The tech asked her if she had been to our pharmacy before. "Yes, I've had you 'make prescriptions' for my son before."
So the tech types in the new prescriptions. The lady asks if we have any wet wipes. That's not something we keep in the pharmacy, but the tech offers to wet down a paper towel for her.
"My son lost a shoe. Now his foot is filthy. I want to clean him up."
But the lady is not happy with the tech's offer. So she sends her son down the baby isle to get some wet wipes. The tech and I go to work to 'fill up' the prescriptions in 3.5 minutes. That's what we do.
The lady rolls back up to the window, I counsel her on the new medications. She's on state-funded Medicaid and the cost is but a few dollars. She pays and rolls away again.
As I'm headed away from the register... what do I see? There, on the counter, an open box of baby wipes, the lid still open. Next to it are three used and very filthy wet wipes. They're almost black. The lady decided to open a box of wipes, use a few, and leave everything behind for us to clean up and explain to management.
By the way, she's in her mid twenties and from what I can tell has NO NEED to be using one of our electric shopping carts. And apparently wipes are free at our Goofmart Pharmacy. I could say this is yet another example of the entitlement attitude that is growing in our nation, but I don't want to ASSUME anything. Some websites say the Crazy RxMan assumes too much.
7 comments:
Are you not allowed to go after her and inform her that she owes for the opened wipes? (Presumably you could outrun her scooter.) I've often wondered where the crap saying that the customer is always right comes from. Presumably not from someone who ever had to deal with customers.
This lady's behavior was rude as hell. :C
that said "By the way, she's in her mid twenties and from what I can tell has NO NEED to be using one of our electric shopping carts."
As a pharmacist, you should be acutely aware that there are so many illnesses where one does not LOOK sick while being sick. My best friend has Multiple Sclerosis. Heat absolutely kills her. Not in the "oh it's too hot" sense but in the "the nerves in my legs are no longer working properly because I am over heated and I am having a lot of trouble standing right now" sense of the idea.
Which leads me to the list of the last times I've seen young, healthy 20 somethings in the motorized scooters/wheelchairs over the last year or two:
* One, mentioned above, had, in the middle of the store, had an attack and her legs went out from under her and despite all of her struggles to walk on her own, her legs would not respond properly.
* Another had recently had a tree fall onto his house during a bad wind storm. The tree landed exactly where he was, and knocked him over onto the floor. His leg, and back were both severely strained and the effort of trying to do shopping in walmart was causing him more trouble and pain then it was worth.
* Another was a heavier individual who was having a flare up of back pain from an injury in their back several years before, that was, again, making it hard to walk without lots of pain. They were going to the doctor in the next few days, but in the mean time, the shopping wasn't going to do itself.
* A friend's wife has severe lupus. She looks fine. She probably won't be alive to see her 8 year old graduate high school. Using the scooters in the difference between having energy to cook dinner today, and being worn out for the next couple days.
In all cases, they felt shame because everyone looked at them and judged them as being lazy, or leeching off of the good will of society, or taking things from others who need it more. Or as people who crave attention or pity when none of that is true.
In all cases, they're doing what they have to do to guy the groceries and get home, and take care of their families.
I doubt this lady with the wipes was such a case, but please don't judge people's health off of appearances.
At Jenetikitty....i would think depending on the medication along with the actions of this woman you can usually guage the issues with which these people suffer. I myself suffer from several issues and on many days could use an electric chair but I dont. And the reason.....i have seen people who really need these chairs but can't use them because the chair needs to be charged after to many folks that could walk, dont. I have seen them break down in the back of the store with someone who cant make it to the front of the store.
I understand tha there are times it would make it easier but a woman in her 20's with a child with 1 shoe and no visual reason to use the chair is unacceptable. Now if the child were in the chair because of the lost shoe...that i would understand.
If we were more engaged in the people around us i personally think these things would happen less. Ask these folks if they need help, talk to them and make the entitled mentality face their actions. Dont accept and for heavens sake dont make excusses for them. You assuming this woman has a serious reason to use the chair is making excusses and you know even less about her than this crazy rx blogman. Sure she could of used it but it is unlikely. That righ there is where the problm lies,
@ Anonymous - I think the pp was simply bringing to light the idea that there are always things going on with people that we can't know about. When I was 26, I was pregnant with my second child. The baby was putting a lot of strain on my heart (I have mild mitral valve prolapse - not usually a problem for me). One day, when I was 8 months along, I was doing the grocery shopping in an electric cart with my 4-year-old son in my lap. We were smiling and having a nice time. I had a lady come up and tell me she thought it was ridiculous that I was obviously young and able and I should not be using an electric cart. How could she know I couldn't walk more than 200 feet (the standard for qualifying for a handicapped parking sticker) without stopping to rest? Riding while I shopped meant I didn't have to tell my son later that I couldn't get up and get him apple juice because I was too put out to walk to the kitchen. By all accounts, I looked fine - not in need of the cart at all. I guess that all really has nothing to do with Crazy RxMan's blog post. But more a wish that we still lived in a time when people didn't abuse the availability of the carts for their own convenience, thus making us all more wary of those using them. I could have done without being insulted while pregnant and emotional for something that caused daily issues for me and unhappiness for my son. To say nothing of the times I had to do the shopping on my own two feet because some person who simply wanted to overeat felt they deserved to ride due to an issue of their own creation. (Not that I am bitter about that.)
@liz Exactly :) Exactly :)
I don't make excuses for the lady in RXman's story--quite the opposite, actually. All I was doing was gently reminding people that "LOOKING" healthy and BEING healthy are two different things.
I too wish we lived in a time and place where people wouldn't abuse the availability of conviniences... just like I wish peopel didn't assume the worst about people who use them. It's a lot better to err on the side of "I wonder what's wrong with them" rather then assuming that they're abusing the system.
@Anonymous - I gave several reasons why someone might have an invisible injury and I can come up with a lot more beyond back injuries, MS, and lupus. Injuries are not always visible.
In most of the cases I mentioned above, they all walked into the store with the idea of WALKING around and doing their shopping. They opted for the electric cart after gaging their physical capability that day and realizing that they couldn't. In the first case, it was after they collapsed IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORE, unable to feel their legs, and the store brought the cart to them.
Please don't assume :C
Yeah, I gotta agree with the "please don't make assumptions" comments. I'm not going to make excuses for the lady in the story, and for all I know she didn't actually need the cart, but you really can't tell just by looking at someone that they are healthy and don't need it.
I have to have lumbar punctures (spinal tap) roughly every three months, and by the time I get to the store to run whatever errands I need to before I can get home (and yes, that does usually include prescriptions but the most common one I'm getting filled is actually more commonly used for glaucoma than for what I actually have) I can barely walk. I'm 30 years old, but I'm told that I look like I'm in my early 20s. I look healthy. I'm not, and I often need assistance with very basic things, including shopping.
Also, not everyone on medicaid is a leech. I work full time when I'm able to, but between having a chronic illness myself and solely supporting an autistic sibling, we are well below the federal poverty line and *need* medicaid just to be able to afford the most basic of medical care.
Just saying.
I volunteered at our local AIDS support agency. One of the clients recounted a story of a woman who went batshit crazy on him because he parked in a handicapped spot (he had a card) but he walked with out assistance. He was on his way to the pharmacy. After she tore a strip off him he explained to her that he was terminally ill and on his way into the pharmacy to pick up meds, and following that excursion, he would be bedridden for the rest of the day.
Apparently she followed him for the rest of his errand, begging his forgiveness. Since then, I endeavour to never pass judgement when I don't have all the facts.
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