Where to start?
Budget cuts. They suck. They make resonable people behave like children. Funny, I know the general public doesn't live under a rock. I would imagine that even some of my 'higher-end' customers are experiencing some of the negative side effects that have resulted from the down turn in the economy. Why then, are they so befuddled and then rude/angry/mean when our wait time creeps up above 20 minutes at night when the day staff is gone? I had my two interns occupied at various points of contact with customers and I was just coming back from the OTC shelves post recommendation to hear someone loudly proclaim, "Why do I have to wait so long for my prescription?"
Gee, let me think?? This customer was not blind, as I watched her beady little eyes scan the lines of people and the two 'employees' at the end of each line, never mind the drive thru that was completely neglected and then spy me racing back to the pharmacy with hopes that I don't get another question from someone in line. There was clearly no one behind the counter to take the prescription, let alone fill it and this twit wants to know why there's a longer wait time. This wasn't the first time that night I heard stupidity flowing from a customer's mouth like diarrhea either.
My 'help'. Help is usually a good thing, but not when one is visibly pregnant and thus moves like she's stuck in sand. I understand the tired, achy, all over not fun that is pregnancy but this one normally moves like a sand sloth when not incubating a developing clump of cells. There is never a sense of urgency with movement, thought, or motivation. That kind of laid back 'tude may come in handy in the future if she finds a nice quiet store that never breaks fifty scripts a day...Still, I'm glad that she could cover for the sick call or I would have been in even deeper shit. The other intern will be the first blind pharmacist that ever gets licensed to my knowledge. He couldn't find a bag of meds if it was the only one in a drawer, after studying a map of how to get there. Yet, I'm still greatful for the help, as I know the night could have been much worse.
Drug shortages. Fine. We can always work with alternatives, but only if the docs ever return calls with some sort of authorization, preferably without the 'Are you stupid, of course it should have been changed' attitude. Trust me, I don't like not having prescriptive authority in these cases anymore that Dr. Badass likes to spare me a second of his precious time.
Budget cuts again. We are being forced to cut across the board. It's not pretty. I truly hope that it doesn't take as long as it's being predicted to see some up swing in the economy besides the profits that are being seen in the fast food sector. I don't like the thought of the statin and BP lowering med scripts that will surely follow.
I guess that's it for the moment. It's been a long month, moonlighting when I can. Might as well pad the coffers while I can, especially since no one else seems to want the shifts I'm picking up. Glutton for punishment I suppose. Hopefully I won't wait so long to post next time. Heck, I might even have some good material for once. Bad times make for some funny situations simply because of the nature of the times.
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2 comments:
My store had some cuts, we can't even pull time over our shifts to help out. There have been nights were we have the one pharmacists trying to verify scripts and counsel people while me and the other intern are working drop off, counseling others in the drive through, and trying to help with OTC recommendations. No techs scheduled past 8pm most nights, just an intern and tech or two interns. Usually we end up getting slammed at some point because everyone needs their meds at night even though they still have a week of meds left at home but they need the meds NOW! And you have to figure half of them are having problems of drug not covered, new insurance, ect.
I wish I could punch or throw something at people who come in late at night or even at say 6pm when we are still understaffed for the work flow and see stacks of baskets with scripts waiting to be checked in them and everyone rushing and ask "you think I can get it in 5 minutes" or "I'll be back tommorow for it" and then show up 10 minutes later throwing a hissy fit about it not being ready. It also doesn't help when the docs write for drugs and/or dosages that don't exist and when you call you get a "huh... that drug obviously exists, I wrote for it", my favorite is "proventolin" it's either ventolin HFA or pro-air. I must get at least 3 a week when I'm working.
I'm rather jealous of you NY'ers though. Am I correct in saying that you have a law prohibiting multiple transfers of medications?
I can't tell you the number of transfers I do in a day. It's maddening, and all for a stupid in store coupon. To add insult to injury my company accepts competitor's transfer coupons...
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