Fun Notes from the Floater!

Mickey my pharmacy partner took a few days off. The stress of giving in to everyone for anything they want was just too much. So a floater took over for him last night...

On the counter for me, this morning, I found the following handwritten note:

Patient said we have been filling 60 day supplies since November of last year for this Spiriva medication but only giving her a 30 day supply. She called Medicare part D and she's filing fraud against us. She would like to speak with you immediately about it and give her a free Spiriva or else she's suing us.

That makes for a fun day!

Managers Meet with The Authorities

Recently the managers from our state's Goofmart Pharmacies flocked into the local corporate office to meet with Heir Director and his crew of RPMs. They do this twice a year. This is where vital information is doled out piecemeal and some sort of brainwashing techniques are used to drive home the importance of MTM, flu shots, and reducing inventory.

The managers don't get paid for this time. Rather, they slice it off the overlap time in the pharmacy, thereby making the overlap shift harder for the staff pharmacists. They do get a lunch. I think this is where the brainwashing drugs are administered.

At this particular manager meeting they had a question/answer period. Questions were written on slips of paper and handed up to the front.

My favorite question of the day: 

"How do we resign from this company?"

The Authorities didn't have an answer ready. Instead, days later they emailed out a form you can use to resign. I think they missed the message behind the question and I'm not surprised.

Expired Medication is NOT ok

Olga called. She's 90+ years old.

She wanted to know if it is ok if she used some expired medication. I asked her what it was and how long it's been expired.

"It says here that it expired in 2012. It's a bottle of Cyanocobalamin." [She spelled it for me, in case you really thought someone outside of the pharmacy world can really say that word.]


"No, you can't use that. I'm sorry. I'll get you a new prescription. It's not expensive."

"What if I inject it? What could go wrong?"

"It's too old, Olga. It could be loaded with bad bacteria. I'll get you a new prescription and you can have it on the house, ok?"

"Well, all right. I still think I should be able to use this one."

<click>

New Impatient Patient Tactic

"This lady in front of me has been waiting a LONG time, you know!"

That's what he said.

He being a guy who was third in line. The lady at the register needed extra help because she's frail and confused and needed some extra counseling about her medication. Yes, I should have asked her to step aside so the next person in line could check out, but I didn't see the point of that because I was alone in the pharmacy at the moment and the next person in line would have just been waiting while I took the first lady aside and continued counseling.

The look on the face of the next lady in line was complete embarrassment. She was made out by the guy behind her to look like she was impatient and had to wait a long time. Neither was true. What was true was that the third guy in line was seriously impatient.

I was brought up to wait my turn. I was brought up to be patient while waiting my turn. The thought of acting like an idiot and embarrassing the next person in line to try and get faster service would never, ever occur to me.

But it's a different world now. 

And yes, you may have already surmised where I'm going with this. The third guy in line is a Medicaid patient that gets his medications at no cost, funded by Joe Q. Taxpayer. It's not enough that we pay for his medication. Oh no, it must also be filled and prepared within HIS time frame and waiting a few minutes longer to get it is completely unreasonable... so much so that he made his outburst.

I walked over to where the man was standing and said, "I'll be with you in a minute." (I felt like telling him about the latest issue of Tattoo magazine he could look at, but I let it go).

I went back to the frail lady and asked her to join me in the counseling room. After I finished, I stepped out to find the technician was back and checking people out at the counter. I asked her if Mr. Medicaid said anything to her. She said when she came up to the register only the lady was there waiting. Mr. Medicaid was so impatient that he just couldn't wait any longer and left. I figure a transfer is imminent and that's just fine with me.

I know I'm starting to sound like a nag, but we really are in trouble in this country. Many of you are just fine with YOUR income taken away to fund people's medication, healthcare, food stamps, housing, whatever. I don't mind helping people out, but when they're impatient or take advantage of the system, that's where I draw the line, and it's happening more and more.

Wake up, America. Seriously.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Please return for a regular blog post

at 7pm Eastern time

My Goal ~ Make YOU Laugh

Something went Afoul at this CVS Pharmacy

I assume the CVS manager told them all to duck off...