How to NOT get your pain medication filled...

Here's how you will not get your prescription for Narcotic painkillers filled.

Customer comes in and hand a script over at drop-off.

"Do y'all have brand name?"

Even before I even peek at what medication it was for, I heard those words. Of course, it was for << insert narcotic painkiller here >>. I proceeded to check customer's profile. Never been here before nor any other related stores.

Then I notice there weren't a DEA number on the script. Walked over to the pharmacist to confirm.

::A minute or so passes.::

"Sorry, we do not have the medication in stock."

::Customer walks off grumbling::

I hear a slight racial slur...that was the end of it.

Goodbye. Come again. In a Apusque tone. (From the Simpsons..)

It's Either Yes or No to Cash Back!

How mindless can some people be. Either you want Cash back or you don't.

Rarely do you encounter a customer who have already decided to use plastic and thus have their card ready to go. The majority of the time; however, they'll have to dig it out of their wallet or really over sized purse/handbag. Once they manage to get it out, they'll spend at least 15-30 second figuring on how to insert it.

COME ON!. Credit/debit cards are so commonplace nowadays. Half of the people who uses it can't even figure out how to swipe the card. So what if their are different types of debit/credit card terminal. Just look at the fucking picture. It is there for a reason!

When I'm lucky [a hint of sarcasm] enough to work the cash register, I'll have to aide every other customer on using their credit/debit cards. They don't notice the simplified picture located right next to the insert. Once they manage to swipe it, I would still have to help them finish the transaction. Just fucking read the prompt. Look down and READ. Hit Cancel if you want to do credit. Enter your damn PIN if you want to do Debit. Don't fucking hit CANCEL and then bitch that you wanted to do DEBIT. FUCKING READ. Don't hit "Yes, I want Cash Back" if you DON'T really want it. You got 2 choices there. Yes or No. It's even colored in Green which is synonymous for "Yes/Go" and Red for "No/Stop". Two of the most common and easiest word in the ENGLISH language to comprephend. But somehow, they always pick the wrong one.

Now, why does this pisses me off? Simple. I like to herd people in and out of my line. I strive to provide the quickest service while maintaining accuracy on my drawer count. Hence, I really hate it when they can't use 0.000000001 % of their brain power to operate a simple Credit/Debit card processor/terminal. It just throw me off on my groove.

Well.. Do you want to wait 15 minutes? Or Come back in 1 Hour?

I just don't understand some people. Every time I'm about to finish entering a script into the system, I would estimated how long it would take for it to be filled based on the current volume. Usually, it will only take us 5-10 minutes from the point where I hit enter to it being finished being QA by the Pharmacist. Those that care about their script(s) would sit and wait. While others would say they'll be back to pick it up. Remember, it was either wait or 1 hour. I entered as so. As they are about to walk away they will undoubtedly say, "I'll be back in 20 minutes". WTF, I told them "15 minutes or less or 1 hour.

Sometime, it's slow and that's fine. No problem there. However, when it's really busy with 2 or more stacks of baskets piling up, it really pisses me off. It will just ruin the flow of production for me. Sure, it's a small thing you may say, BUT, they were given two fricking options.

Now, what is going to happen? The pharmacist will hand the script to the cashier on duty. He or she will not see "Waiting" on the label and won't call the name out. Even if they come back, they'll be waiting longer. If only they had say "Okay, 15 minutes", they would get their script in 15 min. I would probably be too busy dealing with phones and customers to know if their script is done or not.

Inventory Hell.

I got off work today at 4:45ish and started my usual drive to where I work. Ugh, Philadelphia traffic is the worst. I thought I was smart and decided to take another route that's usually faster if there's little or no traffic. The backup was horrible. I got there at 6:05 PM. Can you believe that it takes me over an hour to get to work after working 8 hours already! I could find a store that's nearby but I love that place no matter how bad it can get.

We got INVENTORY coming up. Since all the months I've been working this is the first inventory that I noticed or being involved in. We're a 24 hour chain store so it get pretty busy around 4-8pm. With inventory coming up, the Robotic Inventory Auto-Counter Whatchamacallit was not fully loaded. This is because a complete count of all medications is required, so the RPH doesn't want the techs to load it. This led to major backup in filling the massive amount of scripts. I guess I've been spoiled by this wonderful machine. The top drugs are auto-counted for us and I only need to double count the Controls.

IT WAS BUSY! I got in and worked nonstop until 8:30ish when it slowed down a little. If I wasn't putting scripts in, I was at production or answering the continuous phone calls. Worst of all, today was "Truck Day". There were like 10 full totes that needed to be put away. I was jumping around from station to station. And plus, we had a relatively new tech working and one tech who was working here longer than I but never really manage to learn beyond the register and answering phone calls.

I was glad that one of our senior intern was there to help out. She is graduating with a PharmD this May thus she knows her stuff pretty well. I would've been so swamped and agitated.

On the plus side though, at least I don't have to work this Friday! INVENTORY HELL.