Adventures with Tim the Tech

Sometimes we get a floater tech. His name is Tim. It's hard to write negative things about Tim because I really like Tim. He just shouldn't be a tech. Here's some reasons why it's always a challenge to work with Tim:

When I finish filling a prescription I put it in a clear plastic bag that has a handle on it. Then that gets hung in the Will Call area. The bags often collect on the counter waiting to be hung up. I don't like that part and no one else does so the bagged prescriptions congregate there.

Last week someone came in to get a couple of scripts. Tim started to go to the Will Call but I recognized the name, grabbed the bag, and handed it to Tim, who then asked, “So are these ready to sell?”

“No Tim,” I said, “I just put uncounted meds in bags now.”

Tim either can't hear or doesn't hear. Almost every time someone comes to pick something up it’s like he doesn’t listen or even try to listen.

“Prescription for McDonald,” someone will say.

He’ll think they said “Donald” and start looking in the D section, then he’ll ask again. Then he won’t find anything and ask them for their birthdate. Then he’ll look on the computer and finally figure out they said McDonald. This happens almost everytime. I try to intervene where I can but I can’t babysit everything. Once or twice you can deal with... but this actually happens almost every time.

Tim’s favorite thing to do is stage drugs to fill. He’s not so keen on the actual filling part, but he’s kinda good at lining up the drug bottles with the printed labels. I say “kinda” because he never looks at the quantity needed and sometimes you need two bottles to fill the quantity needed. Other times he gets it completely wrong, like staging a box of diclofenac gel when we need the tablets. Or he’ll see atorvastatin and grab a bottle of rosuvastatin. They’re both statins, right? I’m used to these mistakes and just fix it without saying anything. If you do call him out on a mistake, he’ll blurt out “I KNOW!”

Yesterday I had to add water to a kid’s antibiotic script. It was taking longer because 1. Tim should have been doing it. 2. It was three bottles, and 3. It took me a moment to get to it because we were busy. I had to go reconstitute the medication because Tim was at the register going through the wrong name, get birthdate stuff he always does.

I was carefully pouring the third mixed bottle into a dispensing bottle when... for some reason Tim snuck up on me like a Ninja and blurted out,

“ARE YOU OK?”

Which startled me and caused me to fumble and spill it all over the counter. I had to redo the third bottle. I finished the reconstitution, handed the bottle to Tim, who promptly went to the register and asked the mother to verify the name, which he heard wrong or didn't listen to, then turned to me with a puzzled look on his face and said, "Who is this for?"

"That's for her. It's the right medication."

"I know!"