I'll be good for you...

...if you're nice to us, that is.

On this lovely Saturday, as I sit in Franchise Cafe finishing up the shitload of assignments I've let pile up for this rotation, I viewed a customer become upset with a cashier because their stupid sandwich wasn't made correctly.  That made me sit back and think about the real similarities between food service and pharmacy, which I'm sure we're all aware of.  I think I've made some mentions to this effect before, but I couldn't help but think of my favorite mantra:

This is not Burger King - you cannot have it your way.

So yeah, at Franchise Cafe you can technically have it your way, but to all you patients out there...be careful about you you piss off...you could end up with a Spit Special, as my fiance likes to call it.  In a pharmacy, you really can't have it your way 99% of the time.  You're out of your #120 Vicodin after 7 days?  Nope, sorry, no early refill...you can't have it your way, and I'm not falling for the 'but my pills fell in my toilet' excuse.  You're completely out of your Xanax and it's a Friday night, can you have some to get you through the weekend?  Hell no, you can't have it your way.

Here is a prime example of a pharmacy-type Spit Special:  You're dropping of a prescription with a write date of three months ago and you get pissed because we tell you that you have to wait 20 minutes and you need it right this second.  'It's just some pills in a bottle, 20 minutes is ridiculous!'  No, sir, you can't have it your way, and I will make sure it takes at least 20 minutes to fill it.  Oops!  Typed the sig wrong, need to redo it.  Your insurance is expired, do you have another card?  Give me about 5 minutes to rebill that, sir.  By the time you're out of there, it's at least 30 minutes by design.  I may be cynical, but if you'd dropped off that prescription and had us hold it until you needed it, it would have been done as soon as you called us to fill it.

Recently, I was reading the Pharmacy Chick's blog, and she makes a very valid point:  "How long will this take?" and "when should I come back for this?" will elicit two totally different responses.  The person accepting the prescription or refill will respond more favorably to the latter.  Asking how long it will take to fill the prescription makes patients come off as impatient and ungrateful.  Most of the time, patients asking this question seem perturbed an in a hurry, like our time is not as valuable as theirs is.  And when we tell them it will be about 20 minutes, they usually roll their eyes or sigh.  Sorry, you should have called ahead for your 8 refills or dropped off your new prescription with the intention of waiting a little bit.  For those who bring in a buttload of refills and give me shit for having to wait a little longer than normal due to the amount, I put stickers that say "For refills, call 24 hours ahead!" on every single bag receipt.  My hope is that the patient will get the subtle hint, but usually they don't.  If I wait on them at the cash register and they complain about the wait time, I very politely say, "Well, next time you need your refills, you can always call the night before!  And if you don't want to use our automated system, dial the phone number and press zero...that way, you'll be connected directly with someone at the pharmacy!"

Part of Pharmacy Chick's message in her last post is that "you get in what you put out."  I totally agree with her.  If you form a great relationship with your pharmacy staff, they will be totally receptive to you.  Trust me - we can tell when you're genuinely in a pinch versus just being a d-bag.  And it's important to form a great relationship with everyone that works behind the counter, not just the pharmacist.  The technicians make the pharmacy world go round.  Without them, if pharmacists were solely relied on to input, fill, call insurance companies, and deal with customers in addition to what their real duties are (ie visual verification, taking verbal prescriptions, catching drug interactions/duplicate therapies, anomalies between what a patient was just prescribed versus what they'd had before [this is in no way an exhaustive list]), every pharmacy would be in chaos.

Be nice to your pharmacy staff...or else you might end up with the pharmacy's version of a Spit Special.

PS:  Worked with Floater Pharmy this week!  To my dismay, I've left my Little Notebook o' Quotes at home.  I will be posting some gems when I get the chance!

so tell me what do do now, 'cause...

...I am a weirdo magnet.

For realz, yo.  It's been what, a week since I've blogged?  That's because nothing really interesting happened last week.  But this week, oh, this week has been very different.

I'm at a busier store this week, so I get lots of patients.  And lots of patients means lots of counseling.  And lots of counseling means you're bound to get the weirdos from time to time.  How do I even begin??

Let's start with the 70-ish-year-old old guy with yellow teeth, most likely from smoking, a shirt that used to be white with holes in it, and jean-short cutoffs.  He was picking up a prescription for Vicodin (obviously), so I counseled him on it.  At the end of our conversation, I said, "Do you have any other questions for me?"  His response:  "Can I have your number?"

Now before you all say, "Oh, he was just joking," you didn't see his face.  He was completely serious.  Then when I said, "I don't think so," he shrugged and said, "Well, I hope you have fun tonight.  I know I will," then he winked and left.  Creeper.

Today, however, took the cake.  This middle-aged guy, probably in his 40s, came to our drop-off window.  He presented me with a prescription and told me that his address was incorrect because he "used to be in prison" and was "probably going back next week because [he] got a DWI" and that I'd probably read about him in the newspaper.  If this wasn't enough, he also informed me that he was poisoned with antifreeze, was hospitalized in the ICU for 4 days, and that his serum creatinine is currently about 2.8 mg/dL and wanted to know if the kidneys regenerate.  He kept smiling at me and as I counseled him, our conversation went something like this:

Ex-con guy:  Oh, hi.  I see you're wearing a ring.
Me:  Yes, yes I am.
Ex-con guy:  Well, rings can come off.  **wink**
Me:  Uhm, mine doesn't.

I mean come on...what is it with people?  He creeped me out from the get-go because he was too friendly.  The pharmacist on duty who is about 8 months prego (bless her heart...and she's working up until her due date) said if she would have known, she would have taken the counsel because she's got such a big baby belly.  But how would she have known?  And...some guys like that kind of stuff.  Eek..whatever.

On Monday, I also had a googly-eyed lady freaking out because the doctor didn't call her prescription in correctly.  She screamed at me that she needed to use our phone so she could call her "godddamned doctor" and "get my pills because I'm out of my damn pills."  So after she yells at me and simultaneously spits on me while doing so, I lend her the phone next to the drop off window.  She gets ahold of the office and screams into the phone at the secretary, who puts her on hold so she can look into the problem.  The lady turns around and yells to her equally attractive husband, "THE GODDAMNED BITCH PUT ME ON HOLD!"  Mind you, there are lots of other people milling around as well as small children (oh, those poor kids).

The NP from the practice finally gets on the phone and tells the patient that she will talk to someone right then to straighten out the mishap.  The beauty shoves the phone in my face, so I took the prescription and talked with the NP, who apologized for her patient.  Why should she apologize?  Googly-eyed Lady owes everyone an apology!  She told the NP at her appointment that she takes Effexor XR 75 mg, which comes as a capsule.  The NP called in a script for that, but the catch is that it's not generic.  There are, however, venlafaxine XR 75 mg TABLETS, which is what the lady wanted because they're cheaper than the capsule.  I understand the lady was frustrated, but I will NEVER, EVER understand why patients think yelling and screaming will make things happen faster.  It will most likely cause me to move even slower just to piss you off.  UGH...people.

I was really, really frustrated in general today, though.  I worked with a pharmacist whom I've never met, and she made me stay at the drop off window for my entire 10 hours because I'd "learn sooooo much standing there."  That might be good and all IF I WAS A TECH TRAINING ON THE COMPUTER.  I'm not saying I shouldn't learn to do all I can so I can help while I'm there, but how is taking prescriptions preparing me to be a pharmacist?  I should be counseling, making MD calls, taking prescriptions, and making OTC recommendations.  I don't mind helping out at drop off for a little bit, but 10 hours?!  Honestly...no one else stood there their whole shift.  I'm just free labor so they can do whatever they want, I guess.  Whatever...here's to hoping tomorrow is better.  At least I'm off Friday.

I'm going home this weekend...yay for four-day weekends!  I work four-10 hour days so I get Fridays off, plus Monday is a holiday and I don't have to go in...YAY!  Working Saturday at home...will update if I have stories!!