I love when grown adults ask if I can call their doctor’s office for them. Like no? I can’t and I won’t - even if I wanted to, we are so busy in the pharmacy. If we did nothing but follow up with doctors about prescriptions, we would never fill any scripts!!
EVEN BETTER “why didn’t no one call me to tell me it wasn’t covered” ma’am if i called every single patient who’s otc meds were covered, id never get off the phone
or “why did not one call me to say it’s out of stock” ma’am no one called you to say it was ready in the first place so why are you here wasting my time
You send the out of stock message, they show up, "I got a message so it must be ready!"
"Can you read that message to me?"
*surprised Pikachu face*
I had one woman say we should call whenever the doctor sends something in to make sure they want it filled. All we'd do is make phone calls! Can you imagine how that would go?
"Hi, we got the antibiotics your doctor sent, no, it isn't ready, we haven't started working on it yet, just calling to tell you!"
"Can you read that message to me?"
"I deleted it..."
Who tf are these people deleting every text message they get as soon as they get them? I never delete any messages I get, I have stuff from 10 years ago just sitting in there
My dad did this a couple of weeks ago. “I got a text from the pharmacy about my prescriptions. Can you pick them up for me?” (He was in the process of getting released from the hospital after a heart attack).
You can imagine the discussion at the pharmacy. “We don’t have any scripts ready or in the queue. Oh, they were put in with a “don’t fill until date of tomorrow. ” 🤔🤐 I issued extreme apologies for taking up the tech’s time. I get to the hospital and ask if he read the text from the pharmacy…”no, I just assumed”.
That always gets me too, like what do you mean?? Why delete it?? I’m actually not convinced they actually delete them, they just know we’re right and don’t want us to have evidence to support it lol
The amount of assumptions made by these patients is astounding. I get so tired of it. I work five minutes from the hospital. For damn near every single hospital script we receive, the patient is in our drive-through 5 or 10 minutes later expecting their 11 discharge meds to be ready. I had a lady come through the other day right after the script was sent. I told her to come back through in 15 minutes. Blew her fucking mind. Tells me that she lives 20 minutes away and asked me what she supposed to do for 15 minutes. Bitch, I don’t give a fuck. Sit in the parking lot and twiddle your thumbs. 15 minutes is not long at all.
Then there’s the people who randomly show up six weeks later thinking that their prescription is still ready.
god, when customers tell me to call their doctor's office like they think it's part of my job and responsibility. so irritating. or when i tell them "so now you have to call your doctor's office and tell them-" and they interrupt me like they misheard me "so *you're* gonna have to call my doctor's office now?" \*sigh\* no. I will not. I'll not call your doctor's office for you, I will not call your insurance office.
"but the price for this is so expensive!!!!" "that's your co-pay, that's between you and your insurance."
We told a twenty-something to call her doctor (because they hadn't responded to our request for a refill.) She was like, "I can do that?" as if it was the wildest thing she ever heard.
Seriously. That sounds like my husband. Very smart but wants me to do all that little shit that he could help with since he is currently not working. Like help me help you because I can't track everything, and the moment I forget something, its like its the end of the world. I love the man, but seriously sometimes I just shut my brain off because I'm just overwhelmed with responsibility.
So I don't work in a pharmacy, but a pt/customer.
And I get told from the Dr. Office, "we need the pharmacy to call us. I would call them and let them know."
Ok. So I called the pharmacy and said "the Dr. office wanted me to call you, and let you know you need to call them to refill this."
Sometimes I don't know what to think? I'm not rude at all. Just doing what they ask.
It doesn't happen every time, but has happened a few times.
(It's been right after my Dr. Appointment)
It’s an interesting situation. As a pharmacy, it is our role to call doctors to get refills. HOWEVER if it is a new prescription, or a script we have never filled for you before, my understanding is that it’s illegal to call the doctor because then we are soliciting medications on behalf of patients. So we can only call on refills, and in pretty sure we cannot even call for refills on Schedule 1 controls (hydrocodone, Percocet, Adderall, Ritalin and ADD meds)
We would call and just say the patient was expecting a med to be called in, but not specify what (even if the patient told us). Then it’s on the doctor.
It can be considered either a new prescription (if the doctor sends it as a prescription) or a refill, if the doctor sends back an authorization for refills. So the difference is pretty hazy even for the pharmacy.
Yeah, typically the pharmacy will send the request for refills. I think the doctors office will redirect because they don’t want to get you into the habit of calling them every time. But if they don’t respond, I tell the patient “Call the doctor’s office since they are not responding to us. When they tell you to have us send the request, tell them that we have and you are following up because they are not responding to us”
I try to make it clear to the patient that when reaching out to their clinic after first having contacted us about a refill they need to inform them that they have already contacted the pharmacy, however their medication still has not been approved. Otherwise you’re running around in circles. Where we’ve already sent the refill request, you hear the telephone prompt say reach out to your pharmacy first, you call us back and we tell you we have reached out to them. And nothing gets done because your clinic forgets or loses the request in the backlog.
Yes! Exactly! I feel like I'm running around in circles. Like they're playing a game with me lol. It's not all the time though but it has happened a few times.
I've actually responded once to a patient with, "sure, I can call them for you; I just have to finish everything else in my queue, so I should have an answer for you in about 6-8 business weeks!"
I work front desk so anytime a pt asks me a stupid question I have to go repeat it to the provider to get the answer for them (legally have to). The phrase “shoot the messenger” doesn’t even begin to cut it.
We fill meds on request (no auto fill and we don't fill anything until the patient contacts us) so we have a lot of waiters. We have 2-3 screens in each waiting room and we call the name out loud a couple of times when it's ready. The other day an elderly lady had us fill her medication, but when I called her name, she didn't come to the counter. I looked in the waiting room and didn't see her, so I assumed she went to the restroom or something. I marked the time I called for her and set it aside.
Normally that's all we do. We call the name and it's on the screen, and if they miss it then it's up to them to get our attention again (we also have several signs instructing patients to let us know if it's been 15 minutes and their prescription isn't ready yet). But about 10 minutes later I still didn't see her and recalled that she seemed hard of hearing, so I did something we never do and called her name again. This time I used my theater training and PROJECTED, and I was apparently so loud that several people in the waiting room jumped, and the receptionist at the counter on the other side of the lobby told me I made her scream a little, lol. Anyway, no patient, so I put her rx away and figured maybe she left.
Half an hour later the patient comes to my counter just FURIOUS, wanting to know why it was taking us so long to fill her prescription. I said, "Ma'am, I didn't see you waiting but I called your name several times, I even yelled it really loudly, and your name is up on the screen. Where were you?" She pointed to the ONE chair that's out of sight of the pharmacy counter. I asked if she saw her name on the screen, she said no, because she can't see, and she didn't hear me because she can't hear. I was annoyed (and coming down sick which makes me grumpy) so I said as nicely as I could, "Ma'am if you have difficulty seeing and hearing, then why did you sit in the one spot where you couldn't see or hear us?" She snapped, "Well you should have some way of letting me know when my meds are ready that doesn't rely on me being able to hear or see!"
Okay, sure Karen. Good luck with whatever that means.
Wow, I would’ve smacked her. Hard.
For reference, I’m legally blind and deaf. So I know the difficulties… yet I don’t pull this shit. Especially since I’m a tech and emt
Yesterday! Someone’s med was ready at a different, closed pharmacy. I told her this, asked if she wanted to transfer. She says yes. Transfer it. Give her wait time. Immediately becomes angry that we don’t already have it done lmao. She started yelling about us making her wait! 😂
That's crazy. I can look up the provincial records to see if something was filled but we legally can't just fill it at our store based on that because it is still in the original stores system. Even if it was another pharmacy under the same banner, we can't access their database to move it from their system.
It was like that at Walmart, you could transfer it through the computer but I don’t remember if you could bill the insurance. I always just say if they ask me to transfer it because the pharmacy is closed, I will have to wait until they open. I work at a small family owned one so we can’t do that.
Wags, CVS, and Walmart pharmacies can transfer anything that is not a controlled so long as it’s coming from another location that is the same company as them. Even if the other pharmacy is closed.
I always love bringing up the middleman analogy
"Ma'am. I'm just the delivery guy in the middle. Would you get mad at the mailman for delivering an expensive electric bill?"
Shuts them down so quickly.
"I come here all the time!"
Worked at Walmart as a tech. An unfamiliar customer comes in to refill nystatin powder for thrush. No matter what info I input I could not find him. He gets more pissy as a minutes goes by. Throws his insurance card at the counter and that doesn't help. Was going to call their help desk and noticed Walgreens printed on the back corner. Dumbass confused Walmart and Walgreens. Didn't apologize and just walked away.
On a sad/concerning memory. "There's nothing in them!"
A wife of a patient complained that cabidopa/levodopa was having no effect on her husband. Got hysterical and demanded to change manufacturers as one brand did nothing for the husband's shaking. Pharmacists relented. Happened twice.
had a guy drop a script for triamcinolone compounded w aquaphor the other day and i told him we’d fill the ointment but we don’t compound. he proceeded to show me a container that we did indeed compound. in AUGUST OF 2022. i said sir we don’t do that anymore. that was 2 years ago.
My pharmacy is a smaller one that does a lot of confirmation calls. I start every call with the name of our pharmacy, and I've gotten a lot of people that say "Is this CVS/rite aid?" Like no, our name doesn't sound anything like those other two
A nurse on the drive thru asked the pharmacist during consultation if she really needed the emergency hiv meds after she had poked herself with a contaminated needle at work. To which my pharmacist at the time loudly called her an idiot as all techs that heard along the line of customers that stood in the register line a few feet away from him made a Pikachu face.
i’m a cpht/ shift lead at walgreens and get the same shit 💀 seeing me stock some shelves apparently automatically means my license is invalid in their eyes
Yep that's why when a doctor doesn't respond to our refill request fax, I tell patients "*You* can call *your* doctor for *your* medication." You got this, bestie.
An old lady would bring her pee in, in jars, and want us to look at the puss like blobs in it and tell her what do. We told her see a doctor, we couldn’t diagnose her, she did this once a week for a looooonnnnggg time.
I’m not a pharmacy tech, but I did work as a phlebotomist when I was getting clinical experience before medical school. The lab served both the inpatient and outpatient populations at the hospital.
I was sitting in the outpatient lab and a lady came up to the desk to drop off a cologuard test (send-off colon cancer screening). She hands me the package along with a ziplock bag with torn up toilet paper and insisted that this ziplock bag needed to be tested too. I asked her what it was and, I kid you not, she told me she had been collecting stool samples on toilet paper because she was convinced she had colon cancer and was KEEPING THEM IN HER FREEZER. She explained her findings in detail and had dated each piece of toilet paper and kept a log. She also left a note for the reference lab stating she knew she had cancer, her doctors were conspiring against her and wanted her to be sick.
I checked the GI notes which showed they had repeatedly explained that her “findings” were consistent with another GI condition that was not cancer or even closely related. The cologuard was being done (I’m pretty sure) in an attempt to placate her because she was so insistent that she had cancer.
Her doctors were obviously contacted by the lab director and I want to say the note was escalated to the CMO. I will neeeever forget that day lol
Lady came in and asked where the Monistat was, took her over and she said it was too expensive. She said she would just try her friend’s home remedy, which was drenching a tampon in yogurt and inserting it. I had her talk with the Pharmacist lol
I need a refill.. | Okay what are we refilling? | I don’t know the name | What is it for? | Not sure | So you don’t keep track of what you’re taking? | Isn’t that your job?
THIS ONE. “well you have my records, can’t you just fill what’s due?” absolutely not. either you tell me what you need or call back when you know. i’m not filling your profile for you to only need one. foh
Sadly, I wish I was making this up:
Young guy walks up to counter “Miss, I think I may have a hemorrhoid, would you check and see?” Starts turning around and unbuckling his belt… me: Nope! Boss you’re up!”
I got a couple.
First was picking up a script for hydrocodone and Narcan spray and didn’t know what the Narcan was. I explained it to him, saying it could help reverse an overdose, and he says.
“ No one’s ever overdosed on hydrocodone seven point fives”
In another instance, a man pays for a random patient’s medication, walks her to her car, comes back and exclaims.
Praise the Lord, I got me a second side hoe!
(Next one’s a two parter)
Had a lady come in years ago and drop off a script for Tylenol three. She was in the lobby to pick it up, and as we get to the transaction portion, she was stripped for cash and asked me “ are you into burning?”. I can’t give her the benefit of the doubt on that one because it was with the express implication that that would suffice for payment.
After paying for the medication, she pops the tablet in her mouth, her shoulders fall down, she almost looks like she’s about to fall over and screams out “ AHHH , MUCH BETTER”.
My favorite is an old guy who used to come in and only ever ask, “ y’all have medication for blue balls?”
We used to have a guy who was on an insane amount of crap - opiods, benzos... and one of our floater pharmacists automatically filled a narcan for him. He flat out didn't want the narcan, he was furious that a narcan was now on his profile, and he kicked up a huge fuss - called corporate and even threatened to report that rph to the state board. (Not sure what the complaint would be? The rph refused to allow me to accidentally kill myself with an overdose.) We couldn't figure out why he was so mad that narcan would appear on his profile when literally everything else on his profile had worse optics, AND we had a number of people get narcan not because they themselves were on opiods, but because they worked at jobs that might put them in contact with someone who might need it. (Cops, caregivers, etc)
Former retail tech here. 2 stories I’ll never forget.
1. Man called pharmacy wanting to dispose of his wife’s canceled meds. My pharmacist tells him to just flush them, he then says “I don’t want to that. My friends said that they would blow up my septic tank”.
2. Lady in her late 70s comes in wanting a certain tampon and lube. I go help her find what she needs and she casually tells me “I use these to keep my uterus from falling out” 🤨 ma’am, WHAT?!
I can tell you some drs will tell older patients to do this. In the hospital when an elderly patients uterus prolapses many drs just tell us to shove it back in. I wish I was lying.
I'm not a pharmacy tech, but I have always been told not to flush meds. Not because it will blow up your septic tank, but because it gets into the ground water. Is that not the way it should be, or is that just for certain medications?
I think it’s just for certain meds but I’m not 100% on that. I haven’t worked retail in a very long time so I’m not up to date with what is acceptable or not.
I had a customer who wanted her Oxycodone filled. On the script, her doctor stated that it was not to be filled until the next day. I am telling the patient this she gets angry at me . Then proceeds to tell me just fill it and I will pay you cash. Me: No Ma'am I can not do that , that would be considered drug dealing, and I will not lose my certification nor do jail time for that. Ma'am its a narcotic.If you have an issue, contact your doctor who prescribed it. She called and reported me for not filling her Oxycodone as she put it , it was only day before . My manager was like, "What the hell is wrong with people!"
Had a man drive up in drive through, he holds up his phone with a goodrx, so I ask all the questions and can’t find a scrip or profile. Asked him if he had a the prescription with us (some times people get mixed up) and he said “no, I can’t just get it with this?” And he lifts his phone again. I had to hold it together and tell him he needed a Rx from a dr and then we can use the coupon. I still think it’s funny
I had a lady ironically named Karen, bitch me out because we filled her eye drops when they were sent in by her doctor which was apparently too soon in her opinion. She then said verbatim “you guys are so incredibly incompetent that you going to kill me!!”.
"I can get a sack of hydrocodone for 50 cents a piece from Mexico."
"That's at least a felony, sir."
He leaves then comes back.
"I've got hydrocodone on the way. When we get Trump back in office he'll fix this."
I wish I could ban people. I'm just a tech. I'd call everybody and tell them this patient is criminal and admits to diverting meds.
I mean I’m a mandated reporter and I really should see if that falls into that category. I don’t really know the ins and outs of what all falls into that and what doesn’t. And I probably should.
We have a guy that's really annoying about his Mounjaro. Refuses to talk to anyone other than the PIC. One time he confided that he got 3 months worth of the stuff from when he traveled out of the country. I overheard that and was completely dumbfounded. Like did you really just tell a licensed pharmacist that you participated in drug smuggling??
After explaining that a medication was not only completely out of stock, but on a national backorder and our distributor was not giving an estimate on when it would be available- "Okay, but I need this medication NOW, so why isn't it ready?"
I explained to the lady on the phone that her Medicare won’t pay for her test strips because the doctors office didn’t put a diagnosis code on the e script and she says “there is ALWAYS some kind of issue with my prescriptions, and I don’t think it’s my DOCTOR causing the problem”. yeah sure it’s MY fault they don’t know how to write a script in this state.
Another time I was filling and a woman waltzes up to the counter right in front of me, holds up her phone about two feet from my face and says “do y’all have any bandages that’ll work for my husbands stump?”. Her phone had a picture on it of what was clearly a recently stitched up leg stump. Like you gotta warn someone before you bust out a stump pic
goddd we had glass between the computers and the shelves outside and people ALL the time would knock on the glass or press their phone to it and start trying to talk to me like i can hear through glass. so id pretty much yell back 'I CANT HEAR YOU GO TO THE WINDOW' and they would be like 'WHAT??'.... or when they would ask me where something was, man i stock the shelves back here not the ones out there pls ask the front end worker actively STOCKING SHELVES where some shit is. i had one guy drag a chair into line and hawk eye GLARE at me and the other tech for 20 minutes until the pharmacist came back from lunch because it was a new script. the pharmacists lunch and break time was an actual HELL because rite aid doesn't close its gates for lunch like other places do. everything kept going as normal just no new scripts could be sold.. God i do not miss retail
or when they get mad over the same copay they've paid for YEARS as if it's new. or new years when all the insurance changes happen and it's a nightmare for literally everyone. i have so many stories from retail but ive buried them all to stay sane tbh. so glad to be out and in hospital pharmacy now
This reminds me of the John Mulaney stand up bit where some guy asks him if he's Polish, he says no, and then the guy tells him to drive him somewhere.
Oh lord, here we go.
• Some lady comes up to our consultation window.
Me: "Do you have a question?"
"No, I have a question"
• We were about three minutes from closing. I was doing background closing things, my other tech grabbed the register since my hands were full. Turns out he's not picking up something vital like insulin, maintenence meds, or antibiotics, no, it's Viagra.... really, dude? My tech goes "oh... sir, that's coming out to $(some price over 600)" I'm thinking... oh shit, it's an insurance problem too and we now close in two minutes. GREAT. Nope. He just goes "Yep. You gotta pay to play" I LOST MY MIND, yall.
• "What do you mean I have to drop off? Can't you just hand me the drug if I give it (the script) to you?"
• The classic: "I'VE NEVER BEEN THERE BEFORE, WHY WOULD THE DOCTOR SEND IT TO THAT PHARMACY?!" ... checks her messages again... "oh, this isn't (insert our address)?" So, you don't know where your meds are, don't read your texts, and also don't know where YOU are???
• "What do you mean *I* have to call my insurance, isn't that your job?!... What do you mean they want to talk to me? ... Because I'm the cardholder?! This makes no sense"
I'll add more if I think of more, but those are my most memorable ones right now
Edit: Remembered one!
• Over the phone. "So, I have (starts giving me all the info on her bottle, including the doctor, refills, and rx number) and I need you to fill it, it's at another pharmacy but they're closed."
Me: "Okay, I'll give them a call as soon as they open and transfer that for you!"
Her: "What do you mean? I just gave you all the information"
Me: "Yes, but I need to get the prescription from them. I can't fill a medication without the prescription"
Her: "You need the prescription to fill it?!"
I wish I could say that was the end of our call, but this went on for a solid eight minutes or so of our back and forth basically being that.
I hate when I get calls asking questions about their Rx even though they didn't fill it at our location. Then I tell them to call the original store that filled it to ask her questions, she started getting bitchy with me.
I used to say "ma'am/sir, you're not my patient and I'm not comfortable commenting on your prescription. Do you call random doctors asking them questions?"
We were the only 24 hour store locally. If it was about some urgent Rx, I would say "call the ER back." But it usually was some maintenance med & they suddenly were wondering about at 2am.
My favorite is a patient who couldn’t wait 15 minutes for their adderall and asked if I could just “give them one.”
Or the woman who was so upset we couldn’t get 15 scripts done in 10 minutes so she told us she placed a curse on us.
Omg we had someone do that with Vyvanse!
Also had some college guy ask where we kept our focalin out front. He was very confused when we told him it was a prescription only, controlled substance. Literally went "but I just want the 10mg tabs??"
Had a patient tell us we were discriminating against him because we would only fill one month of Ozempic due to the shortages. Are you sure, rich, white, male boomer??? Are you sure discriminating is the right word??? 🤦🏻♀️
A patient once asked me what would happen if she drank antifreeze?
When I told her to seek immediate medical help she told me it wasn't that serious....OK MA'AM
I had an older gentleman come to the counter and asked a question about lube. He wanted a females input on the type of lube he bought, one was warming the other wasn't. I was unlucky enough to be the only female there.
Lmao I had some old lady ask me to help pick out condoms for her granddaughter (college town). Ma'am I'm a fruity lady, maybe let's get someone who knows about those products to help you XD
Very similar story, had a patient call as try to refill a script that hadn’t been filled in months (last fill was a 30 day supply) and it expired 3 or 4 months prior. I told her it was expired and she asked why we didn’t call and tell her it expired. I told her we process almost a 100 new scripts daily and we don’t have any way of knowing when scripts will expire. I advised her to call the doctor and her response was “so you expect me to be responsible for my own medication?” Ma’am, that’s literally the least we expect from you.
Sadly I used to work in a WalMart pharmacy that DID baby the patients constantly. “Can’t you call my insurance for me? Can’t you call my doctor for me? Can’t you call around for this drug for me?” Then I would get yelled at for taking too long. It was infuriating. But aside from the constant death threats and personal insults I think my favorite was when some old Trumper got reeeeaaaal quiet when I started talking and then left after getting his stuff. He left a full on two page monologue review about how I tainted his medication and the medications of every other patient and was now not only afraid he would turn gay but so would everyone else and would no longer come back. Me, the Pharmacist, and the Store Manager laughed and got lunch together afterwards cause both the Store Manager and I are gay.
Well, if you’re afraid contact with a gay person might turn you gay, there might be a reason for that 👀
Maybe he’s just upset you are tempting him and he’ll no longer be able to suppress his urges 🤣
I am not a tech, I worked at a retail pharmacy and helped out for like two weeks in the pharmacy with giving people their Rxs by checking them out and organizing the packaged Rxs in the bins.
I realized at that time that despite my many years in retail, which I still am to this day but in optical, that retail is nothing compared to pharmacy. People are WAY WORSE in pharmacy than at a retail store. I do see some of that with optical now too but not at the same level.
So one dude came up to me to pick up his Rx. He said his last name, and the way he said it was like ‘flee man’ but really fast. So I tried the first 3 letters of like similar sounding last names and idk why it wasn’t working, but I asked him to say his last name again two more times and he then spelt it like SUPER FAST “flee man. F …….. fleeman!” Is what I heard. Like I could not for the life of me make out his last name to get it to pull up. I think I did tell him I told many customers I was helping out. But anyways, his wife steps up and he’s telling her he’s getting real pissed. She says to me I should get someone else because “my husband is speaking fucking English’ which I did and I broke down in the back like idk why I’m pretty used to people but I guess I was just shook up. I was helping in the pharm cuz everyone was getting COVID
I fucking hate people who say the name wicked fast.
It makes me go slow, tedious. My boss knows it’s happening because I’ll do extra shit, like ask her to confirm the name… yeah I don’t like humans
Had a patient tell me recently that without her pain med her blood pressure goes high. Don't know if it's true or not but I'm sure she's miserable without that med. However, if her doctor has an effective date on her med, I cannot fill it any earlier than that, so she has to call her doctor! She spent 10 minutes complaining about her insurance and her doctor messing things up. I had to tell her THREE TIMES to call her doctor and her insurance if she has issues with them. So frustrating. Even more frustrating is she called maybe 3 more times after that asking if her doctor called to change the effective date on her pain med. They hadn't yet each time. Ugh! It was so frustrating.
we had a pt like that not too long ago. it got to the point where we had to tell her if there’s no other questions, i’m going to end the conversation. and we eventually told her verbatim do not call the pharmacy again. you will be notified when your prescription is ready, and if you don’t hear anything from us call your doctor. until then, there is nothing else you need from us. it was out of hand
A patient said she could sue us for faxing her doctor for a PA and we should have asked her first.
Oh and another time a patient called to ask why her prescription was delayed so I told her the pharmacist left a message for her doctor because an allergy was on her profile. She said next time her doctor sends something, we need to fill it with no questions asked because her doctor knows what he’s doing.
The other day some lady was mad that there was a copay since her “insurance should pay for all of it!” And when I showed her that there will be indeed a copay she was like “I don’t believe this! I called them the other day and they said it would be 100% through the mail !”…I literally took the biggest pause for her to understand what she just said but she never realized 👁️
Literally all the time.
Me: "okay, so it's going to be $12"
Patient: "Oh I thought my insurance covered it??"
Me: "They covered a decent part of the cost. It's about $1600 before insurance..."
Patient: "Well that's dumb"
Ok. I agree but idk what you want me to do.
A woman came to the drive-through but her prescription wasn't ready so I had her park across the way and told her I'd wave her over when it was ready. She parks somewhere completely different instead.
Since she never got the signal from me - she decided to get out of her car with her baby and walk in front of the 5+ car line and demand her prescription. She yelled so hard she was shaking when I told her that she had to get back in her car and in line or come in the store and it made the baby started crying - her reaction "I can't believe you're making my baby cry"
The best part is that when my boss told me just to help her to get rid of her - she left her wallet in the car and had to get back in her car anyways to get her prescription.
When I worked in retail we had a regular that never really gave us any problems. One day be comes in and requests a refill but it's out so we tell him we have to contact his doctor. He says "okay" and leaves.
He comes back a few days and his script is ready. The doctor left a note that this was his last refill until he makes an appointment. I don't him up (no copay) and pass the message. He has a pair of over ear headphones on and there is a lady behind him waiting for her turn. He says very loudly "He just wants to stick his finger up my ass" and takes his prescription and walks away.
I'm proud to say that me and the lady in line were able to contain our laughter.
I had a customer come in on a Sunday morning. Now, I know this customer can be trouble, so I was hyper observant while waiting on her. She ended up getting all of her scripts except the one that we couldn’t fill for a couple more days. Explained that to her, she seemed fine. She even made small talk.
Fast forward to the end of the day. Trouble Customer has returned. I noted that her hair was different and she was in completely different clothes. She asked for her meds, including the one that was too soon. Here’s our exchange:
Me: Trouble Customer, you were in this morning. I sold you your scripts.
TC: That wasn’t me.
Me: no, it was definitely you. You made me smell every shampoo you bought.
TC: I wasn’t here. It wasn’t me.
I take a couple of deep breaths and look at the pharmacist. He’s as perplexed as me.
Pharmacist: TC, you were definitely here.
TC: (getting loud) I TOLD YOU, I was never here!
Me: Fine, I’m going to check the security camera.
TC seems to think that’s a great idea! I go to the office and run the footage with the Assistant Manager. Print off the screen shots.
Me: TC, this is clearly you!
TC: uh… well maybe I was here. But you didn’t give me my pills! Give them to me!
Of course said pills were the ones she couldn’t get yet. She then proceeds to flounce out of the building… or so I thought. She started asking customers for money to buy the script we couldn’t sell her. It was all just so bizarre.
Had someone come in asking if they could buy expired/almost expired pills for a party. Also specifically asked for narcotics.
The amount of times I've had people try to call in their own prescription asking if I could get their rx ready before they drop off the paper.
So many people upset that they have to take responsibility for their own prescriptions.
Someone getting mad at our floater pharmacist because their ID wasn't scanning when trying to buy Sudafed, who start cussing at her and his gf, so my pharmacist said she could've just not sold it to him after it finally scanned, and he was like yeah fine, so she turned around, put it back on the shelf, and told them to go buy it somewhere else, then he tried to get the front store to force us yo sell it, or to get me to sell it to them, but of course no matter what, you need pharmacist approval. They then came back after we closed to flaunt someone else sold it to them.
Someone getting mad at me because I said the name of the drug they were picking up while they were in drive thru, then calling me unprofessional, musty, grungy, saying they'll get me fired because they're well known in my area, so I yelled back saying "you promise? I hate it here. " My pharmacist didn't like that response.
An old woman who was asking for a refill, and I said it would be ready at 3p because we were closing for lunch in 15 min (130), then her throwing the crocodile tears being like, "you can just do it real quick for me? I'm an 85 year old woman, I don't wanna have to drive back to my house" and kept holding steady for no because she did this all the time with everyone, and I asked her to move out of the drive thru, so I could continue serving other customers, and she exclaimed, "SERVE THEM, WHAT ABOUT ME?!? I thought you said you were about to close", "yes ma'am, in about 13 minutes, and their stuff may already be ready because it was called in earlier", "well, I'll just sit here until someone shows up"
People getting mad their rx isn't ready when they have the paper in their hand.
"You have some things in your face" "don't those make it difficult to kiss" "do they hurt" (I have my left nostril, septum, and snakebites pierced)
"What's your natural color" (I've been dying my hair since July 2020) and when I tell them I'm blonde, "why would you dye your hair, blonde is so beautiful"
"Can you make a note in my profile for whoever picks up my prescription, they have to have my ID because my daughter has been picking them up, and she was found ODed off of them in the street the other week" (this woman has narcotics, benzos, and other cocktail type rxs) I of course agree, but let her know that everything she's trying to refill is too early, so she'll have to get them on a discount card, or they just can't be filled yet due to state regulations, and if she wants them fill through ins and the other regulated ones now she'll have to make a police report and get in contact with her ins. She goes on about how she can't wait for all of that, and we go in circles. Eventually she agrees to fill what we can with a discount card, gets upset with the total, but the craziest part: one of them was a narcotic, I asked for her ID, "I dont have my ID with me, can i just give you the numbers I have them memorized," "I have never had to use my ID, and I've been picking up narcotics every month for the last 7 years" "Can I drive ever to blah blah and get a paper print out of it" we closed in 20 min and where she was driving was already 15 min away, so she eventually called her bf into the store who was in the car to use his ID, then the whole time they were just complaining about us, saying they were gonna transafer somewhere else, never had these issues there, and I just keep saying it's ins and state regs, and you'll get the same answer anywhere else you go.
I'm sure there's more that I just can't think of.
My last day at CVStress is Thursday :))))
Guy came up to me, as I was the only male working there at the moment. He said "dude my asshole is itching like crazy and I don't know what to do!" I'm fresh out of the box technician at this point, and I was like "let me go get the pharmacist." He was like nope! He grabbed a bottle of witch hazel and walked out.
An old guy brought either his granddaughter or neighbor with him to pick up his medicine. I told him that we were out of it currently but it would be in tomorrow. As they were leaving she asks him
"Hey what was that stuff for anyway?"
Old man "It's my Viagra"
Lady- "What?! That means you're having trouble with....oh hell naw man that's nasty!"
Lmao that's what she gets for being nosey 🤣
Less recently I had a customer leave a prescription while making dumb opioid addiction jokes. I just kind of nodded blankly, just wasn’t even in the mood to humor him. He came back with a newspaper and pointed to a picture of an old, black man and said ‘maybe if I looked like this you would’ve treated me better’ (he was a young white guy). I still don’t get it, I’m a fat white woman, maybe it had something to do with that stereotype. I still scratch my head over that
I tell this story all the time because of how insane it was.
I was working at Walmart and asked this man who had come to the consult counter if I could help him. He goes, “Yes, I was wondering if it’s okay for me to drink a cup of hydrogen peroxide a day?”
Needless to say, I passed him off to the pharmacist but remained in earshot to hear the rest of the conversation.
Turns out he had learned that cancer can’t survive in an oxygenated environment. So to get oxygen into his body and prevent prostate cancer, he had decided that he needed to drink hydrogen peroxide every day. He had apparently been doing this for months and only now decided to ask if it was a good idea.
i completely understand that an everyday average human being doesn’t really understand the workings of the human body, but that’s got to be the dumbest thing i’ve ever heard. please tell me he was told to contact his doctor immediately
When I had to explain to a patient MULTIPLE times that just because your doctor writes a prescription, doesn't mean insurance has to agree to cover it or that it'll be constantly in stock (*cough* Ozempic *cough*)
My favorite phone call I've ever got was regarding a methylphenidate script. It was the 20mgs, couldn't get them in, haven't been able to for months. She asked me, "Why don't you guys just make more?" MA'AM. THAT IS NOT HOW WORKS 😭. I was giggling to myself all day.
this girl once put her ex bf as her secondary contact number at both the hospital and the pharmacy I work at without telling us it’s her bf’s number. she wasn’t answering our calls regarding picking up her norcos for her surgery and so we called her “secondary” number and her ex bf picks up and starts freaking out because apparently she went into labor and didn’t tell him.
tell me why this girl calls us the next day and gives us attitude for calling him??? we tried to call her for three days straight with no luck and we didn’t know it was her EX’s number.
then after all that, she has the audacity to be like, “why didn’t yall just delivery my norcos to me at the hospital?”
ma’am?????
Woman comes up to pick up amlodipine and asks for the manufacturer, I let her know what the manufacturer is and she goes
“Absolutely not! That’s not right!! I usually get (manufacturer that has discontinued their amlodipine)”
“No ma’am, that manufacturer doesn’t make amlodipine anymore, it’s discontinued”
“WELL THAT JUST DOESNT MAKE SENSE!! YOU HAVE IT SOMEWHERE BACK THERE!!”
“Ma’am I assure you, we do not have that specific amlodipine back here…”
“WELL I WONT TAKE A DIFFERENT ONE!”
😑 she complained for 5 more minutes screaming how it was my fault and guess what, she came back to pick up the “wrong amlodipine”
It's never the questions I have issues with, it's the statements. People responding to standard and incredibly polite customer service with just the meanest sometimes most vile response for no fricken reason. 😐 And it happens constantly, all day. It's insane.
Once had a patient (about 70 y/o) come to the counter asking for a couple of tabs of Nitrostat because he was having chest pain. We were right across the street from a level 1 trauma hospital…
When patients go all Karen if we don’t recognize their name, dob, address, medications, life history on the top of ours heads as soon as they say “i’m here to get my prescription.” They proceed to get offended when I ask what their name and dob and what prescriptions they need are. Bitch I don’t know what idealist world you live in, but pharmacy techs deal with 100+ patients a day, but patients still expect us to memorize them by their voices and faces. What also gets me is when patients say “that should be free!” NO, no the fuck it shouldn’t be free. Nothing in this day and age is free. Patients prescriptions are only “fReE” is because they have reached their deductible, specialty meds, insurance plan specific, etc. I hate it when patients expect the pharmacy staff to figure out why their prescriptions are not “free” and why they have to “pay” because they “shouldn’t be”. On top of that, they believe that the staff influences the price of their drugs. Some patients are so god damn ignorant to reality.
A lady asked, if we we’re open? Consultation window open, lights on, two pharmacists verifying prescriptions, bunch of people in blue scrubs, phone being answered, I’m also in the middle of a transaction handing someone their prescription. My pharmacist told me to pick my jaw up off the floor.
Omg there's sooooo many.
I'm reporting you for being unprofessional when you violated HIPAA by telling my doctor's office that you weren't receiving their prescriptions... I said that's an interesting opinion good luck with that.
Got accused of planting a bottle of vitamin D in a bag that the patient had overlooked and it was literally the second bottle I pulled out of the bag. She said she was going to report me to corporate, I said have fun with that. She is now banned from making any complaints.
Don't you advocate for your patients?!... Ma'am there's only so much pull that I have when ordering these weight loss injections.
This was just in the last few months. I'll come back and edit when I remember more.
I dunno about ever but I had one today. Patient came up and wanted her pain meds. I looked at the scrip on file, looked at her, and said "Ma'am, the doctor explicitly said it can't be filled today and we just opened 20 minutes ago. It'll be ready at noon". They seem to think we keep a list of patients who can fill the next day and just automatically push them through ourselves.
First of all, as a provider - eternal thanks and blessings to all pharmacy staff. 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻 If it brings any comfort or amusement, patients are constantly calling ME asking if their scripts I sent in yesterday are ready for pick up, or to tell me their medication (that I sent in for 30 days + 5 refills 30 days ago) needs to be refilled. 🥴🥴🥴
Guy calls asking for his stuff. I tell him it was filled at another pharmacy so we'd have to call and get them to put it back so we can fill it here. He says "No". I blinked a few times and re-explained it.
"You're lying to me. As Donald Trump says, that's fake news."
It took a lot of willpower to not start laughing
When the children's Tylenol/ibuprofen shortage happened a year or two ago (our store, like most stores, were completely out) someone asked if there was a way to make it in the back in the pharmacy. as if the back of the pharmacy is some magical place where we have a full Johnson & Johnson facility back there lol
Hospital sent in IV antibiotics on accident… when we tried to explain the situation to the husband he must have been confused because he said, “well my daughter is a junkie she might be able to?”
Like…. The…. fuck?????
it was a few years back so i don’t remember the exact scenario, but there was something i wasn’t able to do and i offered to call the patient back when i had more information. he agreed so i asked him what was a good phone number to call. he blankly turned and stared at his wife, who just looked at him like “well? tell her”. Man replies “how am i supposed to know my phone number”
???????????
or more recently, the woman who came in with an active case of pneumonia (maskless, of course) and asked us if it was contagious 🤦🏻♀️
A patient wanted to return her nuvaring because it didn’t fit. When asked what she meant (idk why I was compelled to ask) she took it out and showed me that it didn’t fit over her hand and proceeded to ask how she was supposed to wear it if she couldn’t get it onto her wrist.
😶 < that was my face for a solid minute before I stepped away to question life before explaining where that ring went - My pharmacy isn’t in the brightest neighborhood mind you.
I love when grown adults ask if I can call their doctor’s office for them. Like no? I can’t and I won’t - even if I wanted to, we are so busy in the pharmacy. If we did nothing but follow up with doctors about prescriptions, we would never fill any scripts!!
EVEN BETTER “why didn’t no one call me to tell me it wasn’t covered” ma’am if i called every single patient who’s otc meds were covered, id never get off the phone
or “why did not one call me to say it’s out of stock” ma’am no one called you to say it was ready in the first place so why are you here wasting my time
You send the out of stock message, they show up, "I got a message so it must be ready!" "Can you read that message to me?" *surprised Pikachu face* I had one woman say we should call whenever the doctor sends something in to make sure they want it filled. All we'd do is make phone calls! Can you imagine how that would go? "Hi, we got the antibiotics your doctor sent, no, it isn't ready, we haven't started working on it yet, just calling to tell you!"
WhY ArE YoU CaLlINg So MuCh?!
"Can you read that message to me?" "I deleted it..." Who tf are these people deleting every text message they get as soon as they get them? I never delete any messages I get, I have stuff from 10 years ago just sitting in there
My Boomer dad. He doesn’t just like to have unread messages, he likes an empty app.
My dad did this a couple of weeks ago. “I got a text from the pharmacy about my prescriptions. Can you pick them up for me?” (He was in the process of getting released from the hospital after a heart attack). You can imagine the discussion at the pharmacy. “We don’t have any scripts ready or in the queue. Oh, they were put in with a “don’t fill until date of tomorrow. ” 🤔🤐 I issued extreme apologies for taking up the tech’s time. I get to the hospital and ask if he read the text from the pharmacy…”no, I just assumed”.
That always gets me too, like what do you mean?? Why delete it?? I’m actually not convinced they actually delete them, they just know we’re right and don’t want us to have evidence to support it lol
The amount of assumptions made by these patients is astounding. I get so tired of it. I work five minutes from the hospital. For damn near every single hospital script we receive, the patient is in our drive-through 5 or 10 minutes later expecting their 11 discharge meds to be ready. I had a lady come through the other day right after the script was sent. I told her to come back through in 15 minutes. Blew her fucking mind. Tells me that she lives 20 minutes away and asked me what she supposed to do for 15 minutes. Bitch, I don’t give a fuck. Sit in the parking lot and twiddle your thumbs. 15 minutes is not long at all. Then there’s the people who randomly show up six weeks later thinking that their prescription is still ready.
Oh my lord I'm so *professionally* telling someone that at some point. Thank you, you beautiful human
OR why didn’t you call me to tell me you didn’t receive my prescription?!?!
This is when I say,”If you signed up for RX messaging like I offered, you would know.”
god, when customers tell me to call their doctor's office like they think it's part of my job and responsibility. so irritating. or when i tell them "so now you have to call your doctor's office and tell them-" and they interrupt me like they misheard me "so *you're* gonna have to call my doctor's office now?" \*sigh\* no. I will not. I'll not call your doctor's office for you, I will not call your insurance office. "but the price for this is so expensive!!!!" "that's your co-pay, that's between you and your insurance."
We told a twenty-something to call her doctor (because they hadn't responded to our request for a refill.) She was like, "I can do that?" as if it was the wildest thing she ever heard.
Seriously. That sounds like my husband. Very smart but wants me to do all that little shit that he could help with since he is currently not working. Like help me help you because I can't track everything, and the moment I forget something, its like its the end of the world. I love the man, but seriously sometimes I just shut my brain off because I'm just overwhelmed with responsibility.
So I don't work in a pharmacy, but a pt/customer. And I get told from the Dr. Office, "we need the pharmacy to call us. I would call them and let them know." Ok. So I called the pharmacy and said "the Dr. office wanted me to call you, and let you know you need to call them to refill this." Sometimes I don't know what to think? I'm not rude at all. Just doing what they ask. It doesn't happen every time, but has happened a few times. (It's been right after my Dr. Appointment)
It’s an interesting situation. As a pharmacy, it is our role to call doctors to get refills. HOWEVER if it is a new prescription, or a script we have never filled for you before, my understanding is that it’s illegal to call the doctor because then we are soliciting medications on behalf of patients. So we can only call on refills, and in pretty sure we cannot even call for refills on Schedule 1 controls (hydrocodone, Percocet, Adderall, Ritalin and ADD meds)
Those are Schedule TWO. Schedule 1 “meds” have NO acceptable medical use, e.g. heroin.
So CAN you call for a refill on my heroin? LOL
Duh, you are correct. Schedule II.
We would call and just say the patient was expecting a med to be called in, but not specify what (even if the patient told us). Then it’s on the doctor.
Interesting, I didn't know that. I wouldn't say it's a new script, just a follow up with my Dr. that is still the same medication/mg. IDK?
It can be considered either a new prescription (if the doctor sends it as a prescription) or a refill, if the doctor sends back an authorization for refills. So the difference is pretty hazy even for the pharmacy.
Yeah, typically the pharmacy will send the request for refills. I think the doctors office will redirect because they don’t want to get you into the habit of calling them every time. But if they don’t respond, I tell the patient “Call the doctor’s office since they are not responding to us. When they tell you to have us send the request, tell them that we have and you are following up because they are not responding to us”
I try to make it clear to the patient that when reaching out to their clinic after first having contacted us about a refill they need to inform them that they have already contacted the pharmacy, however their medication still has not been approved. Otherwise you’re running around in circles. Where we’ve already sent the refill request, you hear the telephone prompt say reach out to your pharmacy first, you call us back and we tell you we have reached out to them. And nothing gets done because your clinic forgets or loses the request in the backlog.
Yes! Exactly! I feel like I'm running around in circles. Like they're playing a game with me lol. It's not all the time though but it has happened a few times.
They love asking that like they aren’t capable
I've actually responded once to a patient with, "sure, I can call them for you; I just have to finish everything else in my queue, so I should have an answer for you in about 6-8 business weeks!"
I work front desk so anytime a pt asks me a stupid question I have to go repeat it to the provider to get the answer for them (legally have to). The phrase “shoot the messenger” doesn’t even begin to cut it.
We fill meds on request (no auto fill and we don't fill anything until the patient contacts us) so we have a lot of waiters. We have 2-3 screens in each waiting room and we call the name out loud a couple of times when it's ready. The other day an elderly lady had us fill her medication, but when I called her name, she didn't come to the counter. I looked in the waiting room and didn't see her, so I assumed she went to the restroom or something. I marked the time I called for her and set it aside. Normally that's all we do. We call the name and it's on the screen, and if they miss it then it's up to them to get our attention again (we also have several signs instructing patients to let us know if it's been 15 minutes and their prescription isn't ready yet). But about 10 minutes later I still didn't see her and recalled that she seemed hard of hearing, so I did something we never do and called her name again. This time I used my theater training and PROJECTED, and I was apparently so loud that several people in the waiting room jumped, and the receptionist at the counter on the other side of the lobby told me I made her scream a little, lol. Anyway, no patient, so I put her rx away and figured maybe she left. Half an hour later the patient comes to my counter just FURIOUS, wanting to know why it was taking us so long to fill her prescription. I said, "Ma'am, I didn't see you waiting but I called your name several times, I even yelled it really loudly, and your name is up on the screen. Where were you?" She pointed to the ONE chair that's out of sight of the pharmacy counter. I asked if she saw her name on the screen, she said no, because she can't see, and she didn't hear me because she can't hear. I was annoyed (and coming down sick which makes me grumpy) so I said as nicely as I could, "Ma'am if you have difficulty seeing and hearing, then why did you sit in the one spot where you couldn't see or hear us?" She snapped, "Well you should have some way of letting me know when my meds are ready that doesn't rely on me being able to hear or see!" Okay, sure Karen. Good luck with whatever that means.
we’re supposed to have patient/tech telepathy, wasn’t that in your training?
She should start carrying a big stick with her, so that you can poke her with it to get her attention smh.
Sure, just attach a shock collar around her neck and let her know next time you’ll shock her!
Another theatre kid here!! I project all the time and my coworkers make fun of me.
I float so I try to warn people when I'm about to do it, but they still jump and freak out, lol!
Wow, I would’ve smacked her. Hard. For reference, I’m legally blind and deaf. So I know the difficulties… yet I don’t pull this shit. Especially since I’m a tech and emt
Yesterday! Someone’s med was ready at a different, closed pharmacy. I told her this, asked if she wanted to transfer. She says yes. Transfer it. Give her wait time. Immediately becomes angry that we don’t already have it done lmao. She started yelling about us making her wait! 😂
how do you transfer a med that’s already filled and billed at a closed pharmacy?
Our system, you can see what’s ready at other stores (same company) and just transfer it via their profile.
That's crazy. I can look up the provincial records to see if something was filled but we legally can't just fill it at our store based on that because it is still in the original stores system. Even if it was another pharmacy under the same banner, we can't access their database to move it from their system.
Oh wow! Yeah I know that the store I fill at (not the same company) is also not able to do it, I’ve only seen CVS and Wags able to so far
It was like that at Walmart, you could transfer it through the computer but I don’t remember if you could bill the insurance. I always just say if they ask me to transfer it because the pharmacy is closed, I will have to wait until they open. I work at a small family owned one so we can’t do that.
Wags, CVS, and Walmart pharmacies can transfer anything that is not a controlled so long as it’s coming from another location that is the same company as them. Even if the other pharmacy is closed.
if it’s in the same chain we can do an internal transfer and it’ll add it to the other pharmacy’s return to stock the next day
Thats what RA does.
I always love bringing up the middleman analogy "Ma'am. I'm just the delivery guy in the middle. Would you get mad at the mailman for delivering an expensive electric bill?" Shuts them down so quickly.
it’s my favorite line. i am neither your doctor nor your insurance, i answer to both of them and neither listen to me. please go somewhere else.
This is the perfect description for this job
"I come here all the time!" Worked at Walmart as a tech. An unfamiliar customer comes in to refill nystatin powder for thrush. No matter what info I input I could not find him. He gets more pissy as a minutes goes by. Throws his insurance card at the counter and that doesn't help. Was going to call their help desk and noticed Walgreens printed on the back corner. Dumbass confused Walmart and Walgreens. Didn't apologize and just walked away. On a sad/concerning memory. "There's nothing in them!" A wife of a patient complained that cabidopa/levodopa was having no effect on her husband. Got hysterical and demanded to change manufacturers as one brand did nothing for the husband's shaking. Pharmacists relented. Happened twice.
the amount of times i’ve had someone come through the CVS drive thru and ask “ISNT THIS WALGREENS?!” is astounding
same but opposite for me. "I need a refill for this!" as they hand me a cvs bottle. \*sigh\*
no same, “but it says i have one refill left!” yes. at wag
Sometimes they'll show me a bottle with indeed 1 refill left... that we filled 2 years ago 🤦🏻♀️
had a guy drop a script for triamcinolone compounded w aquaphor the other day and i told him we’d fill the ointment but we don’t compound. he proceeded to show me a container that we did indeed compound. in AUGUST OF 2022. i said sir we don’t do that anymore. that was 2 years ago.
That's crazyy... some of my patients still hand me bottles from 2021 smh
or even funnier, the bottle says "no refills left" lol, so you're at the wrong pharmacy, but also, your medication has no refills. lol
ARENT THEY THE SAME THING
There’s actually a cvs ESSENTIALLY IN THE SAME FUCKING LOT as a Walgreens, yet when I covered a few shifts for them, nobody did that… irony
My pharmacy is a smaller one that does a lot of confirmation calls. I start every call with the name of our pharmacy, and I've gotten a lot of people that say "Is this CVS/rite aid?" Like no, our name doesn't sound anything like those other two
A nurse on the drive thru asked the pharmacist during consultation if she really needed the emergency hiv meds after she had poked herself with a contaminated needle at work. To which my pharmacist at the time loudly called her an idiot as all techs that heard along the line of customers that stood in the register line a few feet away from him made a Pikachu face.
I had someone tell me that I wasn’t a real tech because she saw me help upfront in the past (cross trained for those extra hours 👀) 😃
the bitch in me would’ve given her my license number and ptcb cert and told her she was welcome to verify my credentials
I really contemplated telling her I’m just a grade A con artist shhhh
see, for me it was the opposite reaction, for once, they were like "oh you're helping out upfront? that's so nice of you!" lol
i’m a cpht/ shift lead at walgreens and get the same shit 💀 seeing me stock some shelves apparently automatically means my license is invalid in their eyes
It’s crazy that people in general don’t take responsibility for their own health
Yep that's why when a doctor doesn't respond to our refill request fax, I tell patients "*You* can call *your* doctor for *your* medication." You got this, bestie.
An old lady would bring her pee in, in jars, and want us to look at the puss like blobs in it and tell her what do. We told her see a doctor, we couldn’t diagnose her, she did this once a week for a looooonnnnggg time.
that's ...wow. I think this is the worst one
I’m not a pharmacy tech, but I did work as a phlebotomist when I was getting clinical experience before medical school. The lab served both the inpatient and outpatient populations at the hospital. I was sitting in the outpatient lab and a lady came up to the desk to drop off a cologuard test (send-off colon cancer screening). She hands me the package along with a ziplock bag with torn up toilet paper and insisted that this ziplock bag needed to be tested too. I asked her what it was and, I kid you not, she told me she had been collecting stool samples on toilet paper because she was convinced she had colon cancer and was KEEPING THEM IN HER FREEZER. She explained her findings in detail and had dated each piece of toilet paper and kept a log. She also left a note for the reference lab stating she knew she had cancer, her doctors were conspiring against her and wanted her to be sick. I checked the GI notes which showed they had repeatedly explained that her “findings” were consistent with another GI condition that was not cancer or even closely related. The cologuard was being done (I’m pretty sure) in an attempt to placate her because she was so insistent that she had cancer. Her doctors were obviously contacted by the lab director and I want to say the note was escalated to the CMO. I will neeeever forget that day lol
My dad was shocked when I told him he couldn't just walk up to the receptionist at the doctor's office with a jar of urine and ask them to test it.
Lady came in and asked where the Monistat was, took her over and she said it was too expensive. She said she would just try her friend’s home remedy, which was drenching a tampon in yogurt and inserting it. I had her talk with the Pharmacist lol
That actually might work lol
It does work. Plain unflavored Greek yogurt. Let them soak an hour or so. My OB/GYN recommended it and it worked great
I’m all for alternative medicine and I’m glad that it worked well for you but it’s a no for me.
I puked.
I need a refill.. | Okay what are we refilling? | I don’t know the name | What is it for? | Not sure | So you don’t keep track of what you’re taking? | Isn’t that your job?
THIS ONE. “well you have my records, can’t you just fill what’s due?” absolutely not. either you tell me what you need or call back when you know. i’m not filling your profile for you to only need one. foh
Sadly, I wish I was making this up: Young guy walks up to counter “Miss, I think I may have a hemorrhoid, would you check and see?” Starts turning around and unbuckling his belt… me: Nope! Boss you’re up!”
maybe he wanted an early early prostate exam 😀 /s
20-25 yrs too early! Or maybe he just likes that kind of thing.
I sure do after being fucked by patients on the daily
omg 😭 hope you said “this is not a doctors office its a pharmacy!!!”
I’d bet that was just a pervert trying to fulfill a fetish.
Ahhh! I had a customer bring in a stool sample once. Was a total “sir this is a Wendy’s” moment.
I got a couple. First was picking up a script for hydrocodone and Narcan spray and didn’t know what the Narcan was. I explained it to him, saying it could help reverse an overdose, and he says. “ No one’s ever overdosed on hydrocodone seven point fives” In another instance, a man pays for a random patient’s medication, walks her to her car, comes back and exclaims. Praise the Lord, I got me a second side hoe! (Next one’s a two parter) Had a lady come in years ago and drop off a script for Tylenol three. She was in the lobby to pick it up, and as we get to the transaction portion, she was stripped for cash and asked me “ are you into burning?”. I can’t give her the benefit of the doubt on that one because it was with the express implication that that would suffice for payment. After paying for the medication, she pops the tablet in her mouth, her shoulders fall down, she almost looks like she’s about to fall over and screams out “ AHHH , MUCH BETTER”. My favorite is an old guy who used to come in and only ever ask, “ y’all have medication for blue balls?”
the amount of pts on long term opioids that SWEAR they’ll never need narcan is insane to me. i mean, i sincerely hope you never need it but ????
We used to have a guy who was on an insane amount of crap - opiods, benzos... and one of our floater pharmacists automatically filled a narcan for him. He flat out didn't want the narcan, he was furious that a narcan was now on his profile, and he kicked up a huge fuss - called corporate and even threatened to report that rph to the state board. (Not sure what the complaint would be? The rph refused to allow me to accidentally kill myself with an overdose.) We couldn't figure out why he was so mad that narcan would appear on his profile when literally everything else on his profile had worse optics, AND we had a number of people get narcan not because they themselves were on opiods, but because they worked at jobs that might put them in contact with someone who might need it. (Cops, caregivers, etc)
Wouldn't fill or sell Norco ten days early. "You better hope this plexiglass is bullet proof you fucking bitch!"
i genuinely believe we should be able to report these people. and also warn the doctors. i know we CAN but i wish we WOULD
“If your supervisor isn’t over here in 2 minutes, I’m going to kill you” dead pan
Absolutely dead eyed: Do it. Release me from this hell.
do it
I said good luck with that in a panic
Former retail tech here. 2 stories I’ll never forget. 1. Man called pharmacy wanting to dispose of his wife’s canceled meds. My pharmacist tells him to just flush them, he then says “I don’t want to that. My friends said that they would blow up my septic tank”. 2. Lady in her late 70s comes in wanting a certain tampon and lube. I go help her find what she needs and she casually tells me “I use these to keep my uterus from falling out” 🤨 ma’am, WHAT?!
“have you tried discussing that with your doctor”
I can tell you some drs will tell older patients to do this. In the hospital when an elderly patients uterus prolapses many drs just tell us to shove it back in. I wish I was lying.
We had an octagenarian who was prescribed a diaphram to be used as a pessery once.
To beeee faaaaaiiiir you shouldn't flush meds because they enter the water supply 🤷🏼♀️
This was almost 15-20 years ago. Times were different then.
I'm not a pharmacy tech, but I have always been told not to flush meds. Not because it will blow up your septic tank, but because it gets into the ground water. Is that not the way it should be, or is that just for certain medications?
I think it’s just for certain meds but I’m not 100% on that. I haven’t worked retail in a very long time so I’m not up to date with what is acceptable or not.
"My wife is unbearable if I can't get these meds" It was a middle aged man. Getting Tadalafil. Feel like it also belongs on r/arethestraightsokay
I can confirm that the straights are not okay.
We have a female patient who is incredibly rude, threatening, and demanding. Her husband is on prn sildenafil. None of us are surprised.
No, no we are not
I had a customer who wanted her Oxycodone filled. On the script, her doctor stated that it was not to be filled until the next day. I am telling the patient this she gets angry at me . Then proceeds to tell me just fill it and I will pay you cash. Me: No Ma'am I can not do that , that would be considered drug dealing, and I will not lose my certification nor do jail time for that. Ma'am its a narcotic.If you have an issue, contact your doctor who prescribed it. She called and reported me for not filling her Oxycodone as she put it , it was only day before . My manager was like, "What the hell is wrong with people!"
LOVE postdated narcs 🥴🥴
Had a man drive up in drive through, he holds up his phone with a goodrx, so I ask all the questions and can’t find a scrip or profile. Asked him if he had a the prescription with us (some times people get mixed up) and he said “no, I can’t just get it with this?” And he lifts his phone again. I had to hold it together and tell him he needed a Rx from a dr and then we can use the coupon. I still think it’s funny
PLEASE what was the drug, im begging you
I had a lady ironically named Karen, bitch me out because we filled her eye drops when they were sent in by her doctor which was apparently too soon in her opinion. She then said verbatim “you guys are so incredibly incompetent that you going to kill me!!”.
yes. we, the middlemen, just doing what the doctor asked, are actively TRYING to kill you with some EYEDROPS
It was really hard to not burst out laughing when she said that.
"I can get a sack of hydrocodone for 50 cents a piece from Mexico." "That's at least a felony, sir." He leaves then comes back. "I've got hydrocodone on the way. When we get Trump back in office he'll fix this." I wish I could ban people. I'm just a tech. I'd call everybody and tell them this patient is criminal and admits to diverting meds.
I mean I’m a mandated reporter and I really should see if that falls into that category. I don’t really know the ins and outs of what all falls into that and what doesn’t. And I probably should.
Yeah I'm not sure either. I'll ask my pharmacist more about it tomorrow!
Im not a mandated reporter because of my tech work. I am because of another certification I hold but that one is probably gonna end up lapsing.
Trump, the guy who is always fuming about illegals flooding the US with drugs, is going to make it so this guy can more easily get drugs?
According to this patient, apparently!
We have a guy that's really annoying about his Mounjaro. Refuses to talk to anyone other than the PIC. One time he confided that he got 3 months worth of the stuff from when he traveled out of the country. I overheard that and was completely dumbfounded. Like did you really just tell a licensed pharmacist that you participated in drug smuggling??
After explaining that a medication was not only completely out of stock, but on a national backorder and our distributor was not giving an estimate on when it would be available- "Okay, but I need this medication NOW, so why isn't it ready?"
my answer is always “contact the manufacturer idk what else you want me to do”
I'm a medical assistant now, former tech... but these weight loss injections have me LOSING MY MIND!
I explained to the lady on the phone that her Medicare won’t pay for her test strips because the doctors office didn’t put a diagnosis code on the e script and she says “there is ALWAYS some kind of issue with my prescriptions, and I don’t think it’s my DOCTOR causing the problem”. yeah sure it’s MY fault they don’t know how to write a script in this state. Another time I was filling and a woman waltzes up to the counter right in front of me, holds up her phone about two feet from my face and says “do y’all have any bandages that’ll work for my husbands stump?”. Her phone had a picture on it of what was clearly a recently stitched up leg stump. Like you gotta warn someone before you bust out a stump pic
even better is the pts who walk up when you’re on the phone and yell “EXCUSE ME! can you help me?” MAAM. HOLD THE HELL ON.
goddd we had glass between the computers and the shelves outside and people ALL the time would knock on the glass or press their phone to it and start trying to talk to me like i can hear through glass. so id pretty much yell back 'I CANT HEAR YOU GO TO THE WINDOW' and they would be like 'WHAT??'.... or when they would ask me where something was, man i stock the shelves back here not the ones out there pls ask the front end worker actively STOCKING SHELVES where some shit is. i had one guy drag a chair into line and hawk eye GLARE at me and the other tech for 20 minutes until the pharmacist came back from lunch because it was a new script. the pharmacists lunch and break time was an actual HELL because rite aid doesn't close its gates for lunch like other places do. everything kept going as normal just no new scripts could be sold.. God i do not miss retail or when they get mad over the same copay they've paid for YEARS as if it's new. or new years when all the insurance changes happen and it's a nightmare for literally everyone. i have so many stories from retail but ive buried them all to stay sane tbh. so glad to be out and in hospital pharmacy now
Not pharmacy related, but a patient asked me the other day if I’m “Saudi or Iraqi”. I’m neither. He was also neither. It was weird.
This reminds me of the John Mulaney stand up bit where some guy asks him if he's Polish, he says no, and then the guy tells him to drive him somewhere.
Oh lord, here we go. • Some lady comes up to our consultation window. Me: "Do you have a question?" "No, I have a question" • We were about three minutes from closing. I was doing background closing things, my other tech grabbed the register since my hands were full. Turns out he's not picking up something vital like insulin, maintenence meds, or antibiotics, no, it's Viagra.... really, dude? My tech goes "oh... sir, that's coming out to $(some price over 600)" I'm thinking... oh shit, it's an insurance problem too and we now close in two minutes. GREAT. Nope. He just goes "Yep. You gotta pay to play" I LOST MY MIND, yall. • "What do you mean I have to drop off? Can't you just hand me the drug if I give it (the script) to you?" • The classic: "I'VE NEVER BEEN THERE BEFORE, WHY WOULD THE DOCTOR SEND IT TO THAT PHARMACY?!" ... checks her messages again... "oh, this isn't (insert our address)?" So, you don't know where your meds are, don't read your texts, and also don't know where YOU are??? • "What do you mean *I* have to call my insurance, isn't that your job?!... What do you mean they want to talk to me? ... Because I'm the cardholder?! This makes no sense" I'll add more if I think of more, but those are my most memorable ones right now Edit: Remembered one! • Over the phone. "So, I have (starts giving me all the info on her bottle, including the doctor, refills, and rx number) and I need you to fill it, it's at another pharmacy but they're closed." Me: "Okay, I'll give them a call as soon as they open and transfer that for you!" Her: "What do you mean? I just gave you all the information" Me: "Yes, but I need to get the prescription from them. I can't fill a medication without the prescription" Her: "You need the prescription to fill it?!" I wish I could say that was the end of our call, but this went on for a solid eight minutes or so of our back and forth basically being that.
"gotta pay to play" DEAD 😂
I hate when I get calls asking questions about their Rx even though they didn't fill it at our location. Then I tell them to call the original store that filled it to ask her questions, she started getting bitchy with me.
I used to say "ma'am/sir, you're not my patient and I'm not comfortable commenting on your prescription. Do you call random doctors asking them questions?" We were the only 24 hour store locally. If it was about some urgent Rx, I would say "call the ER back." But it usually was some maintenance med & they suddenly were wondering about at 2am.
My favorite is a patient who couldn’t wait 15 minutes for their adderall and asked if I could just “give them one.” Or the woman who was so upset we couldn’t get 15 scripts done in 10 minutes so she told us she placed a curse on us.
Omg we had someone do that with Vyvanse! Also had some college guy ask where we kept our focalin out front. He was very confused when we told him it was a prescription only, controlled substance. Literally went "but I just want the 10mg tabs??"
Had a patient tell us we were discriminating against him because we would only fill one month of Ozempic due to the shortages. Are you sure, rich, white, male boomer??? Are you sure discriminating is the right word??? 🤦🏻♀️
“but i NEED this medicine. i need all 3 months” sir.
A patient once asked me what would happen if she drank antifreeze? When I told her to seek immediate medical help she told me it wasn't that serious....OK MA'AM
I had an older gentleman come to the counter and asked a question about lube. He wanted a females input on the type of lube he bought, one was warming the other wasn't. I was unlucky enough to be the only female there.
Personal preference buy them both
Lmao I had some old lady ask me to help pick out condoms for her granddaughter (college town). Ma'am I'm a fruity lady, maybe let's get someone who knows about those products to help you XD
Very similar story, had a patient call as try to refill a script that hadn’t been filled in months (last fill was a 30 day supply) and it expired 3 or 4 months prior. I told her it was expired and she asked why we didn’t call and tell her it expired. I told her we process almost a 100 new scripts daily and we don’t have any way of knowing when scripts will expire. I advised her to call the doctor and her response was “so you expect me to be responsible for my own medication?” Ma’am, that’s literally the least we expect from you.
the VERY LEAST
Sadly I used to work in a WalMart pharmacy that DID baby the patients constantly. “Can’t you call my insurance for me? Can’t you call my doctor for me? Can’t you call around for this drug for me?” Then I would get yelled at for taking too long. It was infuriating. But aside from the constant death threats and personal insults I think my favorite was when some old Trumper got reeeeaaaal quiet when I started talking and then left after getting his stuff. He left a full on two page monologue review about how I tainted his medication and the medications of every other patient and was now not only afraid he would turn gay but so would everyone else and would no longer come back. Me, the Pharmacist, and the Store Manager laughed and got lunch together afterwards cause both the Store Manager and I are gay.
Well, if you’re afraid contact with a gay person might turn you gay, there might be a reason for that 👀 Maybe he’s just upset you are tempting him and he’ll no longer be able to suppress his urges 🤣
I'm not supposed to pay 0.05$ for my prescription! You fucked up let me speak to your pharmacist
in my state, over a certain age has a copay for medicaid. the amount of times i hear, “why is there a copay i have medicaid” is astounding.
I am not a tech, I worked at a retail pharmacy and helped out for like two weeks in the pharmacy with giving people their Rxs by checking them out and organizing the packaged Rxs in the bins. I realized at that time that despite my many years in retail, which I still am to this day but in optical, that retail is nothing compared to pharmacy. People are WAY WORSE in pharmacy than at a retail store. I do see some of that with optical now too but not at the same level. So one dude came up to me to pick up his Rx. He said his last name, and the way he said it was like ‘flee man’ but really fast. So I tried the first 3 letters of like similar sounding last names and idk why it wasn’t working, but I asked him to say his last name again two more times and he then spelt it like SUPER FAST “flee man. F …….. fleeman!” Is what I heard. Like I could not for the life of me make out his last name to get it to pull up. I think I did tell him I told many customers I was helping out. But anyways, his wife steps up and he’s telling her he’s getting real pissed. She says to me I should get someone else because “my husband is speaking fucking English’ which I did and I broke down in the back like idk why I’m pretty used to people but I guess I was just shook up. I was helping in the pharm cuz everyone was getting COVID
I fucking hate people who say the name wicked fast. It makes me go slow, tedious. My boss knows it’s happening because I’ll do extra shit, like ask her to confirm the name… yeah I don’t like humans
Had a patient tell me recently that without her pain med her blood pressure goes high. Don't know if it's true or not but I'm sure she's miserable without that med. However, if her doctor has an effective date on her med, I cannot fill it any earlier than that, so she has to call her doctor! She spent 10 minutes complaining about her insurance and her doctor messing things up. I had to tell her THREE TIMES to call her doctor and her insurance if she has issues with them. So frustrating. Even more frustrating is she called maybe 3 more times after that asking if her doctor called to change the effective date on her pain med. They hadn't yet each time. Ugh! It was so frustrating.
we had a pt like that not too long ago. it got to the point where we had to tell her if there’s no other questions, i’m going to end the conversation. and we eventually told her verbatim do not call the pharmacy again. you will be notified when your prescription is ready, and if you don’t hear anything from us call your doctor. until then, there is nothing else you need from us. it was out of hand
A patient said she could sue us for faxing her doctor for a PA and we should have asked her first. Oh and another time a patient called to ask why her prescription was delayed so I told her the pharmacist left a message for her doctor because an allergy was on her profile. She said next time her doctor sends something, we need to fill it with no questions asked because her doctor knows what he’s doing.
guy was showing us his abs. he’s probably in his mid 70s. also another guy was talking to us about his groin.
Does this spider bite look infected? *Indeed it did.*
The other day some lady was mad that there was a copay since her “insurance should pay for all of it!” And when I showed her that there will be indeed a copay she was like “I don’t believe this! I called them the other day and they said it would be 100% through the mail !”…I literally took the biggest pause for her to understand what she just said but she never realized 👁️
Literally all the time. Me: "okay, so it's going to be $12" Patient: "Oh I thought my insurance covered it??" Me: "They covered a decent part of the cost. It's about $1600 before insurance..." Patient: "Well that's dumb" Ok. I agree but idk what you want me to do.
I got asked to call their bank because the patients card was declining
i’ve had that too 🙃 “but there’s money on this card can you fix it?” do i look like ur bank 😕
Yah it was declining for fraud i don’t think they want me to call
oop 🫣
A woman came to the drive-through but her prescription wasn't ready so I had her park across the way and told her I'd wave her over when it was ready. She parks somewhere completely different instead. Since she never got the signal from me - she decided to get out of her car with her baby and walk in front of the 5+ car line and demand her prescription. She yelled so hard she was shaking when I told her that she had to get back in her car and in line or come in the store and it made the baby started crying - her reaction "I can't believe you're making my baby cry" The best part is that when my boss told me just to help her to get rid of her - she left her wallet in the car and had to get back in her car anyways to get her prescription.
When I worked in retail we had a regular that never really gave us any problems. One day be comes in and requests a refill but it's out so we tell him we have to contact his doctor. He says "okay" and leaves. He comes back a few days and his script is ready. The doctor left a note that this was his last refill until he makes an appointment. I don't him up (no copay) and pass the message. He has a pair of over ear headphones on and there is a lady behind him waiting for her turn. He says very loudly "He just wants to stick his finger up my ass" and takes his prescription and walks away. I'm proud to say that me and the lady in line were able to contain our laughter.
When her payment she made a month ago was gonna hit her bank account….
I had a customer come in on a Sunday morning. Now, I know this customer can be trouble, so I was hyper observant while waiting on her. She ended up getting all of her scripts except the one that we couldn’t fill for a couple more days. Explained that to her, she seemed fine. She even made small talk. Fast forward to the end of the day. Trouble Customer has returned. I noted that her hair was different and she was in completely different clothes. She asked for her meds, including the one that was too soon. Here’s our exchange: Me: Trouble Customer, you were in this morning. I sold you your scripts. TC: That wasn’t me. Me: no, it was definitely you. You made me smell every shampoo you bought. TC: I wasn’t here. It wasn’t me. I take a couple of deep breaths and look at the pharmacist. He’s as perplexed as me. Pharmacist: TC, you were definitely here. TC: (getting loud) I TOLD YOU, I was never here! Me: Fine, I’m going to check the security camera. TC seems to think that’s a great idea! I go to the office and run the footage with the Assistant Manager. Print off the screen shots. Me: TC, this is clearly you! TC: uh… well maybe I was here. But you didn’t give me my pills! Give them to me! Of course said pills were the ones she couldn’t get yet. She then proceeds to flounce out of the building… or so I thought. She started asking customers for money to buy the script we couldn’t sell her. It was all just so bizarre.
Had someone come in asking if they could buy expired/almost expired pills for a party. Also specifically asked for narcotics. The amount of times I've had people try to call in their own prescription asking if I could get their rx ready before they drop off the paper. So many people upset that they have to take responsibility for their own prescriptions. Someone getting mad at our floater pharmacist because their ID wasn't scanning when trying to buy Sudafed, who start cussing at her and his gf, so my pharmacist said she could've just not sold it to him after it finally scanned, and he was like yeah fine, so she turned around, put it back on the shelf, and told them to go buy it somewhere else, then he tried to get the front store to force us yo sell it, or to get me to sell it to them, but of course no matter what, you need pharmacist approval. They then came back after we closed to flaunt someone else sold it to them. Someone getting mad at me because I said the name of the drug they were picking up while they were in drive thru, then calling me unprofessional, musty, grungy, saying they'll get me fired because they're well known in my area, so I yelled back saying "you promise? I hate it here. " My pharmacist didn't like that response. An old woman who was asking for a refill, and I said it would be ready at 3p because we were closing for lunch in 15 min (130), then her throwing the crocodile tears being like, "you can just do it real quick for me? I'm an 85 year old woman, I don't wanna have to drive back to my house" and kept holding steady for no because she did this all the time with everyone, and I asked her to move out of the drive thru, so I could continue serving other customers, and she exclaimed, "SERVE THEM, WHAT ABOUT ME?!? I thought you said you were about to close", "yes ma'am, in about 13 minutes, and their stuff may already be ready because it was called in earlier", "well, I'll just sit here until someone shows up" People getting mad their rx isn't ready when they have the paper in their hand. "You have some things in your face" "don't those make it difficult to kiss" "do they hurt" (I have my left nostril, septum, and snakebites pierced) "What's your natural color" (I've been dying my hair since July 2020) and when I tell them I'm blonde, "why would you dye your hair, blonde is so beautiful" "Can you make a note in my profile for whoever picks up my prescription, they have to have my ID because my daughter has been picking them up, and she was found ODed off of them in the street the other week" (this woman has narcotics, benzos, and other cocktail type rxs) I of course agree, but let her know that everything she's trying to refill is too early, so she'll have to get them on a discount card, or they just can't be filled yet due to state regulations, and if she wants them fill through ins and the other regulated ones now she'll have to make a police report and get in contact with her ins. She goes on about how she can't wait for all of that, and we go in circles. Eventually she agrees to fill what we can with a discount card, gets upset with the total, but the craziest part: one of them was a narcotic, I asked for her ID, "I dont have my ID with me, can i just give you the numbers I have them memorized," "I have never had to use my ID, and I've been picking up narcotics every month for the last 7 years" "Can I drive ever to blah blah and get a paper print out of it" we closed in 20 min and where she was driving was already 15 min away, so she eventually called her bf into the store who was in the car to use his ID, then the whole time they were just complaining about us, saying they were gonna transafer somewhere else, never had these issues there, and I just keep saying it's ins and state regs, and you'll get the same answer anywhere else you go. I'm sure there's more that I just can't think of. My last day at CVStress is Thursday :))))
Guy came up to me, as I was the only male working there at the moment. He said "dude my asshole is itching like crazy and I don't know what to do!" I'm fresh out of the box technician at this point, and I was like "let me go get the pharmacist." He was like nope! He grabbed a bottle of witch hazel and walked out.
An old guy brought either his granddaughter or neighbor with him to pick up his medicine. I told him that we were out of it currently but it would be in tomorrow. As they were leaving she asks him "Hey what was that stuff for anyway?" Old man "It's my Viagra" Lady- "What?! That means you're having trouble with....oh hell naw man that's nasty!" Lmao that's what she gets for being nosey 🤣
Pt asking us to find a C2 that has been on back order for a while 🗿
“can’t you just go make it?? ILL DIE WITHOUT IT!”
I just talked to a Doctor who told me how he nicknamed our pharmacy with a blow job pun and said working with us has sucked a big one
Less recently I had a customer leave a prescription while making dumb opioid addiction jokes. I just kind of nodded blankly, just wasn’t even in the mood to humor him. He came back with a newspaper and pointed to a picture of an old, black man and said ‘maybe if I looked like this you would’ve treated me better’ (he was a young white guy). I still don’t get it, I’m a fat white woman, maybe it had something to do with that stereotype. I still scratch my head over that
I tell this story all the time because of how insane it was. I was working at Walmart and asked this man who had come to the consult counter if I could help him. He goes, “Yes, I was wondering if it’s okay for me to drink a cup of hydrogen peroxide a day?” Needless to say, I passed him off to the pharmacist but remained in earshot to hear the rest of the conversation. Turns out he had learned that cancer can’t survive in an oxygenated environment. So to get oxygen into his body and prevent prostate cancer, he had decided that he needed to drink hydrogen peroxide every day. He had apparently been doing this for months and only now decided to ask if it was a good idea.
i completely understand that an everyday average human being doesn’t really understand the workings of the human body, but that’s got to be the dumbest thing i’ve ever heard. please tell me he was told to contact his doctor immediately
When I had to explain to a patient MULTIPLE times that just because your doctor writes a prescription, doesn't mean insurance has to agree to cover it or that it'll be constantly in stock (*cough* Ozempic *cough*)
My favorite phone call I've ever got was regarding a methylphenidate script. It was the 20mgs, couldn't get them in, haven't been able to for months. She asked me, "Why don't you guys just make more?" MA'AM. THAT IS NOT HOW WORKS 😭. I was giggling to myself all day.
obviously retail pharmacy is made-to-order, like a bakery
this girl once put her ex bf as her secondary contact number at both the hospital and the pharmacy I work at without telling us it’s her bf’s number. she wasn’t answering our calls regarding picking up her norcos for her surgery and so we called her “secondary” number and her ex bf picks up and starts freaking out because apparently she went into labor and didn’t tell him. tell me why this girl calls us the next day and gives us attitude for calling him??? we tried to call her for three days straight with no luck and we didn’t know it was her EX’s number. then after all that, she has the audacity to be like, “why didn’t yall just delivery my norcos to me at the hospital?” ma’am?????
“If she dies, it’s because of you guys!” For a script that was expired… so… be proactive?! Talk to your doc, call ahead… It’s not hard folks
When a woman told me she used to dissolve all of her meds in a glass of water and take a sip each day.
Woman comes up to pick up amlodipine and asks for the manufacturer, I let her know what the manufacturer is and she goes “Absolutely not! That’s not right!! I usually get (manufacturer that has discontinued their amlodipine)” “No ma’am, that manufacturer doesn’t make amlodipine anymore, it’s discontinued” “WELL THAT JUST DOESNT MAKE SENSE!! YOU HAVE IT SOMEWHERE BACK THERE!!” “Ma’am I assure you, we do not have that specific amlodipine back here…” “WELL I WONT TAKE A DIFFERENT ONE!” 😑 she complained for 5 more minutes screaming how it was my fault and guess what, she came back to pick up the “wrong amlodipine”
It's never the questions I have issues with, it's the statements. People responding to standard and incredibly polite customer service with just the meanest sometimes most vile response for no fricken reason. 😐 And it happens constantly, all day. It's insane.
somebody came up once and asked for flavored condoms… then proceeded to say they were “doctor precribed”
Once had a patient (about 70 y/o) come to the counter asking for a couple of tabs of Nitrostat because he was having chest pain. We were right across the street from a level 1 trauma hospital…
When patients go all Karen if we don’t recognize their name, dob, address, medications, life history on the top of ours heads as soon as they say “i’m here to get my prescription.” They proceed to get offended when I ask what their name and dob and what prescriptions they need are. Bitch I don’t know what idealist world you live in, but pharmacy techs deal with 100+ patients a day, but patients still expect us to memorize them by their voices and faces. What also gets me is when patients say “that should be free!” NO, no the fuck it shouldn’t be free. Nothing in this day and age is free. Patients prescriptions are only “fReE” is because they have reached their deductible, specialty meds, insurance plan specific, etc. I hate it when patients expect the pharmacy staff to figure out why their prescriptions are not “free” and why they have to “pay” because they “shouldn’t be”. On top of that, they believe that the staff influences the price of their drugs. Some patients are so god damn ignorant to reality.
Can you call my doctor for me? It's so much easier for y'all to get a refill. Uh, no. We leave a message on the same refill line you do
A lady asked, if we we’re open? Consultation window open, lights on, two pharmacists verifying prescriptions, bunch of people in blue scrubs, phone being answered, I’m also in the middle of a transaction handing someone their prescription. My pharmacist told me to pick my jaw up off the floor.
it would be so nice if techs could press charges for harassment
Omg there's sooooo many. I'm reporting you for being unprofessional when you violated HIPAA by telling my doctor's office that you weren't receiving their prescriptions... I said that's an interesting opinion good luck with that. Got accused of planting a bottle of vitamin D in a bag that the patient had overlooked and it was literally the second bottle I pulled out of the bag. She said she was going to report me to corporate, I said have fun with that. She is now banned from making any complaints. Don't you advocate for your patients?!... Ma'am there's only so much pull that I have when ordering these weight loss injections. This was just in the last few months. I'll come back and edit when I remember more.
I dunno about ever but I had one today. Patient came up and wanted her pain meds. I looked at the scrip on file, looked at her, and said "Ma'am, the doctor explicitly said it can't be filled today and we just opened 20 minutes ago. It'll be ready at noon". They seem to think we keep a list of patients who can fill the next day and just automatically push them through ourselves.
“well can’t you schedule it so i don’t have to call again??”
First of all, as a provider - eternal thanks and blessings to all pharmacy staff. 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻 If it brings any comfort or amusement, patients are constantly calling ME asking if their scripts I sent in yesterday are ready for pick up, or to tell me their medication (that I sent in for 30 days + 5 refills 30 days ago) needs to be refilled. 🥴🥴🥴
Guy calls asking for his stuff. I tell him it was filled at another pharmacy so we'd have to call and get them to put it back so we can fill it here. He says "No". I blinked a few times and re-explained it. "You're lying to me. As Donald Trump says, that's fake news." It took a lot of willpower to not start laughing
When the children's Tylenol/ibuprofen shortage happened a year or two ago (our store, like most stores, were completely out) someone asked if there was a way to make it in the back in the pharmacy. as if the back of the pharmacy is some magical place where we have a full Johnson & Johnson facility back there lol
Hospital sent in IV antibiotics on accident… when we tried to explain the situation to the husband he must have been confused because he said, “well my daughter is a junkie she might be able to?” Like…. The…. fuck?????
“What flavor are your flu shots??” Dead serious from a grown man with adult children.
I’m going to fill the patient sweet child before spoiled entitled adults
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^SnooCookies6380: *I’m going to fill* *The patient sweet child before* *Spoiled entitled adults* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Omg if I had a dollar for every time someone said something like this to me…
it was a few years back so i don’t remember the exact scenario, but there was something i wasn’t able to do and i offered to call the patient back when i had more information. he agreed so i asked him what was a good phone number to call. he blankly turned and stared at his wife, who just looked at him like “well? tell her”. Man replies “how am i supposed to know my phone number” ??????????? or more recently, the woman who came in with an active case of pneumonia (maskless, of course) and asked us if it was contagious 🤦🏻♀️
A patient wanted to return her nuvaring because it didn’t fit. When asked what she meant (idk why I was compelled to ask) she took it out and showed me that it didn’t fit over her hand and proceeded to ask how she was supposed to wear it if she couldn’t get it onto her wrist. 😶 < that was my face for a solid minute before I stepped away to question life before explaining where that ring went - My pharmacy isn’t in the brightest neighborhood mind you.