her voice and gives us all the usual reasons why we HAVE to fill it right NOW. She slams her hand on the counter and talks to me and my technicians like we are the scum of the earth. She then gets on her cell phone, paces around and liberally emits the "F" word. Finally, she stomps away.

Naturally, I'm sure she calls her doctor and a little while later the office calls and gives us permission to fill it early (surprised?). An hour later she returns with the prescription, and not only says not a WORD about the prior interaction but wants l'il old me to help her find some lotion and some kind of cleanser for her very dry skin.

W.T.F.? I swear if it was me, I would hand the prescription over, skulk over to a waiting chair and hide my head under a magazine till my name was called. In fact, I would never make that kind of a scene in the first place.

I understand people can be under a lot of stress. The grown-up ones are those who can say, "Sorry I was upset before. I'm having a bad day and I realize you are just doing your job."

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are assuming that she knows how much of a scene she even made... All she REALLY knows is that by throwing a tantrum at the pharmacy and at the office, she got her way. And in 2-3 weeks, she will be back again with her early refill request: rinse and repeat. She has neither care nor consideration for whatever stress she may have added to your day, she just knows that, ultimately, she got her way. Yea for positive reinforcement!

thatsit said...

They do it because people let them.

I understand that you said nothing because you have a job to do and you answer to a supervisor/boss and don't want the sh*t to roll downhill, but until someone calls her on it, she/he will continue to do it.

She'll piss off the wrong person, I guarantee it. Karma is a bi*c&.

Grumpy, M.D. said...

Because it's against the scumbag code to admit you were at fault.

Anonymous said...

You have to remember many of these folks are pond scum. If it was not for welfare and medicaid these gene lines would have died off and evolution would have taken the proper course...

I do not put up with a moment of foul language especially if there are children around. I calmly tell the person-"If this behavior or language continues you will be removed from the store and will be banned from this pharmacy"

Anonymous said...

I'm confused. It said don't fill before a date "2 days before today"? Um, isn't it then 2 days after it's okay to fill it?

What did I miss?

Frantic Pharmacist said...

Oops I goofed -- the date on the Rx was 2 days "later" than the current date, not before -- sorry!

Anonymous said...

One of our old patients who was aggesively racist to members of staff and customers and got banned for it recently got knifed and died. The person being charged for it was a black male, I felt sorry for the stabber as I knew what this guy was like and knew one day he would mouth off to the wrong person.

lovinmyjob said...

Yeah, this kind of thing drives me crazy. But, even more so is the doctor's office caving in on the fill date. I have had this happen plenty of times myself, but I still refuse to fill the rx. THAT is my call not the doctor's. Early is early regardless of what Dr. Spineless has to say. It's my license not his. We can expect this kind of behavior from someone addicted to drugs who is strung-out and out of meds. If there was an increase in dosage then that's fine, but if all is the same, I say still no fill.

The Ole' Apothecary said...

You've given us yet another perspective on how patients think pharmacists are less than human--like we are mannequins or like the vending machine that you bang on when it doesn't deliver. Why apologize to a Coke machine?

Alessa said...

As other posters have said - she doesn`t have any shame. She wasn`t frustrated, like you and I would get - she has gotten her way so often by throwing tantrums that it has become her method of choice when things don`t go her way.

Anonymous said...

The grown-up ones never would have thrown a fit in the first place, bad day or not!! I am proud to say that in my 25 years, I have never thrown a fit since I was 3, and I only did that ONCE.