Sitting in the pharmacy a few weeks ago waiting on E's antibiotic I sat down next to a very sweet lady. The pharmacy tech informed me it would be at least a 30 minute wait so I patiently sat down and starting catching up on all my 'news' while E slept soundly beside me.
The lady sitting next to me shuffled in her chair and sighed loudly every 3-4 minutes. About the third sigh "I don't understand what is taking so long." I looked up and smiled kindly....she really didn't want to go there with me.
A few minutes later ......"It's only three pills, I just don't understand..."
Me: I'm sure they are trying the best that they can.
(Again, you really don't want to start this topic with me.)
At this point a gentleman walks up and demands to speak to the pharmacist. He then proceeds to throw a good 10 minute (very loud, might I add) fit about how they gave him the 'wrong' med and made a mistake. The pharmacist took the medication back and apologized profusely. Upon further yelling it turns out they didn't give him the 'wrong' med, just the generic version and he doesn't get generic meds. (A whole other topic for a whole other day)....and the poor pharmacist taking the yelling wasn't even the one that filled that prescription.
Eventually the man takes the *RIGHT* medication (which costs $50 more and works just as well as the $3 one) and storms out the door. And the pharmacist is finally able to take the call that rang 5 minutes ago that was for him.
Then little sweet lady starts up again and says those eight dreaded words no one that works in a pharmacy wants to hear...." I could do it faster than he does..."
I turned to her: "Do you know exactly what he does? It's not about putting pills in the bottle. He's had 6-8 years of extensive training to make sure there are no drug interactions, it's the right medication, the right strength. And it's not just your medication he is dealing with. He is filling my little infant baby's antibiotic prescription and making sure the doctor didn't overdose her. He's answering 15 phone calls about overdoses, refill requests, and doctors who are rude even though they are the one that made a mistake and he saved their butt. He is supervising technicians, eating lunch on the go, and probably hasn't peed in hours. He's handling rude people and saving lives while doing it. He's giving vaccines, and he's trying to make sure that you get your refill on time next month so he can give you 30 pills instead of 3. Putting pills in the bottle is the least of his worries. And I bet it would take you 30 minutes to find your Coreg back there, because it's NOT under Coreg. So no, you probably couldn't do all that faster than he does."
She looked at me, mouth opened, right as the pharmacist called my daughter's name and mouthed "thank you" as I walked up.
Don't judge until you've walked a mile.
Thank you to all my pharmacy friends who work retail. You rock.
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