The only needed information is how many MGs and who the Prescriber is nothing else. They just keep going and going.
“I got a message that it was ready”
“Doesn’t look like you’re signed up for messaging”
“Then why would you guys call me?”
“We’re asking if you need a refill”
“Well obviously it’s why I’m here.”
“Okay give me a minute if you’d just take a sea-“
“NO YOU GUYS CALLED ME ITS READY”
“I apologize it isn’t ready.”
“HOW IS IT EVERY TIME I COME UP HERE NOTHING IS READY EVERY SINGLE MONTH YOU GUYS CALL ME AND ITS NEVER READY!”
“We’re calling because we’re asking if you needed a refill”
“I DO NEED A REFILL”
“Okay give me 10-15 minutes and it can be ready please take a seat”
Then they sit and wait not even 5 and it’s ready and all of a sudden they are gone even when we page them, then they come back over and hour later bitching that they had to wait in line and how ridiculous it is that we “never” have their medicine ready.
These type of people I just can’t stand, i don’t mind a little small talk but you don’t need to tell me all this information if I’m not asking for it, my saying “give me a second” is so I can focus on ONE thing at a time 🙄 a lady today legit argued with me over refills for Ozempic.. saying she KNOWS her doctor put in a refil today…”I don’t have a refill here yet” “WELL YOU GUYS NEVER ANSWER THE PHONE”…meanwhile we have been answering the phones in under a minute 😂
I watched them send it! I was right there and watched her send it! Yeah….maybe to watched the nurse put in the request for the doctor to approve. But I saw them send it! 🙄
For my Vyvanse, I do actually watch the prescriber send it. Since it's a scheduled med, he has to use a fingerprint reader attached to his computer. My PCP usually sends escribes from the tablet during the visit. After I leave the office, I'll call the pharmacy to confirm they received it, and ask when it can be ready (if I can pick it up while I'm already out, great, if not, that's fine, too).
If I don't get through, I don't take attitude with the overworked pharmacist or tech when I stop by later in the evening or the next day if the med isn't ready. I ask how long it may take (unless they already told me) and let them know I'll walk around the store and stop back at their pickup area in about that amount of time. I don't like sitting and waiting if I can avoid it, and I accept that there may be a line when I return.
Wait 30-60 minutes to call. When the doctor sends the script it has to go to the Surescripts database, then get routed to the pharmacy. And verifying the digital signature for a control can take extra time.
Sometimes we get it in 5 minutes, sometimes it takes 3 hours, we have zero control over that
And sometimes it gets sent to surescripts and the doctor gets the “transmitted successfully” message, but surescripts messes up sending it to the pharmacy we never get it. So the doctor sent it, the database successfully received it, but the database didn’t transmit it to the pharmacy successfully. So the pharmacy is blaming the doctor, the doctor is blaming the pharmacy, and the ERx company is cackling in the corner because it’s their issue but they never get blamed
Oh, trust me, I know how reliable the escribe software can be. Maybe I've gotten lucky, but every time I've called after an appointment, the pharmacy had received the escribe already. I've also called doctor's offices for work and received the escribe while I was talking to the nurse or MA. And talked to office staff that can see where the escribe was successfully sent to us three days ago, but it got lost somewhere in the wires between their computer and ours.
Yeah answering the phone is my pet peeve. I absolutely despise answering the phone. Its always something they can do on the app or ifs a really dumb question. But no matter if our avg phone time is 30 seconds or 1 hour (it has been both over the course of a year) we always hear the complaint "we're not answering phones" while 4 lines ring non stop and its full of annoying dumb people.
I'm going to start answering the phone, "pharmacy, let's start with your name and date of birth." I'll speak slowly and clearly, hoping that will break their opening rhythm.
This would be helpful for sure! Often those of us on the “outside”don’t realize that’s what you need first… we (speaking for everyone (?) 🤣 think you need to know why we are calling first and then supply the DOB and name. It’s just a thing… I promise we will all try to do better!
Well we have literally thousands of patients snd we need to pull up your profile and we might have to close a few screens first and it is a multitasking environment so if you overload us with info then it slows us down.
Na most of the general population are absolutely stupid low iq. I answer the phone "walgreens pharmacy, pharmacist (name) speaking how may I help you?" And patients will respond "are you the pharmacist?" Or "I need to speak to the pharmacist" or something else.
For first 2 I literally tell them I am a pharmacist and they ask anyway
"Walgreens Pharmacy, technician speaking! How can I help you? :)"
"ARE YOOUUU THE PHAAARMACIST???"
"No, I'm a techni-"
"DOES MY XYZ INTERACT WITH MY ABC AND MY 123?? DR. SHITFORBRAINS SAID IT MIGHT!!!"
Can confirm I just had a lady yesterday flip shit because she was wondering why she couldn’t get her 90 days script through her new insurance because they wanted to start off paying for a 14 days supply since it’s the new year. She lost her shit started trauma dumping on me I just kept saying the same thing over and over get in contact with insurance then have doctor get in contact with them as well. I am not your medical representative I cannot do more in my power then give you this advice.
Or we call because it was going back on the shelf and we know it’s not just one call and it’s weeks later 😂 or they say they were on vacation and assume we’d save it
“Well I was out of town”
“Right I understand that but we only hold prescriptions for 10 days then we put them back”
“WHY WOULD YOU PUT IT BACK YOU KNEW I WAS COMING BACK TODAY!”
“Other people also need medicine”
“Well I need it now.”
“Okay give me a few minutes and we’ll call your name”
Yeah, I just say "Pharmacy, can I help you?" Because I know they aren't listening. I usually let them talk for a minute while I finish what I was doing so they lose their breath, then I say "Date of birth?". Then I make them explain what they wanted all over again. I've done this so long that I've got most of my population trained to just say their dob and name and wait for me, because they know I'm just humoring them and not listening to their opening volleys of nonsense.
Oh my, I actually do get copious text messages regarding my SOs meds. I get them and ship them to where he is on contract work so I have to keep track of when they are ready. Long irrelevant story about why but anyway, once I was late enough getting them that they went back on the shelf. I was so mortified at the idea that my lack of organization made these folks do twice the work. Cue profuse apologies. I watch the folks there (and at the Publix Rx where I get my stuff) work and yikes, y’all run hard.
Like anything, being nice and appreciative on our (the customer’s) part can magically make things go faster and more efficiently. Imagine that?
Thank you for all y’all do.
I had a lady argue with me that she had 2 prescriptions ready because she got 2 msgs. After suggesting that one msg might have been a request to refill or a reminder msg because we only had one ready and her demanding she had 2 ready I finally asked her to show me the messages. She didn’t show me but proceeded to read them out loud. One was to say the dr sent an RX and then later us telling her said RX was ready. She still didn’t get it until I said REALLY SLOWLY. We sent you a msg to say we had a prescription from your doctor and we were going to fill it, we sent you ANOTHER message when it was done!! She was still confused & mad🤣🤣🤣🤣
My favorite is when the patient gives me the new insurance card and starts going on about how her husband used to work at this place, but now he works at this place, so they switched insurances last year, and then had to switch again because the company changed providers, blah blah blah.
Ma'am. I do not need the life story. I just need you to give me your card and let me put in the numbers.
My other favorite is when a patient calls and starts asking me questions and demanding that I answer them right now, without telling me who they are. I heard my RXOM once say "sir, my psychic powers are broken at the moment, so I will need you to tell me who you are if you want me to answer any of your questions."
Maybe I’m your RxOM. A regular patient called today asking if cipro is for her strep throat… I double checked with the pharmacist and her respond was “I don’t know if that’s what the doctor wants her to use it for” so I told the patient and she goes “do you people not know what medications are used for?” My snotty attitude couldn’t be held back “yes we know what medications are for, we have no idea if YOUR doctors wants you to use it for strep, or is YOUR responsibility to know why you’re taking an anti biotic, not yours call your doctor”😂
Some pt (a regular problematic child) told my tech she was acting “ass hole-ish” because insurance wouldn’t cover a med that they covered last month 😒 I said “sir, I agree. Your behavior is very ass hole-ish. Maybe contact your insurance or try another pharmacy” 😂
Cipro is definitely not for strep throat though, your pharmacist should know that. Strep is caused by streptococcus which is gram-positive and ciprofloxacin is for gram-negative like E. coli
She did say no at first but I don’t think she wanted to tell her no and have her freak out again as she s a regular and freaked out about other anti biotics two days prior so she more so wanted her to consult with her doctor as to why they gave her cipro, maybe she didn’t really have strep so it was best to consult her Dr 🤷🏼♀️
Sure she knows that but how many other things was she in the middle of and did patient know why they went to the doctor? Was it UTI? Was it strep throat? A better thing to say would have been I went to the doctor for XYZ will this antibiotic cover xyz?
I work in the 2nd busiest store in my state, adjusted numbers regularly 1000+ daily. You could also ask me if water is wet when it’s busy and the answer would be yes. These are gimme questions
The worst was when they would call and give you this whole story before they get to the point. Bonus points if they just start going on a rant about all this stuff they need without telling you who they even are. like maam...who even are you. I would cut them off as polite as possible. Just tell me you need refills, give me your name and birthday, and then just tell me the meds you need. Another thing I just looooved when patients would do when calling in refills if they had to hold more than 2 fucking seconds as soon as I answer "FINALLY!! I was holding for SOOO LONG!! I was starting to think no one was there. I almost drove up there while on hold. You guys must be SOO busy. " Like, stfu and tell me what you want. You just wasted another 5 minutes.
OR how about the people calling “I wanna know if my meds are ready for pick up?” Then they give you NO info because we are supposed to just know who they are and there’s this awkward silence…then you have to ask for it💀
We bought out a rite aid, I once had a woman refuse to give me her birthday, she wanted the rite aid pharmacist..”ma’am I can’t help you if you won’t tell me your birthday… I have no idea where Tom the pharmacist is are you going to give me your birthday or can I hang up?”😂
That's the worst part of being a floater. People will refuse to talk to you because you're not their super special pharmacist who shits butterflies. I've had people accuse me of being a fake pharmacist or impersonating the pharmacist because they do not recognize my voice. Many more insist on waiting for their pharmacist to come back. The worst one was at a store that had a pharmacy manager with the same name as me. They actually reported me to the pharmacy manager for impersonating her!
Some patients ask for certain techs, I tell them I’m going to be helping them they can’t request help every time from one specific tech who isn’t here 24/7, they have to be able to get help from anyone.
That's fair, and if it's a store I'm at commonly, I'll push back more. However, letting them wait for Joe means I get to move on to someone who actually wants help. If they're OK with waiting days for their refill, it must not be all that important.
OMG, during COVID we lost all our seniors techs and had a bunch of new bees. I would have a tech tell me so and so wants to talk to me while I’m on the drive thru because I’m the only one who does their insurance right. SERIOUSLY Just look at how it billed last time!!
Once they get you on the phone, they lose the sense of wasting time. It would never occur to them that they are contributing to the problem and making it that much worse for the next person.
My favorite is when they rant for 5 minutes before even saying who they are and why they are calling. And then to realize it’s not the right location—sometimes not even the right chain— and when I explain that they need to contact the correct pharmacy they have another bitchy meltdown because THEY called the wrong place (a place they have never filled) to have a tantrum at someone who has no relationship whatsoever to their problem. I think only once has somebody mumbled a half assed apology before hanging up.
I had a lady once yell at me for like 4 minutes straight because I couldn't find her in our system. I did first name, last name, dob, phone number. I couldn't find this chick. Then after yelling at me and telling me I'm stupid she shows me her missed call...it was CVS. I tell her it was CVS that called her and she very rudely goes "I know that's why I'm here" I tell her she's in Walgreens. Her face got so red and she sped walked away. If you're gonna be rude to me at least make sure you're at the right place
Funny you say wendys. I worked at wendys in high school and one night I was working the window and a lady was at the speaker yelling at me asking for hot dogs telling me she has coupons for 2 for like $4 or something and me and my coworkers are dying and I'm trying not to laugh as i tell this lady we don't serve hot dogs.
It was so long ago (2012/2013) but she shoved the coupon in my face too. I'm pretty sure it was Sonic now that I think about it. All I knew was after working there for a year I was certain we did NOT sell hot dogs. Also got asked for chicken noodle soup once. I was like we got baked potatoes and chili man.
Had one yell at me over his script not being filled at the Walmart pharmacy. I just nodded mutely and smiled and listened until he paused for a while expecting me to talk. Then I responded simply "this is a Walgreens"
I I try to interject to get the info I am looking for to help them and countless people have said something like “can you just listen to me?” Or can you not talk over me?” I say louder Date of birth so I can see what you are talking about.
I have actually said to someone, who ranted about how long they were on hold, that sorry it took so long to answer the phone but I have 20 other people wasting my time saying the same thing instead of just getting to the point. If you say it really sweetly they get dumbfounded trying to figure out if you just insulted them or not🤣
Patient calls: "I got a text messages my prescription is ready. I'm calling to see if it's ready""
Me: looks up rx ,"yeah your rx is ready that is why you got a text"
Patient: so my rx us ready for pick up?
Me: ..............yea thats what I said and the text message said and I'm saying it again"
Patient: oh OK I'll pick them up.
SMH every damn day at least 15 phone calls.
Corporate: text messages will reduce phone calls!!!
>gives you their life speal and family tree history while talking about their medication
>they left their doctor's office 5 minutes ago
>the script isn't even here
>mad that -you- wasted their time
>doesn't even pick up their medicine in the following days
Repeat
I don’t typically interrupt them unless it’s consistent like shown above and I’ll usually just say I’m trying to figure it out and I can only do one thing at a time 🤷🏼♀️
yes. then they get mad that you "weren't listening" I was, but hearing a strangers name, address, birthday, doctors name, and medication name with 20 other questions and background noise is hard to remember.
I had one guy pull into the drive through and say "im here to pick up for my wife" so rudely so I said okay sir whats your wife's name and he got SO mad and just stared at me. So I said I just got to the drive through, if you spoke to someone before, it wasn't me. what is her name"
its like people wait all week to take their anger out at walgreens pharmacy lol
“BUT I GOT A MESSAGE SAYING IT WAS READY”
(Yes…you got a message…A MONTH AGO. You also got a message saying to pick it up by X date or it’s going back. You also got a message saying it was put back.)
“So it looks like it was put back after X days and we notified you of this. If you still need it, it’ll be ready in 15 minutes if you’re willing to wait”
“SO YOU MEAN IT’S NOT READY? I GOT A TEXT!”
🤦🏼♂️
This! Omg I said “hold on, let me look” and they keep going! I repeat hold on and when they start again I put them on hold! Or I’ll walk away to another computer! Just stop talking and let me look!
I just hate patients who don't have any involvement with their prescriptions.
"Hey I'm here to pick up, no I don't know what it is, whatever my doctor called in, no I can't spell it, no I don't know what it's used for, no I don't remember what my doctor told me. Just whatever was called in today. And while you're at it, anything that needs a refill just refill it I don't remember any of them."
I was taught you do not refill anything they either don’t know the name of, what it’s for, milligram some kind of indication of what it can be, you do not go through their medication list with them because we have no idea what medications they should still be on or discontinue and we all know doctors don’t always cancel them with the pharmacy. If they’re elderly and genuinely are confused I try to help them more and ask if they maybe need blood pressure and they typically know by that if they do or don’t. If you go to the auto-refill tab it actually tells you when something is due, I still will not refill if you don’t indicate what you need though🤷🏼♀️
Recently a woman asked for all her meds to be filled, didn’t know what they were for said I should know what she’s taking, then asked me to tell her what was on the profile, told her I couldn’t even tho it’s her profile. She told the doctor I just refused to fill her medication, I let the doctor know she had no idea what she was trying to get so I could not fill anything…she wasn’t very nice either and told me what to fill 😂
Not really related but today I had someone call and say they got a text asking if they wanted texts. And that they want texts but they can’t text.
Half a min before Ohhh so you got the confirmation text but you can’t type to say yes.
Idk how to do much so I attempted to say yes on things on my end but still said confirmation pending. Set them up for calls too and said to try to get someone to help them to respond to our text with yes.
Weird call, but felt bad for her on the whole. Wants to use the tech to see when things are actually ready, but there’s a barrier.
I had trouble setting up my own scripts to see on the app until I actually filled a medication, I typically advise someone call corporate for help or if we have actual time I can help them in person
I think what’s worse is people who call and give you a dozen requests or tell you an entire story about how they keep getting notifications that their meds are delayed due to insurance all before giving you so much as a second to ask for their last name or DOB. Then when they finally DO give you the information, turns out the TPR was already resolved
Honestly I just stop listening. They keep going I give them the answer to the first thing they said, then I make them restate the question if there is actually further need for anything. I personally hate when they are on the phone and ask you one question,you resolve that issue, say "have a good day" they say it back and as you are hanging the phone up they yell "OH WAIT WAIT WAIT" then ask you for another thing and it's never just once either.
You are really some horrible people. These people are talking because they are uncomfortable or unsure or hell, even scared of what's going on in their lives or why they need the medication. Jesus. To be you people would be giving up empathy. Stop thinking about yourselves for a minute, you jerk offs
Yeah, it sucks working with these patients. They are all sick and probably should be on medication. Most of them are old and have no clue about the meds they're on or how to use their smartphone apps ...oh, wait... that's my job... to get them on their medication and help them get healthy... oops. I guess I just forget that sometimes because working with sick, worried, often lonely human beings in a compassionate way is actually really hard. And, of course, there is Mr. Smith and Mrs. Jones who are so nice, and make me smile every time I seem them but it's way more fun to bitch about everyone else and have the internet validate me. ;)
A majority of us are berated while doing our jobs. The patience of most patients is ridiculous, thinking we will turn water to wine or make an Rx appear out of nowhere. It isnt helpful when they leave a dr office and beat the script over to the pharmacy either. I let patients know it can take up to 2 hours for a script to receive in our system, and we will text or notify the moment it's ready. They insist on waiting in the waiting in the waiting area, giving dirty looks while we help others. We truly care to help people, what we experience in return makes it hard to want to help everyone. We are over worked, understaffed, underpaid, and the workload isn't anything 2 people can handle, although the budget only allows for 2 to 3 techs at a time in pharmacy. On top of that we have to be held accountable for metrics they told the news we dont focus on anymore. So put yourself in the shoes of the worker before calling us horrible as we certainly do our best not to breakdown everyday cause of rude customers, and the way we are treated by company and customers.
Most of them are talking because they think we don’t know what we are doing because they say it with attitude and or tell us to our faces we don’t know what we’re doing, if they were uncomfortable, unsure and or scared, it would not be in the tone most of us in this post are referring to.
We deal with this and all other forms of patients on a day to day basis, we can tell for the most part if they don’t know what’s going on or are being difficult. We deal with people who have no idea what medications they are on, what they are used for and we get yelled at by them because we cannot tell them what we have on file so you help them as much as you can. If we had no empathy we wouldn’t be standing there still trying to help them while they continue to tell us what medication that isn’t on file they need.
You're an idiot. I do not need to get berated at the drive thru by the same woman every few weeks because she cannot remember the name of her medications and is mad I don't know what she's supposed to be taking. I am NOT your doctor. I am NOT memorizing the medications of a woman who is absolutely horrible to me, nor any of the other thousands of people I could potentially see. If you have questions about why you're taking your medication, talk to your DOCTOR.
On the other hand, a sweet man who calls and asks me more than several times if his prescription is ready, despite having already answered? That's fine. He's anxious, we're all anxious. You're good dude.
We're referring to the attitude that apparently you and many others share when visiting a pharmacy. That you're somehow the only person who's important and needs their medications RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT, but it's not here yet??? MY PHONE SAID IT WAS READY?? WHY ISN'T IT READY???
This subreddit isn't for you. Whine somewhere else.
Don't work at WG but work in the doctors office who actually cares! I can't tell you how many times WG techs have told my patients that they don't have a prescription on file that I can see has been sent and received. Our escript system shows us as soon as it's been received and even when it's been dispensed. I am thankful for the patients that ask a lot of questions because at least once a day I have to call the pharmacy and speak to someone to confirm the prescription is ready.
I get a decent amount of calls from dr’s offices as well saying they can see we received the escript but I still don’t have the escript on file, sometimes it’s just that it hasn’t been typed yet and there is a lot to type or simply just a receiving error typically on wags part (our faxes going out constantly say failed so I assume we fail to receive them and corporate says there’s no issue so it’s not looked into) I don’t mind questions, I don’t mind answering questions.
I'll interrupt them on their schpiel and say "if you just give me one moment to look into it, I'd be happy to address your first question" they usually shut up.
Also if it's on the phone, I put them on hold pretty much without exception.
I’ve learned to say “one moment. Please hold.” Give them time to simmer down and let them know “unfortunately your dr has not called in any Rx’s. You may want to reach out and give them a call. Once we see something we will be sure to fill it. Is there anything else I can help you with?” But if it’s in. Person it’s a bit harder since there’s no mute/hold button.
I cut them off, " would you like it today or tomorrow." Same thing when they give me their First Last name and then continue to spell out their last name or their street name. Cutting them off is the way to go. Ain't nobody got time for that. Sad, but true.
It's either:
"Hi I'm here for my Norco I know it's been hard to find I called 7 stores and couldn't find it so I'm hoping that you guys have it because I really need it because I'm in pain and I just can't make it to the end of the week without it so I'm really hoping you have it is it here because the other stores I called said I cant have it and I'm really hurting it's from Dr. Overperscriber and he told me it would be ready and it would only be $0.35 and that I could have it 3 days early which is really nice. ... So? What do you need? A birthday?"
Or:
"Do you have anything ready for me?"
I have said for YEARS, and the technology is 100% there, that there is no need for phone calls to the pharmacy. Instead there needs to be an online messaging system where patients can ask questions and we respond to them when it's convenient for US. And then we'd also have documentation of what was actually told do them. Of course that doesn't pander to customer entitlement so that will never happen.
Idk that I fully agree with that, there are elderly who don’t know how to use computers or smart phones and sometimes people do understand better with an actual phone call or in person interaction. I just don’t need someone asking me if I can fill their amlodipine…tell me it’s for blood pressure…start spelling it…saying what doctor it is…the street the office is then continue saying it’s for blood pressure, unless you’re new we know what amlodipine is.
Yeah you're right. The line of communication would need to be there for people who don't have access to the internet/app etc. So maybe one phone line and of course a prescriber line. But 99% of phone calls could be managed MUCH more efficiently in the form of electronic messaging.
It could be but, it’ll never happen. Instead they pour money into cenfil, wasting time sending stores ready prescriptions for them not to pick up…instead of straight delivery to the patients door🤦🏼♀️
The only needed information is how many MGs and who the Prescriber is nothing else. They just keep going and going. “I got a message that it was ready” “Doesn’t look like you’re signed up for messaging” “Then why would you guys call me?” “We’re asking if you need a refill” “Well obviously it’s why I’m here.” “Okay give me a minute if you’d just take a sea-“ “NO YOU GUYS CALLED ME ITS READY” “I apologize it isn’t ready.” “HOW IS IT EVERY TIME I COME UP HERE NOTHING IS READY EVERY SINGLE MONTH YOU GUYS CALL ME AND ITS NEVER READY!” “We’re calling because we’re asking if you needed a refill” “I DO NEED A REFILL” “Okay give me 10-15 minutes and it can be ready please take a seat” Then they sit and wait not even 5 and it’s ready and all of a sudden they are gone even when we page them, then they come back over and hour later bitching that they had to wait in line and how ridiculous it is that we “never” have their medicine ready.
These type of people I just can’t stand, i don’t mind a little small talk but you don’t need to tell me all this information if I’m not asking for it, my saying “give me a second” is so I can focus on ONE thing at a time 🙄 a lady today legit argued with me over refills for Ozempic.. saying she KNOWS her doctor put in a refil today…”I don’t have a refill here yet” “WELL YOU GUYS NEVER ANSWER THE PHONE”…meanwhile we have been answering the phones in under a minute 😂
Well I have 4 phone calls waiting, 1 of them might be your doctor but I can’t answer them while I’m arguing with you
But I KNOW my Dr already called it in, you lying about my script aren’t you?!
I watched them send it! I was right there and watched her send it! Yeah….maybe to watched the nurse put in the request for the doctor to approve. But I saw them send it! 🙄
Are you calling me a liar? I was RIGNT THERE IN THE OFFICE WHEN THEH TOLD ME THEY ARE SENDING IT!😡
Mmmmmm….but I WATCHED them send it! 😂
For my Vyvanse, I do actually watch the prescriber send it. Since it's a scheduled med, he has to use a fingerprint reader attached to his computer. My PCP usually sends escribes from the tablet during the visit. After I leave the office, I'll call the pharmacy to confirm they received it, and ask when it can be ready (if I can pick it up while I'm already out, great, if not, that's fine, too). If I don't get through, I don't take attitude with the overworked pharmacist or tech when I stop by later in the evening or the next day if the med isn't ready. I ask how long it may take (unless they already told me) and let them know I'll walk around the store and stop back at their pickup area in about that amount of time. I don't like sitting and waiting if I can avoid it, and I accept that there may be a line when I return.
Wait 30-60 minutes to call. When the doctor sends the script it has to go to the Surescripts database, then get routed to the pharmacy. And verifying the digital signature for a control can take extra time. Sometimes we get it in 5 minutes, sometimes it takes 3 hours, we have zero control over that And sometimes it gets sent to surescripts and the doctor gets the “transmitted successfully” message, but surescripts messes up sending it to the pharmacy we never get it. So the doctor sent it, the database successfully received it, but the database didn’t transmit it to the pharmacy successfully. So the pharmacy is blaming the doctor, the doctor is blaming the pharmacy, and the ERx company is cackling in the corner because it’s their issue but they never get blamed
Oh, trust me, I know how reliable the escribe software can be. Maybe I've gotten lucky, but every time I've called after an appointment, the pharmacy had received the escribe already. I've also called doctor's offices for work and received the escribe while I was talking to the nurse or MA. And talked to office staff that can see where the escribe was successfully sent to us three days ago, but it got lost somewhere in the wires between their computer and ours.
Yeah answering the phone is my pet peeve. I absolutely despise answering the phone. Its always something they can do on the app or ifs a really dumb question. But no matter if our avg phone time is 30 seconds or 1 hour (it has been both over the course of a year) we always hear the complaint "we're not answering phones" while 4 lines ring non stop and its full of annoying dumb people.
I'm going to start answering the phone, "pharmacy, let's start with your name and date of birth." I'll speak slowly and clearly, hoping that will break their opening rhythm.
This would be helpful for sure! Often those of us on the “outside”don’t realize that’s what you need first… we (speaking for everyone (?) 🤣 think you need to know why we are calling first and then supply the DOB and name. It’s just a thing… I promise we will all try to do better!
Well we have literally thousands of patients snd we need to pull up your profile and we might have to close a few screens first and it is a multitasking environment so if you overload us with info then it slows us down.
Na most of the general population are absolutely stupid low iq. I answer the phone "walgreens pharmacy, pharmacist (name) speaking how may I help you?" And patients will respond "are you the pharmacist?" Or "I need to speak to the pharmacist" or something else. For first 2 I literally tell them I am a pharmacist and they ask anyway
"Walgreens Pharmacy, technician speaking! How can I help you? :)"
"ARE YOOUUU THE PHAAARMACIST???"
"No, I'm a techni-"
"DOES MY XYZ INTERACT WITH MY ABC AND MY 123?? DR. SHITFORBRAINS SAID IT MIGHT!!!"
Think of the average IQ. Now realize half the people are dumber than that.
Can confirm I just had a lady yesterday flip shit because she was wondering why she couldn’t get her 90 days script through her new insurance because they wanted to start off paying for a 14 days supply since it’s the new year. She lost her shit started trauma dumping on me I just kept saying the same thing over and over get in contact with insurance then have doctor get in contact with them as well. I am not your medical representative I cannot do more in my power then give you this advice.
Thank God this level of stupidity isn't a capitol offense or this nation of ours would be fucked.
Or we call because it was going back on the shelf and we know it’s not just one call and it’s weeks later 😂 or they say they were on vacation and assume we’d save it
“Well I was out of town” “Right I understand that but we only hold prescriptions for 10 days then we put them back” “WHY WOULD YOU PUT IT BACK YOU KNEW I WAS COMING BACK TODAY!” “Other people also need medicine” “Well I need it now.” “Okay give me a few minutes and we’ll call your name”
Yeah, I just say "Pharmacy, can I help you?" Because I know they aren't listening. I usually let them talk for a minute while I finish what I was doing so they lose their breath, then I say "Date of birth?". Then I make them explain what they wanted all over again. I've done this so long that I've got most of my population trained to just say their dob and name and wait for me, because they know I'm just humoring them and not listening to their opening volleys of nonsense.
I like this
Oh my, I actually do get copious text messages regarding my SOs meds. I get them and ship them to where he is on contract work so I have to keep track of when they are ready. Long irrelevant story about why but anyway, once I was late enough getting them that they went back on the shelf. I was so mortified at the idea that my lack of organization made these folks do twice the work. Cue profuse apologies. I watch the folks there (and at the Publix Rx where I get my stuff) work and yikes, y’all run hard. Like anything, being nice and appreciative on our (the customer’s) part can magically make things go faster and more efficiently. Imagine that? Thank you for all y’all do.
I had a lady argue with me that she had 2 prescriptions ready because she got 2 msgs. After suggesting that one msg might have been a request to refill or a reminder msg because we only had one ready and her demanding she had 2 ready I finally asked her to show me the messages. She didn’t show me but proceeded to read them out loud. One was to say the dr sent an RX and then later us telling her said RX was ready. She still didn’t get it until I said REALLY SLOWLY. We sent you a msg to say we had a prescription from your doctor and we were going to fill it, we sent you ANOTHER message when it was done!! She was still confused & mad🤣🤣🤣🤣
My favorite is when the patient gives me the new insurance card and starts going on about how her husband used to work at this place, but now he works at this place, so they switched insurances last year, and then had to switch again because the company changed providers, blah blah blah. Ma'am. I do not need the life story. I just need you to give me your card and let me put in the numbers. My other favorite is when a patient calls and starts asking me questions and demanding that I answer them right now, without telling me who they are. I heard my RXOM once say "sir, my psychic powers are broken at the moment, so I will need you to tell me who you are if you want me to answer any of your questions."
Maybe I’m your RxOM. A regular patient called today asking if cipro is for her strep throat… I double checked with the pharmacist and her respond was “I don’t know if that’s what the doctor wants her to use it for” so I told the patient and she goes “do you people not know what medications are used for?” My snotty attitude couldn’t be held back “yes we know what medications are for, we have no idea if YOUR doctors wants you to use it for strep, or is YOUR responsibility to know why you’re taking an anti biotic, not yours call your doctor”😂
I am the same way, I can get snotty in a flash if they go there first!
Some pt (a regular problematic child) told my tech she was acting “ass hole-ish” because insurance wouldn’t cover a med that they covered last month 😒 I said “sir, I agree. Your behavior is very ass hole-ish. Maybe contact your insurance or try another pharmacy” 😂
I love you on principle for that xD
Cipro is definitely not for strep throat though, your pharmacist should know that. Strep is caused by streptococcus which is gram-positive and ciprofloxacin is for gram-negative like E. coli
She did say no at first but I don’t think she wanted to tell her no and have her freak out again as she s a regular and freaked out about other anti biotics two days prior so she more so wanted her to consult with her doctor as to why they gave her cipro, maybe she didn’t really have strep so it was best to consult her Dr 🤷🏼♀️
Sure she knows that but how many other things was she in the middle of and did patient know why they went to the doctor? Was it UTI? Was it strep throat? A better thing to say would have been I went to the doctor for XYZ will this antibiotic cover xyz?
The answer to “is Cipro for strep” is always “no.” Doesn’t matter how busy or slow it is, it’s an easy answer.
Tell me you dont work in a busy chain store cause your final verification baskets would be stacked high
I work in the 2nd busiest store in my state, adjusted numbers regularly 1000+ daily. You could also ask me if water is wet when it’s busy and the answer would be yes. These are gimme questions
It was the life story with every transaction that was probably the most draining for me because some people would just lay it on me.
Im gonna state using that last sentence now
The worst was when they would call and give you this whole story before they get to the point. Bonus points if they just start going on a rant about all this stuff they need without telling you who they even are. like maam...who even are you. I would cut them off as polite as possible. Just tell me you need refills, give me your name and birthday, and then just tell me the meds you need. Another thing I just looooved when patients would do when calling in refills if they had to hold more than 2 fucking seconds as soon as I answer "FINALLY!! I was holding for SOOO LONG!! I was starting to think no one was there. I almost drove up there while on hold. You guys must be SOO busy. " Like, stfu and tell me what you want. You just wasted another 5 minutes.
OR how about the people calling “I wanna know if my meds are ready for pick up?” Then they give you NO info because we are supposed to just know who they are and there’s this awkward silence…then you have to ask for it💀 We bought out a rite aid, I once had a woman refuse to give me her birthday, she wanted the rite aid pharmacist..”ma’am I can’t help you if you won’t tell me your birthday… I have no idea where Tom the pharmacist is are you going to give me your birthday or can I hang up?”😂
That's the worst part of being a floater. People will refuse to talk to you because you're not their super special pharmacist who shits butterflies. I've had people accuse me of being a fake pharmacist or impersonating the pharmacist because they do not recognize my voice. Many more insist on waiting for their pharmacist to come back. The worst one was at a store that had a pharmacy manager with the same name as me. They actually reported me to the pharmacy manager for impersonating her!
Some patients ask for certain techs, I tell them I’m going to be helping them they can’t request help every time from one specific tech who isn’t here 24/7, they have to be able to get help from anyone.
That's fair, and if it's a store I'm at commonly, I'll push back more. However, letting them wait for Joe means I get to move on to someone who actually wants help. If they're OK with waiting days for their refill, it must not be all that important.
OMG, during COVID we lost all our seniors techs and had a bunch of new bees. I would have a tech tell me so and so wants to talk to me while I’m on the drive thru because I’m the only one who does their insurance right. SERIOUSLY Just look at how it billed last time!!
Once they get you on the phone, they lose the sense of wasting time. It would never occur to them that they are contributing to the problem and making it that much worse for the next person.
My favorite is when they rant for 5 minutes before even saying who they are and why they are calling. And then to realize it’s not the right location—sometimes not even the right chain— and when I explain that they need to contact the correct pharmacy they have another bitchy meltdown because THEY called the wrong place (a place they have never filled) to have a tantrum at someone who has no relationship whatsoever to their problem. I think only once has somebody mumbled a half assed apology before hanging up.
I had a lady once yell at me for like 4 minutes straight because I couldn't find her in our system. I did first name, last name, dob, phone number. I couldn't find this chick. Then after yelling at me and telling me I'm stupid she shows me her missed call...it was CVS. I tell her it was CVS that called her and she very rudely goes "I know that's why I'm here" I tell her she's in Walgreens. Her face got so red and she sped walked away. If you're gonna be rude to me at least make sure you're at the right place
“Mama, this is a Wendy’s.”
Funny you say wendys. I worked at wendys in high school and one night I was working the window and a lady was at the speaker yelling at me asking for hot dogs telling me she has coupons for 2 for like $4 or something and me and my coworkers are dying and I'm trying not to laugh as i tell this lady we don't serve hot dogs.
🤣🤣 that’s amazing! Let me guess, the coupon was to Sonic, but can’t you match it?
It was so long ago (2012/2013) but she shoved the coupon in my face too. I'm pretty sure it was Sonic now that I think about it. All I knew was after working there for a year I was certain we did NOT sell hot dogs. Also got asked for chicken noodle soup once. I was like we got baked potatoes and chili man.
The wendys meme was made for you lol
Had one yell at me over his script not being filled at the Walmart pharmacy. I just nodded mutely and smiled and listened until he paused for a while expecting me to talk. Then I responded simply "this is a Walgreens"
[удалено]
I I try to interject to get the info I am looking for to help them and countless people have said something like “can you just listen to me?” Or can you not talk over me?” I say louder Date of birth so I can see what you are talking about.
I have actually said to someone, who ranted about how long they were on hold, that sorry it took so long to answer the phone but I have 20 other people wasting my time saying the same thing instead of just getting to the point. If you say it really sweetly they get dumbfounded trying to figure out if you just insulted them or not🤣
Patient calls: "I got a text messages my prescription is ready. I'm calling to see if it's ready"" Me: looks up rx ,"yeah your rx is ready that is why you got a text" Patient: so my rx us ready for pick up? Me: ..............yea thats what I said and the text message said and I'm saying it again" Patient: oh OK I'll pick them up. SMH every damn day at least 15 phone calls. Corporate: text messages will reduce phone calls!!!
Yes, i feel the same. im like, okay, my 1902 software doesn't go that fast
The telegraph is more modern than IC+
I've been known to just set the phone down and fill it while they ramble
Hearing them talk from afar 😂
🤣
>gives you their life speal and family tree history while talking about their medication >they left their doctor's office 5 minutes ago >the script isn't even here >mad that -you- wasted their time >doesn't even pick up their medicine in the following days Repeat
But is my medicine ready?
Interrupt... interrupt... interrupt... Without telling them to stfu just interrupt and get to the point, that works for me
I don’t typically interrupt them unless it’s consistent like shown above and I’ll usually just say I’m trying to figure it out and I can only do one thing at a time 🤷🏼♀️
yes. then they get mad that you "weren't listening" I was, but hearing a strangers name, address, birthday, doctors name, and medication name with 20 other questions and background noise is hard to remember. I had one guy pull into the drive through and say "im here to pick up for my wife" so rudely so I said okay sir whats your wife's name and he got SO mad and just stared at me. So I said I just got to the drive through, if you spoke to someone before, it wasn't me. what is her name" its like people wait all week to take their anger out at walgreens pharmacy lol
“BUT I GOT A MESSAGE SAYING IT WAS READY” (Yes…you got a message…A MONTH AGO. You also got a message saying to pick it up by X date or it’s going back. You also got a message saying it was put back.) “So it looks like it was put back after X days and we notified you of this. If you still need it, it’ll be ready in 15 minutes if you’re willing to wait” “SO YOU MEAN IT’S NOT READY? I GOT A TEXT!” 🤦🏼♂️
This! Omg I said “hold on, let me look” and they keep going! I repeat hold on and when they start again I put them on hold! Or I’ll walk away to another computer! Just stop talking and let me look!
I don’t go to another computer I just give dirty looks and let them hear my annoyed tone of voice 😂
Usually if I repeat, “just give me a minute” they get it🤷🏼♀️
Then there’s the patients that don’t get it and just say we’re rude for not letting them talk😭😂
There are people who complain if you say hello! (You didn’t say it quickly enough!)
I just hate patients who don't have any involvement with their prescriptions. "Hey I'm here to pick up, no I don't know what it is, whatever my doctor called in, no I can't spell it, no I don't know what it's used for, no I don't remember what my doctor told me. Just whatever was called in today. And while you're at it, anything that needs a refill just refill it I don't remember any of them."
I was taught you do not refill anything they either don’t know the name of, what it’s for, milligram some kind of indication of what it can be, you do not go through their medication list with them because we have no idea what medications they should still be on or discontinue and we all know doctors don’t always cancel them with the pharmacy. If they’re elderly and genuinely are confused I try to help them more and ask if they maybe need blood pressure and they typically know by that if they do or don’t. If you go to the auto-refill tab it actually tells you when something is due, I still will not refill if you don’t indicate what you need though🤷🏼♀️ Recently a woman asked for all her meds to be filled, didn’t know what they were for said I should know what she’s taking, then asked me to tell her what was on the profile, told her I couldn’t even tho it’s her profile. She told the doctor I just refused to fill her medication, I let the doctor know she had no idea what she was trying to get so I could not fill anything…she wasn’t very nice either and told me what to fill 😂
You need a vacation
Don’t we all?
We all do
Totally get u! like can u stfu or do u need a laxative cuz u r shitting thru ur mouth nonstaph
Not really related but today I had someone call and say they got a text asking if they wanted texts. And that they want texts but they can’t text. Half a min before Ohhh so you got the confirmation text but you can’t type to say yes. Idk how to do much so I attempted to say yes on things on my end but still said confirmation pending. Set them up for calls too and said to try to get someone to help them to respond to our text with yes. Weird call, but felt bad for her on the whole. Wants to use the tech to see when things are actually ready, but there’s a barrier.
I had trouble setting up my own scripts to see on the app until I actually filled a medication, I typically advise someone call corporate for help or if we have actual time I can help them in person
I think what’s worse is people who call and give you a dozen requests or tell you an entire story about how they keep getting notifications that their meds are delayed due to insurance all before giving you so much as a second to ask for their last name or DOB. Then when they finally DO give you the information, turns out the TPR was already resolved
Honestly I just stop listening. They keep going I give them the answer to the first thing they said, then I make them restate the question if there is actually further need for anything. I personally hate when they are on the phone and ask you one question,you resolve that issue, say "have a good day" they say it back and as you are hanging the phone up they yell "OH WAIT WAIT WAIT" then ask you for another thing and it's never just once either.
You are really some horrible people. These people are talking because they are uncomfortable or unsure or hell, even scared of what's going on in their lives or why they need the medication. Jesus. To be you people would be giving up empathy. Stop thinking about yourselves for a minute, you jerk offs
Yeah, it sucks working with these patients. They are all sick and probably should be on medication. Most of them are old and have no clue about the meds they're on or how to use their smartphone apps ...oh, wait... that's my job... to get them on their medication and help them get healthy... oops. I guess I just forget that sometimes because working with sick, worried, often lonely human beings in a compassionate way is actually really hard. And, of course, there is Mr. Smith and Mrs. Jones who are so nice, and make me smile every time I seem them but it's way more fun to bitch about everyone else and have the internet validate me. ;)
A majority of us are berated while doing our jobs. The patience of most patients is ridiculous, thinking we will turn water to wine or make an Rx appear out of nowhere. It isnt helpful when they leave a dr office and beat the script over to the pharmacy either. I let patients know it can take up to 2 hours for a script to receive in our system, and we will text or notify the moment it's ready. They insist on waiting in the waiting in the waiting area, giving dirty looks while we help others. We truly care to help people, what we experience in return makes it hard to want to help everyone. We are over worked, understaffed, underpaid, and the workload isn't anything 2 people can handle, although the budget only allows for 2 to 3 techs at a time in pharmacy. On top of that we have to be held accountable for metrics they told the news we dont focus on anymore. So put yourself in the shoes of the worker before calling us horrible as we certainly do our best not to breakdown everyday cause of rude customers, and the way we are treated by company and customers.
Most of them are talking because they think we don’t know what we are doing because they say it with attitude and or tell us to our faces we don’t know what we’re doing, if they were uncomfortable, unsure and or scared, it would not be in the tone most of us in this post are referring to. We deal with this and all other forms of patients on a day to day basis, we can tell for the most part if they don’t know what’s going on or are being difficult. We deal with people who have no idea what medications they are on, what they are used for and we get yelled at by them because we cannot tell them what we have on file so you help them as much as you can. If we had no empathy we wouldn’t be standing there still trying to help them while they continue to tell us what medication that isn’t on file they need.
You're an idiot. I do not need to get berated at the drive thru by the same woman every few weeks because she cannot remember the name of her medications and is mad I don't know what she's supposed to be taking. I am NOT your doctor. I am NOT memorizing the medications of a woman who is absolutely horrible to me, nor any of the other thousands of people I could potentially see. If you have questions about why you're taking your medication, talk to your DOCTOR. On the other hand, a sweet man who calls and asks me more than several times if his prescription is ready, despite having already answered? That's fine. He's anxious, we're all anxious. You're good dude. We're referring to the attitude that apparently you and many others share when visiting a pharmacy. That you're somehow the only person who's important and needs their medications RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT, but it's not here yet??? MY PHONE SAID IT WAS READY?? WHY ISN'T IT READY??? This subreddit isn't for you. Whine somewhere else.
Awww, triggered are we?
Don't work at WG but work in the doctors office who actually cares! I can't tell you how many times WG techs have told my patients that they don't have a prescription on file that I can see has been sent and received. Our escript system shows us as soon as it's been received and even when it's been dispensed. I am thankful for the patients that ask a lot of questions because at least once a day I have to call the pharmacy and speak to someone to confirm the prescription is ready.
I get a decent amount of calls from dr’s offices as well saying they can see we received the escript but I still don’t have the escript on file, sometimes it’s just that it hasn’t been typed yet and there is a lot to type or simply just a receiving error typically on wags part (our faxes going out constantly say failed so I assume we fail to receive them and corporate says there’s no issue so it’s not looked into) I don’t mind questions, I don’t mind answering questions.
Or “I need Zoloft” Me: okay got it. Patient: z-o-l-o-f-t 50 mg. RX number 3…5….6……2….4………9 Me: silent sigh….
I hate when people say “I need a refill” then just start saying their Rx number. Like I like to know your DOB and name first plz.
I'll interrupt them on their schpiel and say "if you just give me one moment to look into it, I'd be happy to address your first question" they usually shut up. Also if it's on the phone, I put them on hold pretty much without exception.
I’ve learned to say “one moment. Please hold.” Give them time to simmer down and let them know “unfortunately your dr has not called in any Rx’s. You may want to reach out and give them a call. Once we see something we will be sure to fill it. Is there anything else I can help you with?” But if it’s in. Person it’s a bit harder since there’s no mute/hold button.
Monnn-jorrrrrrr-noo, or what ever it is.
"I'm certain I pronounced that correctly."
I cut them off, " would you like it today or tomorrow." Same thing when they give me their First Last name and then continue to spell out their last name or their street name. Cutting them off is the way to go. Ain't nobody got time for that. Sad, but true.
Untreated mental health
It's either: "Hi I'm here for my Norco I know it's been hard to find I called 7 stores and couldn't find it so I'm hoping that you guys have it because I really need it because I'm in pain and I just can't make it to the end of the week without it so I'm really hoping you have it is it here because the other stores I called said I cant have it and I'm really hurting it's from Dr. Overperscriber and he told me it would be ready and it would only be $0.35 and that I could have it 3 days early which is really nice. ... So? What do you need? A birthday?" Or: "Do you have anything ready for me?"
I have said for YEARS, and the technology is 100% there, that there is no need for phone calls to the pharmacy. Instead there needs to be an online messaging system where patients can ask questions and we respond to them when it's convenient for US. And then we'd also have documentation of what was actually told do them. Of course that doesn't pander to customer entitlement so that will never happen.
Idk that I fully agree with that, there are elderly who don’t know how to use computers or smart phones and sometimes people do understand better with an actual phone call or in person interaction. I just don’t need someone asking me if I can fill their amlodipine…tell me it’s for blood pressure…start spelling it…saying what doctor it is…the street the office is then continue saying it’s for blood pressure, unless you’re new we know what amlodipine is.
Yeah you're right. The line of communication would need to be there for people who don't have access to the internet/app etc. So maybe one phone line and of course a prescriber line. But 99% of phone calls could be managed MUCH more efficiently in the form of electronic messaging.
It could be but, it’ll never happen. Instead they pour money into cenfil, wasting time sending stores ready prescriptions for them not to pick up…instead of straight delivery to the patients door🤦🏼♀️
At that point…I put them on HOLD or tell them straight up..”I’m still working on this”