The chief pharmacist is an idiot!

[blondbeauty]

Last Friday I had my last appointment with my Dr. Everything was perfect. Still undetectable and all the values within normal ranges. During the appointments I even fill my own prescriptions while my Dr does other paper work. That way, he only has to sign it.
But when I went to the pharmacy to collect my meds, there was the chief pharmacist..."Did you call us before coming? We don't give medications on Fridays unless you have called us before and you know it".
The rest of the pharmacists looked at me. One of them stood up ad rushed to the store. In 2 seconds she was back with a two month supply of ATRIPLA while she said "we had them ready for him" and winked an eye to me...
I left as if had had stolen a handbag to an old lady...
I don't understand those absurd rules that only make our lives a bit more complicated. There were four pharmacists doing nothing. Why did the chief pharmacist want to make me come another day? I would understand if they used Fridays to do office work, for example...

[anniebc]

Hi BB

There are some people who are put on this earth  just to annoy the bloody life out of us...he is obviously one of them..next time you collect your meds look the chief idiot in the eyes give him the finger and walk out smiling...don't let him get to you...

Hugs
Jan

[Inchlingblue]

I go to a pharmacy where people with HIV are treated like royalty, not because we're special but because they make so much money from us!  Can you imagine? We represent a continuous income stream every single month, year after year. Even if insurance is paying or ADAP or whatever, the pharmacy is still getting their very substantial cut.

The pharmacist you mention may be the head pharmacist but he obviously doesn't know where his bread is buttered. If I were you I would consider making a complaint about his lack of courtesy (while at the same time complimenting the other ones who acted professionally).

[mecch]

My pharmacy treats me very well and handles all the billing to insurance. I think they make a lot of money, yeah.
Its a very busy pharmacy on the corner of a big crossroad in my town. The only thing off I've notice is that when I pick up a three month supply, they carry out 6 boxes of haart pills and put it all on the counter in plain view.  Now I have told most of my friends, but I wouldn't be happy to have a colleague be there, or just an acquaintance I haven't told.  

And yet I say nothing to the pharmacy. Is it their being rude? Or is it just that HIV and drugs are no big deal to them? The pharmacy is near one of the drug addict hangout parks, by the way.  Or no big deal to anyone?  Also, this is in Switzerland. People are extremely discrete.  They don't blab about each other, what they see, peoples private lives, etc.

So I haven't said anything yet to the pharmacy. Cause I think, kinda, well if fate delivers me that incident, tough tickets for the acquaintance or colleague who sees all those pills and starts to wonder what they are for....

[Basquo]

I don't understand why they wouldn't dispense medication on a Friday unless you have previously called...do a lot of people call in their 'scripts and wait until Friday to pick them up? Are they that busy on Fridays?

[blondbeauty]

I donīt know...Well, YES! They are public employees and want to be paid for doing nothing.

[allanq]

mecch,

I would give the pharmacy the benefit of the doubt and say that they lay out all your meds on the counter so that you can see that you're getting everything that you're supposed to. Maybe it's like a bank teller who counts out your money right in front of you so that you can't claim that you were short-changed.

Whatever justification they may have for their procedures (and maybe there is no justification), I don't think it would be out of line to tell them that you have privacy concerns and request that they just put your meds in a bag without displaying them on the counter.

Allan

[fearless]

I donīt know...Well, YES! They are public employees and want to be paid for doing nothing.

And, here stems the root of the problem. You obviously have an issue with public employees who 'want to be paid for nothing'.

Reality is there is likely a very good reason for them not dispensing drugs on Friday's without prior appointment, and you probably have been advised of this before but either cannot or chose not to remember.
For example, those public employees who 'want to be paid for nothing' might have to spend their Friday's doing paperwork justifying and being accountable to their superiors etc - they could be doing a myriad of other tasks not related to you. You aren't the only person in the world, and they are just sitting there twiddling their thumbs waiting for you to come in.

As a 'public employee' I get sick and tired of people with no experience in such employment making snide comments about our work ethic. Fact is, we could earn a lot more money doing what we do elsewhere. We choose to work for our govenrments, not because we are lazy and 'want to be paid for nothing'. We do it because we believe in and want to support our system of government and our peoples way of life. One thing that non-public employees do not always understand is that as we are spending/using tax payers $'s we have to be spend a significant amount of time being accountable for that spending in ways that you just do not understand - it's an entirely different ballgame to private enterprise. A susbtantial amount of our time is spent on activities relating to transparency and accountability. It is a necessary and often misunderstood part of our jobs.

Your post is insulting to all hard working public employees, and well, typical right wing clap trap. You'd be the first to whinge if there was a blow out in spending or inconsistencies in the paperwork.

[PeteNYNJ]

Fearless

Blondbeauty is in Spain.  You have as much knowledge as to what their public employees do or don't do as I have living in the USA.  He is venting that he was giving a blanket response without any explanation.  The other pharmacists obviously thought it was silly since they gave him his scripts with no problem. 

Don't take such offense to statements that have nothing to do with you. 

Pete

[skeebo1969]

   As long as they punch in they are working, whether they chew gum all day or file their nails.. technically they still working.    They don't call it a plush comfy city job for nothing!

[Dale Parker]

My current pharmacy is pretty good.  They are part of a large chain but are individually owned. The pharmacist is a nice guy but he insists that I pay the $2.00 co-pay for each drug.  Supposedly if you get a script for 3 months you only have to pay the co-pay for each drug once.  I was charged the co-pay for my second round of drugs.  I argued with him this last time and reminded him that I was going to spend $30,000 there this year. He is going to wave the fee next month. To give them their dues the first time I had a prescription filled there was right after I moved to the neighbourhood. I had problems with my debit card due to stupid band rules and couldn't get the drugs that night.  Since I was out of drugs they gave me two days worth of drugs to last until I got the bank sorted out.  Even though I live in a really gay area they do request that I give them 24 hours notice prior to picking them up.
  My first set of drugs was a real nightmare.  It was the same chain of drug stores but a different owner. It was on the Thursday before Good Friday.  I took at least 25 phone calls before I was able to pick the drugs up.  Between the doctors office not faxing the script when they should have, problems with the drug plan I.D. number, the pharmacy needing a special "limited use" number, which I  had to get a doctor at the hospital to supply as the doctors office was closed. Then the pharmacy wouldn't have the drugs until the following Tuesday. Finally the hospital doctor got the prescription transferred to the store in downtown Toronto but they couldn't bill it as the original drug store had billed it even though they didn't have the drugs.  By the time it was sorted out I had 62 minutes to get to the drugstor that had the drugs before they closed.  In that time I had to go to my sisters 25 minutes in the opposite direction to get a loan of $300,00 to pay for the deductable, drive another 15 minutes thru residential streets to get to the highway and a 30 minute drive to the drugstore.  They had bets at the drugstore as to wether I would make it on time.  I made it with 10 minutes to spare. What a night that was.

[blondbeauty]

Pete, don't be angry! I had never been to the Hospital's pharmacy on a Friday, because, as you say, I have already been told about the necessity of calling them before if you are going to pick any meds on Friday. But I had an appointment with my Dr. (also a public employee) at the same hospital. So to save a trip and a morning of work I decided to try to see if they could give me the meds that day. I expected to see the pharmacy closed or with the minimum staff. Or maybe having to ring a bell to call a single pharmacist on duty to dispense the meds trough a little window on the wall.
But, to my suprise, it was open as every other day with the same people. 3 of the 4 people there were willing to give the meds and only one was making me comply with the rules. I am sure the rules are there for some reason, but even in my job I know which rules can or can not be skipped to make life easier to the public if it does not go against safety or the interests of the employer. The rest of the staff must have thought the same as they gave me the meds and I am grateful to them for that.
In Spain we have a "problem" with public employees. We have 17 Autonomic Comunities with lots of needless employees whose job could be done by one person at the central government. 20% of the people are unemployed and 35% of the jobs in Spain correspond to the public sector. This is becoming very difficult to maintain.
I understand your concern, as in my job I am often accused of laziness when, for example, we don not help passengers to stow their luggage. They do not understand that we can not stow 300 suit cases in every flight or we would end up having to have dorsal spine surgery every day.
Maybe the reasons for that rule of the pharmacy should be better explained. But considering you can only pick your meds from Monday to Thursday from 8.00 am to 15.00 pm and never more than seven days before you ran out of meds, it is easy to think they do not work much. Maybe they do much more work that patients don't know the same way as I do much more work than the passengers realize.
My phrase is very common these days in my country. But we all have to stand some kind of misbelief from the public. Are all flight attendants blond and stupid? ;P

[carousel]

Fearless,

I think it is a bit off to have a go at the blond one about one comment on public sector employees.

I do believe that most people in the public sector are dedicated to their jobs, but I think you are on a hiding to nothing if you are going to defend all public sector employees in all countries.  That really is a joke.