Cool Gadgets: Doorbot and Lockitron

I, I want that...

Yes, I want DOORBOT.

This cool device linked up with Lockitron allows you to talk to people at your front door using your smartphone and lock/unlock the door.

Way too cool.  Meet the Doorbot here.

Favorite Reply of the Week

A guy drops a bag of shredded cheese on the pharmacy IN WINDOW counter.

"Can I pay for these here?"

Me, very busy, dealing with 1,297 e-Scripts: "No."

The Wellness Monitor, Cool Gadget or Little Brother?

Ok, so you want to track your daily movements and sleep cycles? This is the gadget for you. Using the on board accelerometer to detect intensity and duration of movement, steps, distance, and elevation, it also calculates the number of calories burned. It has a "sensor is small enough to fit into the included wristband even as you sleep, where it will track tiny tremors in the wrist to tell just how long it took for you to fall asleep, the number of times you wake up."

Using bluetooth, this information is uploaded to the manufacturer website which we hope isn't linked into the government Medicare computers. I like the idea, but having the data uploaded somewhere seems less than private and more George Orwellian. Sometimes I think George Orwell was somewhat right, but instead of Big Brother watching, we have a whole lotta Little Brothers keeping track of us.

Here's the LINK.

Random Observation: Ethics Shmethics

I guess the economic downturn has affected doctors as well. Just yesterday a doctor called to have his own Crestor Rx transferred from a local warehouse pharmacy. I called and found out that, of course, it is out of refills (thanks for wasing our time buddy, we appreciate that). Upon notifying the patient/doctor, he says, "That's ok, I'll write a refill for myself" as he's handing me a $30 coupon for a new/transfer script. So basically what this boils down to is that docs are prescribing for themselves so they can get a $30 gift card. Is it really that bad out there?

Does that smell like an ethical issue to you? It sure does to me.

Remembering names

Sometimes in the evening before closing it slows down, and if it's been a long day I'm tired. It's then that I usually get "deep in thought" on something. And that's when it usually happens... someone will come in to pick up their prescription and I have to ask for them name because it's just not there. Most people are just fine with giving their name. I even have one lady who after several years feels the need to say her name loudly, "FARGOST," then she always spells it for me, loudly and distinctly, "F-A-R-G-O-S-T." As you can imagine it doesn't matter how deep in thought I am, I always remember her name before she starts spelling it to me.

But I have 2-3 patients out of thousands of customers that are quite upset that "After all this time, YOU don't remember my name?" And the harder I try to remember their name, the less it comes back to me. And then there's times when I do remember it but other times when I don't. I have invented a way around the problem which seems to get me off the hook, though. I just say, "I know your name, but company policy requires me to ask you each time to verify the prescription." That seems to work.

And now that I've been deep in thought about this a little longer, there are two other things that are quite interesting, to me anyway, possibly because it IS me:

One is that there are some people who I have checked out many times and have no problem remembering their name. Then they'll come in another time and I got nothing. Nothing. I know I should know their name, but it's not coming to me. Then when I finally remember it's like, "What the heck?!" and I feel like and idiot. It reminds me of when I took the NAPLEX exam. (For those who don't know, that's the big exam to prove to the world you're worthy to be a pharmacist). There were several questions that I knew the answer to three questions later, but on the NAPLEX you don't ge the chance to go back and change your answer because it is computer-administered and you're SOL. Mrs. Fargost will be happy to loudly spell that for you: S-O-L.

The second thing that's interesting is probably really interesting. But now that I've typed this far, I can't remember what it is now.

Corporate Scheduling Nonsense

A recent email from corporate states:

"Covering regular technician needs is not a responsibility/priority of our scheduling department."

In other words, our SCHEDULING DEPARTMENT doesn't handle SCHEDULING. So if we have a technician call out sick, by no means can you rely on the scheduling department for any kind of assistance. You're on your own. They're lining up at both windows, the phone is ringing, you have a crap load of scripts to fill already, and the tech just called in sick because of an unfortunate hang-nail. Guess what, it's UP TO YOU to find a replacement.  SCHEDULING doesn't mean SCHEDULING. Not for you, anyway. Oh, they'll find an emergency replacement for a pharmacist (someday I'll tell you about the day I had to call in sick... and the "emergency replacement"), but not technicians.  

Also this gem:

"...it is the pharmacy managers/store managers responsibility to hire for ALL regular needs..."

In other words, we work for a huge corporation which you would think has people to handle this sort of thing, but nooooo... they want the pharmacy manager to work with the store manager to hire technicians. Yeah, good luck with that. When I page on the overhead speaker for a manager override, 2 out of 3 times no one comes to help. Sure, they're going to help us hire people too.

"Please hire for attitude and not experience"

So basically it is our job to babysit new techs, teach them how to do everything (which in other words means  "Move, let me do it") but as long as they have a smile on their face the company is happy. That's just great. That means they can smile their little head off while they tell the patient why they had to wait so long to get their script because "I'm new here. I don't know WTF I'm doing, but I was hired because I can smile!"

Oh, we're also supposed to have two "cross trained" employees to help out in the pharmacy just in case. Yeah, right. Remember what I said about paging for help before? Our store (and every other store that I know of in our division) has been cut to the bone on help. Sure, they're just going to close down a register up front so they can send someone to come help me in the pharmacy.

What a load. EPIC WTF.

Sunday Funnies: Silly Entertaining Fun