Miss Loosey Starts a Business

You just can't keep a good man (or woman) down.

Miss Loosey was back, this time to bend the ear of the Crazy RxMan and ask for my thoughts regarding the new business she's starting. Had she asked me a week ago, I might have been able to stop her from spending several thousand dollars to purchase 1,000 bottles of Garcinia Cambogia extract.

[Fun Fact: Miss Loosey is on Medicaid and gets her medications for free at the pharmacy... where she got the money to start her new business? I don't know.]

Her plan is simple... purchase this extract, pre-bottled and labeled, print her own labels, slap them on, and resell them at fantastic profit.

Where did she get this fantastic business opportunity idea? None other than the medical guru of television, that great and powerful wizard, Dr. Oz. Dr. Oz told has told his audience about a “breakthrough,” “magic,” “holy grail,” even “revolutionary” new fat buster. “I want you to write it down,” It's called “Garcinia Cambogia,” Dr. Oz stated, “It may be the simple solution you’ve been looking for to bust your body fat for good.”

From one source: Garcinia Cambogia is an exotic fruit available in Polynesia, India, and Southeast Asia. The fruit has been eaten for centuries across cultures, and is known for it’s appetite suppressant properties. Garcinia Cambogia also has potent fat burning effects due to the Hydroxycitric Acid (HCA) it contains, which helps support a lean physique. No exercise or diet change is required when taking Garcinia Cambogia, however as in all cases, it is highly recommended as a part of a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

But does it really work?

The miracle cure isn’t really a miracle at all. It’s not even new. Garcinia cambogia has been studied as a weight-loss aid for more than 15 years. A 1998 randomized controlled trial looked at the effects of garcinia as a potential “antiobesity agent” in 135 people. The conclusion: The pills were no better than placebo for weight and fat loss. LINK

She asked my opinion, so I told her. Relabeling anything (food, medication, supplements, etc) is serious. I told her she better know our state laws and federal laws regarding her plan. Undeterred, she told me she was just going to copy everything off the current label exactly as it appears and change the name and logo. She is, of course, assuming two things: 1. The wholesaler has it labeled legally and appropriately and 2. Relabeling in the manner she suggests is perfectly legal. I warned her again, Be Careful. She told me not to worry and then suggested that she's my new competition.

If Dr. Oz is so great, why hasn't the 16 weight loss miracles he's "discovered" ended obesity? That's a good question addressed by this article. It's worth a look.

Other blog posts about Miss Loosey:

Miss Loosey gets her Plan B

Miss Loosey needs a sleep aid

Miss Loosey wants some "Doze"

And finally, an info-graphic entitled, The Red Flags of Quackery:

Scratch your Sunday Itch with Funnies

 

This is how fast...

...people expect us to get their prescription filled:

Another Reason...

...why your Pharmacist is beating his head against the wall:

5:30 pm on a Saturday

"I'm here to get my son's prescription." The lady is some sort of healthcare worker or just likes wearing scrubs and a name badge on a lanyard.

After getting the patient's name and birth date, I ascertain with our state of the art computers that the patient isn't in our database. In fact, we don't have anyone in our computer with that birthday. That rarely happens. So I verify with mom the name and date of birth. She rolls her eyes.

"It was just sent over. The doctor said he just sent it."

I check the computer again. Nothing has been sent over. I tell the lady, who rolls her eyes again. I ask her if she's sure it was sent to MY pharmacy. I tell her we have a Flea Market Grocery across the street and a Wagmart close by. No, I'm told, it wasn't sent there.

She walks away, disgusted with me.

5:45 pm 

"I called the office and they said it was definitely sent over."

I fiddle on the computer. Nothing. I tell her.

"They said they have a confirmation."

I fiddle on the computer and finally it pops up. Apparently it was sent but took awhile. Sometimes it's like that, I tell her. It's not really an immediate process like email. I get the patient information and run a claim.

"DENIED -- DUPLICATE CLAIM"

[So for those of you keeping score at home, this means that the prescription was first sent to another pharmacy before it was sent to me and they processed the claim]

I tell her I can't process it because some other pharmacy must have run the claim before me.

"That's because they sent it to Wagmart."

Ok, didn't I just ask her if it was sent to a competitor? Oh, why yes, I did and she argued with me that it wasn't. Had she mentioned that before this whole process would have been a lot easier.

"I'll have to call Wagmart and get them to reverse the claim so I can process it."

As God as my witness, this miserable woman rolled her eyes again. Really?

I call Wagmart, get the claim reversed, process it, and get the miserable witch out of my sight.

Ok people, here's the golden gem of wisdom for the day... if the pharmacist asks you a question, don't freaking lie! This whole process would have been easier for everyone if she had just answered my question or told me up front it was sent to Wagmart first.

Arrrrgggghhhhhhhh!

Where's the Metamucil?

Every two weeks this old coot comes by and asks me the same question.

"Where's the Metamucil?"

It hasn't moved. It's in the same spot as two weeks, four weeks, and 16 weeks ago. He can never find it and I have to go out front and show him.

He can never find it on his own. He's 90 years old.

Now I just keep a container of the bowel magic by the register. When he comes and asks for it, I hand it to him and replenish my stash later.

So far this is working well. 

Yoose gotta do whats yoose gotta do.

The Pharmacy Blues

"I need to return this medication for a refund," she said.

"You can't return medication to the pharmacy. I'm sorry. I can give you credit toward a future purchase, however."

"Yes, that will be fine." She hands me a bottle of generic Macrobid that was dispensed to her a few days ago.

"What seems to be the problem?" I ask.

"I'm allergic to blue dye."

I look in the bottle. The capsules are not blue.

"I know they're not blue on the outside, but I opened one of the capsules and there are tiny balls in there. Some of them are blue."

I resist the urge to say, "Tiny blue balls... that's what SHE said!"

I look at the lady. She's wearing a royal blue blouse and has blue eye shadow on her eyes. I open my mouth to say something snarky, but I just sigh and give her the store credit. Choose your battles wisely, friends.

"I only opened one capsule. You can give the rest to someone else. There's nineteen unopened capsules in there."

I shake my head. "No, when we get something back like this it gets destroyed." We always destroy returned medicine, but I admit that I say this because I want them to feel bad about what happened.  

She doesn't feel bad. Nope, she just strolls off, credit in hand, with her blue blouse and blue eye shadow.

Just another day at Goofmart Pharmacy.

It's April Fools Day!

In honor of my father's favorite "holiday" I'm reposting this blog post from last year. Plus, I'm still not sure if I was the mark for an elaborate prank or just had it all wrong. Either way, this is without a doubt one of the funniest things that has ever happened to me as a pharmacist:

Itching for a prank!

Weird things happen close to closing time... any pharmacist will tell you that. One night about 30 minutes before closing a teenager calls up the pharmacy and wants to talk to the pharmacist.  He sounds concerned, yet somehow cocky. He's telling me about itching in his pubic area, especially his scrotum, with an extended level of detail not typical of any patient, let alone a teenager. What's more, I can hear in the background another male teenager laughing. I'm being pranked was my immediate thought.

But... I figure, what if I'm wrong? I've been wrong once or twice in my life before. So I advise him of the importance of good hygiene and that he can get relief with some of our over the counter products. The boy tells me it is really red and itchy and his grandmother is going to come down to get the medication for him. I hear more laughing in the background. Now I know they're really enjoying getting the pharmacist. I feel like I'm on Candid Camera.

I figure its my turn to have some fun. So... I tell the teenager that it is really important to apply the medication correctly and that he will have to have a close friend apply it on the scrotal area for him for the best treatment possible. I hear more laughing. So then without laughing myself I tell him that his friend will have to get close, really close, to his scrotum every day and check it out for the next two weeks... you know, to make sure the redness is disappearing. More laughing in the background... the boy, now giggling himself, thanks me and hangs up.

Fifteen minutes later an elderly woman comes in and asks for the medication I recommended for her grandson. 

I sure hope it works out with his really close friend.