Tuesday, February 2, 2016

The Doc Office is NOT your Friend

On a Monday not long ago a lady came by to pick up a prescription, which was not on the shelf for her. She expressed agitation that the doctor had not called it in yet, then left.

Not much later a phone call came in from the doctor's assistant, who did not leave a message or fax or send it electronically. Instead she chose to punch through to the pharmacist. On our side of it, this usually indicates a rush situation. Why bother the pharmacy directly on a busy Monday when you can just leave a message? 

I was perturbed because the medication was Dexilant, a drug to reduce stomach acid. It didn't seem like a situation that warranted interrupting the pharmacy on a busy Monday, so I sarcastically said, "Oh good, she was just here freaking out about it not being here." We finished the call and I filled the medication.

Not long after that the store manager and the lady show up at my register. The lady was fuming mad because the lady who called in the script apparently played the tape (I guess they record all incoming and outgoing calls) to her about my sarcastic remark. She was overly upset over nothing, just like she was overly upset about her medication not being there in the first place.

It was already busy, and now I was being ganged up on by the store manager and the lady. A line was forming and of course, Flynn was on the phone. I was extremely upset and instead of saying what I thought, I just kept my mouth shut. The lady kept saying "This was not professional" and the manager kept agreeing with her. It really pissed me off because the manager was only hearing one side of the story. She paid for her damn Dexilant then said she wouldn't be coming back to Goofmart. The manager said let me escort you out, and I'm sure she gave her a gift card on her way out.

Be careful what you say on the phone with the doc's office. They're not your friend.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is lower than low. As a nurse who works at a practice myself let me be the first to say that you were not unprofessional, you were behaving like a normal human under pressure.

If that staff member had a problem with you, fine... that happens. If they couldn't get over it and thought the problem was bad enough to be addressed somehow (and it doesn't sound like it was, to be honest what you said was pretty trivial) then they should have sought out some way to handle it in a civil manner, like maybe grow a pair and speak to you themselves or at the very worst call your superiors. Throwing someone under the bus and involving an angry patient in things that don't concern them, especially giving them physical proof that can be blown out of proportion, is what's unprofessional.

Anonymous said...

Depending on your state, there may be legal implications to recording you without your permission. If it is illegal it might be fun to mess with the assistant.

Unknown said...

That must be why she was late calling in the rx in the first place...too busy calling patients back and playing her recorded conversations to them. Did she inform you the conversation was being recorded? I believe in some places it is a law you have to be informed of that. Do you have a lawyer buddy that could mail that office a letter and make someone pi$$ their panties a little?