Yes, I AM more important
I'm alone in the pharmacy, running back and forth trying to keep up with the pick-ups and drop-offs on this busy Saturday. At our competitor, they do the same number of prescriptions we do and they get three times as many tech hours, but I chose to go with this company. I'm so smart. So on Saturdays the pharmacist is the lone gunman.
I have people patiently waiting in the waiting room to the side of the pharmacy. The wait time is up to 30 minutes because of all the drop-offs. I'm doing my best to keep up but the phone won't stop ringing and it slows me down. An elderly lady rolls up to the counter with script in hand. She's either handicapped and can't walk or just likes to ride around in comfort. (Too many people do it for comfort, by the way, keeping people who really need the store-provided electric cart from having it).
She hands me the Rx. Gabapentin 100mg. Quantity 180. Great. I love counting the big ones. We stock the big bottle so I'm going to have to count it the hard way. I tell her it will be 35 minutes. She looks at me and says "Oh no, I can't wait that long." I tell her, "I'm sorry but I have a lot of people ahead of you." I gesture to the waiting room where she can see three people patiently waiting. "I'll work as fast as I can but they were here before you." She gets angry... "I need this medicine NOW, and I'm NOT GOING TO WAIT." I can't take the attitude, so I asked her, "Would you like me to tell these people that you're more important?" She defiantly says, "Yes!"
Without missing a beat, I walked two steps over to the waiting room window, raised my voice, and said, "Folks, your wait will be a little longer. This lady here says she is more important than you." All three of the waiters looked at the lady with startled looks.
Ms. Can't Wait rolled away, then returned in 35 minutes. Her Rx was ready.
Good for you!!!!
ReplyDeleteHow often i have wanted to tell that to referring physicians who call and say -- you must do this stat ultrasound on my patient right now because they have a flight out tomorrow and cannot wait to have an ultrasound of their wrist that has been hurting for three months.
.....And just whose patients would you like me to cancel to do that..... the lady who was on a flight last week and now has a swollen left leg .... that pale looking little kid in the corner who is clutching his abdomen and threathning to vomit any minute ..... the young woman who yesterday was ecstatic she is pregnant and today looks similar to the little kid in the corner.
All because you want to look like a hero to your patient and are yelling into the phone about this gentleman who hurt his wrist opening a wine bottle. yep, that is definitely more important than those other three.
I would have asked her to tell the other customers that she needed to be served before them just to hear WTF would have come out of her mouth. People suck.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you called her bluff. People like that don't know what to do when you take them at their word. I do it fairly regularly and can get away with it more as I'm getting older. It is, I have found, one of the REAL perks of aging. If you can keep your sense of humor and puncture a few bloated egos along the way, it's worth getting out of bed. I also enjoy saying what the employees at the store can't - since the likelihood of my being fired as a customer is practically nil. I've got your back. Just give me a nod.
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