During my freshman year in high school, my science teacher assigned us to interview people in the community about how they use science in their careers. Although I don’t remember most of the people I spoke with, I can tell you that I spent meaningful time with a local community pharmacist who changed my life.
What I saw was a man who loved his career and truly cared for his patients. In an instant, I knew that I wanted to become a pharmacist, and I never wavered from that goal throughout high school.
Knowing what you want to be when you grow up at age 14 is unusual, but it is very liberating. I simply had to work backwards to figure out how to achieve my goal of becoming a pharmacist.
After high school, I chose to attend Ohio Northern University (ONU) because it had a unique pharmacy program. Rather than attending college for 2 years and then applying to the pharmacy program, ONU students were admitted to the College of Pharmacy from day one.
Although it was expensive, being in pharmacy school from day one and avoiding the risk of rejection made it worthwhile for me.
In college, I spent a lot of time in the library. Although the classwork was difficult, I did well with one exception: organic chemistry.
I did fail organic chemistry—a notorious “weed out” course—but I successfully retook the class over the summer and graduated on time with the rest of my classmates. Failing a course is a difficult stumbling block, but I stood strong and persevered.
Today, I’m thankful for the wonderful pharmacy profession for so many reasons.
First, I’m thankful that community pharmacists are the health care professionals most accessible to the public. If my local pharmacist wasn’t accessible to me, then I likely would have taken a different career path.
Second, I’m proud of the work we pharmacists do, the diversity of our career options, and the relationships we share with our patients and fellow health care providers.
Pharmacy is a profession that makes a real difference in people’s lives. It certainly has made all the difference in mine.
Pharmacy | Milwaukee, WI, USA | Right | September 12, 2010
(A couple approaches the counter.)
Me: “Can I help?”
Customer: “Yes, can you give me advice about his stool?”
Me: “I’m sorry, I can’t give medical advice. Perhaps you’d like to speak to our pharmacist, or consult your doctor?”
Customer: “No, I’m sure they’re very busy. I just want someone to tell me if it’s normal.”
Me: “The law says I can’t give advice. Let me get the pharmacist.”
Customer: “No, really, I have some here.” *whips out a clear bag of poo on the counter* “See, it’s all gritty. That’s not normal, is it? Do you have pills for that?”
Me: “Ma’am, you might want to take that to your doctor. We can’t accept biological waste.”
Customer: *to her husband* “See, Joe, I told you it was wrong. That’s why I save them.”
Me: “Oh I’m really sorry, due to extenuating circumstances we don’t have a pharmacist at the moment so legally I can’t give out any prescriptions. But if you wait 5 minutes, a replacement pharmacist will be here and then you can take it.”
Customer: “But I need it. Give it to me!”
Me: “I understand your problem but I would be breaking the law if I gave it to you.”
Customer: “I work in the pharmaceutical industry and I know for a fact you are lying! Give it to me now!”
(The pharmacist arrives and I explain the problem.)
Pharmacist: “I’m really sorry for the inconvenience but my colleague was right, there was nothing she could do. But now that I’m here, you can take your prescription.”
Customer: “You’re colleague is a cruel, moral-less b**** with the intelligence of a moron. She has endangered my life! I shall take this to court and win!” *storms out*
Me: *to pharmacist* “What was in her prescription?”
Australia, Awesome Customers, Health & Body, Melbourne, Pharmacy, Victoria | Right | August 14, 2018
(I’m working the front register at a large pharmacy when a woman comes up from the pharmacist’s desk with her items. She looks like a zombie with bleary, watering eyes and a red nose. I try to speak gently.)
Me: “Hello there.”
Customer: *clearly super congested* “Ngehh.”
(She dumps painkillers, nasal decongestants, cough medicine, and an inhaler on the counter, and then sniffles and gives me a glum look.)
Me: “Not feeling well today? I’m sorry.”
Customer: “Mrrr..”
Me: “Hopefully some of these will help you feel better!”
Customer: *coughs and whimpers*
(She pays, and then picks up and cuddles the bag of medicine.)
Customer: *sniffle* “Egh.” *sniffle* “Ehh… thangks. Have a dice day.”
Coworker: *to me* “Wow. So, her manners were the only thing not broken? What a nice change.”
Crazy Requests, Money, Pennsylvania, Pharmacy, Pittsburgh, USA | Right | August 14, 2018
(I am working a morning shift behind my register when a disheveled man walks in and approaches the counter. He mumbles and slurs his words together when he talks, making him very difficult to understand.)
Customer: “I need a—” *incomprehensible*
Me: “Sorry, what was that?”
Customer: “I said I need a dollar!”
Me: *thinking he needs to exchange some bills or coins* “Okay, what do you have on you? And how would you like that?”
Customer: “Nooo, I need a dollar.”
Me: *now thinking he might need cash back* “Okay, you just have you buy something small, like a pack of gum or something. I can’t give out money directly from the register.”
Customer: *growing more frustrated* “NO! You see, I have four dollars. And I need five dollars. So, I need a dollar.”
Me: “Sir, I can’t just give out money from the register.”
Customer: *stares at me with a mixture of anger and confusion*
Me: “I can give you cash back or exchange money, but I can’t just give you a dollar. I’m sorry.”
Customer: “Why not?”
Me: “I can’t give you money out of my register.”
Customer: *stares at me again and finally leaves*
(I’m not sure why that dollar was so important, or why it’s so hard to understand that stores don’t just give money out to people who ask.)
Extra Stupid, Jerk, Non-Dialogue, Pharmacy, USA, Vermont | Working | August 13, 2018
I work in a pharmacy and we have the store divided into sections: Front Store and Pharmacy. When you give us a call, the prompts will tell you to press one number to talk to Pharmacy, and to press another number for general store questions.
I have just finished helping a customer find an item, and my coworker is on break, which means that I’m all alone up front, and that’s when I get a line of customers and the phone starts ringing.
I pick up the phone while one customer is paying and ask if it’s all right if I put them on hold for a moment. The customer yells, “No, you cannot! I’ve been waiting twenty minutes for my prescription and that is unacceptable!”
The woman tries to keep ranting at me, but I firmly interrupt her to tell her that she’s called the front part of the store and that I’ll have to transfer her to the Pharmacy.
Later, I catch one of the Pharmacy techs and apologize for sending the irate customer their way. The tech looks at me and laughs, and tells me that the woman on the phone wasn’t even in our system, and that her friend who dropped off her prescription dropped it off at another pharmacy altogether.
So, not only did that woman reach the wrong part of the store, but also she didn’t even get the right store!
Jerk, Minnesota, Pharmacy, USA | Healthy | August 9, 2018
(It’s Memorial Day, and my pharmacy is one of the few within a 20-mile radius that is open. My coworker is on break and I am managing the front of the pharmacy.)
Me: “Hi, sir, how I can help you today?”
Customer: “I’m here to pick up two prescriptions for [Customer].”
Me: “All right, sir, it looks like I have one prescription ready for you, but the other prescription — your [Prescription] — we’re still waiting to hear back from your doctor for more refills.”
Customer: “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THEY’RE NOT DONE?!”
Me: “There is one prescription done and ready for you to pick up, sir. The other prescription you requested, your [Prescription], isn’t, because we haven’t heard back from your doctor yet.”
Customer: “I HATE THIS PLACE! YOU GUYS NEVER HAVE ANYTHING DONE! I BROUGHT TWO PRESCRIPTIONS IN ON FRIDAY, AND YOU’RE TELLING ME THEY’RE STILL NOT DONE?!”
Me: “Sir, I have one prescription ready for you right now.” *pause* “The other one is still waiting on your doctor for approval, and since it’s Memorial Day, we may not hear back from your doctor until tomorrow.”
Customer: “You guys are horrible! You never have anything done for me! I hate it here!” *walks off*
(After he walked away, I looked back at the screen to see when he brought in the prescriptions. And turns out, he brought them in yesterday, not Friday. But either way, we still had one he could have taken home with him.)
Crazy Requests, New York, Pharmacy, Staten Island, USA | Right | August 2, 2018
(A customer comes up through my pharmacy drive-thru and hands me a script for Oxycontin, 30mg, which we do not carry.)
Customer: “I’d like to fill this script here.”
Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t carry this particular medication.”
Customer: “But I want it.”
Me: “We don’t carry this, though. There’s a pharmacy a few blocks from here that does carry this; have you tried filling there?”
Customer: “I don’t want to fill it there. I want it here. You know what? I’m not going to argue with you morons. I’ll come back in an hour to pick it up.”
(I have had no chance to verify any information for this patient — no date of birth, no phone number. The patient comes back in about twenty minutes
Customer: “Is it ready yet?”
Me: “No, and we don’t carry this medication.”
Customer: “But I want it now! You had a whole hour to figure it out! Let me speak to your manager!”
(I bring my manager over, and she tells him the exact same thing.)
Customer: “Oh, really? I didn’t know that. Maybe your employee should have told me that before wasting my time
No Spoonful Of Sugar Is Helping This Medicine Go Down
No Spoonful Of Sugar Is Helping This Medicine Go Down
Bad Behavior, Florida, Jerk, Patients, Pharmacy, USA |
Healthy | July 31, 2018
(When you come to pick up a prescription, I have to make sure it’s going to the right person or I get written up and, if I get written up enough times, lose my job. This particular pharmacy asks that we verify the address on file, but if they don’t know it, I’ll usually take some other manner of verification if necessary. It’s late, and there’s an hour and a half left to go of a seven-hour day, and all I want to do is go home, so I admit I’m a bit tired. A guy comes up who couldn’t be more than 22, I’d guess, and I smile and go to the register, asking him who he’s picking up for.)
Guy: “My girlfriend.”
Me: “Okay. What’s her name?”
Guy: “[First Name].”
(I need a last name in particular to search, and unfortunately most of the younger crowd usually never give their last name unless prompted. I have no idea why.)
Me: “What’s her last name?”
Guy: “[Last Name].”
(I go over to get it, which doesn’t take long, and return.)
Me: “And what’s her address, please?”
(He gives me this look like I’ve told him that the sky is green or that he’s standing on his head.)
Guy: “I’ve picked up before and they’ve never, ever asked me for her address before.”
(Then he clearly hasn’t picked up for her before at this pharmacy, because we always ask for the address. I say it so often that even when I’m doing things that don’t require it, I sometimes end up saying the words. Sometimes I end up asking them their address before I ask their name, before I can stop myself.)
Me: “Um… We always ask for the address.”
Guy: “No one has ever asked me before!”
Me: “Well, sometimes if you don’t know it, we’ll try another way to verify. Do you know it?”
Guy: “No!”
Me: “Okay, what’s her date of birth?”
(That, he knows. He tells that to me and I’m assured that I have the right person. A new law was passed in July that on certain types and classes of medicines, I now have to ask for a form of ID and enter it into the computer. What he’s picking up falls into that class.)
Me: “I need to see your ID, please.”
Guy: “Why?”
Me: “It’s the law as of the first of July. I have to have an ID.”
Guy: “Does that mean I have to get hers from the car?”
Me: “No, I need yours, since you’re picking it up.”
Guy: “But… does that mean I have to get hers?”
Me: “Um… No. I need yours.”
Guy: “I don’t have mine.”
Me: “Then she has to come in and pick it up.”
Guy: “Why can’t I just go get hers and give it to you?”
(Now I can understand his hesitancy. There’s a big storm that has been going on all day, but neither weather nor annoying teenagers are going to make me break the law.)
Me: “Because it’s her license. Whatever license I have has to be for the person picking up. It’s the law.”
(We go back and forth about this for another minute, to the point that my pharmacist has to come over and back me up, telling him that we have to follow all rules and regulations, and if it’s her license, it has be her. He finally goes out to get her and comes back in. I think this is a wonderful opportunity to do my job right now that she’s here.)
Me: “What’s your address?”
Girl: *throws her ID on the counter* “On file.”
Me: *blink*
(I’ve never had a customer refuse to give their address. Sometimes they’ll pretend to give me a hard time or forget some of the numbers, but I’ve never had someone give me a smart a** remark about it being “on file,” because most have the intelligence to realize that there’s a reason I’m asking for it and it’s most certainly not to hear myself talk. I want to keep my job.)
Me: “I’m sorry; we ask that for verification. If you don’t know yo—”
Girl: *interrupts snottily* “I know my address. It’s [address].”
(She picked up her license from the counter and proceeded to throw it again. I decided I’d had enough of dealing with the twat that was clearly just too lazy to come in and sent her boyfriend in for her, since I could see no legitimate reason for her not to come in besides the rain. And part of me wanted a little bit of revenge for these people half my age giving me a hard time, so I took my time, every bit of it that I could, prolonging the transaction just because they were antsy. As they left, she shot me a glare, snatched up her prescription, and then went to the industrial scale nearby that people use to measure weight and proceeded to jump up and down on it once or twice before leaving.)
Canada, Employees, Grocery Store, Jerk, Ontario, Pets & Animals, Pharmacy, Revolting | Working | July 31, 2018
(I’m at common, nationwide pharmacy and grocery store when I see a woman walking a small dog down one of the aisles. While the woman is distracted, I watch the dog pee on a shelf filled with cereal boxes. The woman never seems to notice, so as I am heading to the cash, anyway, I decide to tell the cashiers about the dog. There are two cashiers and a supervisor at the front when I get up there.)
Me: “Hi, do you guys know you have a lady in here walking around with a dog?”
Supervisor: “Yeah, it’s fine.”
Me: “Really? So, I can bring my dog in with me next time?”
(Pointing at my dog sitting outside the glass window watching for me.)
Supervisor: “Ah, no. She’s just a friend, so it’s okay.”
Me: “Not really. Your company policy says no dogs except service dogs, so I should be allowed to bring my dog in if that woman can; it’s clearly not a service dog.”
Supervisor: “No, but it’s a really good dog! So, it’s okay for her, but uh, your dog can’t come in. “
(I see nothing wrong with dogs in stores as long as the owners are responsible, clean up if there’s an accident, and carefully watch them. I also have this view of parents with kids. My dog loves her pet store and hardware store walking trips, but this attitude annoyed me. Guess what I didn’t tell them?)
Extra Stupid, Lebanon, Math & Science, Pennsylvania, Pharmacy, USA | Right | July 30, 2018
Customer: “Excuse me, can you help me with this photo machine?”
Me: “Yes, what’s the problem?”
Customer: “It printed all of my photos, but it’s telling me to bring the receipt to the counter, and it’s not printing a receipt.”
(Our kiosk’s receipt printer hasn’t worked in years, so we frequently have to give this explanation.)
Me: “The summary it printed after the last photo is what we use. It tells you how many pictures were in the order, and we can figure the price out from that.”
Customer: “But I don’t know how much photos cost!”
Me: “Well, they’re 29 cents each, and it says here there were 13 photos, so with that—”
Customer: “But it doesn’t tell me how much it’ll cost, or how many photos there are!”
(She begins counting the photos by hand, so I grab the calculator and work out the cost.)
Customer: “…twelve, thirteen. Now to get the cost. Thirteen times 29 cents…”
Me: “It’ll be $3.77 before tax, ma’am.”
(The customer ignores me and continues to write out the multiplication.)
Customer: “Okay, it’s $3.77! By the way, you don’t sell photo postcards here, do you? Or any of the stores in this square?”
Me: “I’m afraid we don’t; if anyone here does, it would probably be [Other Store], so I’d check there first.”
Customer: “Thank you. I’ll do that!”
(The customer immediately turns from the counter and starts toward the exit.)
Me: “Ma’am, you need to— Ma’am, you need to pay for those!”
Customer: “I did!”
Me: “No… you didn’t.”
Customer: “I paid it right over there, you can check my balance and see!”
(Fearful that she might have tried jamming her card into a slot on the kiosk, I rush around… only to find her pointing at the ATM next to it.)
Customer: “I slid it right here, and it says here you can check my balance to see.”
Me: “This is the store’s ATM, not part of the photo machine.”
Customer: “Well, can I check my balance?”
Me: “Uh… Yes?”
(With another customer waiting, I leave to ring them up while keeping the first customer in earshot while she uses the ATM.)
Customer: “It wants a PIN? It’s never asked for that before!”
(I finish checking the second customer out, right as the first customer walks back up to the counter.)
Customer: “Since when does it want a PIN for anything? Anyway, I guess I’ll trust that I still need to pay for these. But I’m using cash this time, not a card!”
Me: “All right, after tax, that’ll be four dollars even!”
(The customer pulls out a small wad of bills with a twenty and three ones visible. She returns to her purse, and I assume she’s getting a fourth dollar bill.)
Customer: “Feels like it’s been forever since I paid with cash!”
(She does pull out another wad of cash with another dollar bill, only to drop it and continue digging for two more handfuls. By the time she stops, I can see a five, a ten, a twenty, and far more ones than needed to pay for the pictures.)
Me: “Ma’am, you… have enough to pay for this…”
(Paying no attention to me, she begins straightening out some of the ones, the five, and the twenty. After she’s stacked twelve of them up, she sighs and slides me the ten.)
Customer: “Oh, just take it out of the ten, then.”
At The Checkout, Coupon, Kentucky, Pharmacy, USA | Right | July 24, 2018
(I’m a cashier at a pharmacy. Unfortunately, due to its rewards program, our chain is a haven for “Coupon Queens” to come buy a cartload of products for $3.00. I mean, do what you gotta do, but sometimes, the couponers get way out of hand. The customer in this story is a notorious regular, and he and his wife always make my coworkers and me go running when they come into the store. The customer, sans his wife, has been chatting to me while I ring him up, going on about saving this and saving that, occasionally snapping at me if I even look at one of the items he’s set aside for a third or fourth transaction. It takes fifteen minutes before I finally get it all rang up.)
Customer: “I’ll bring your cart back in when I get these out to my car. I just… Oh, s***!”
Me: “Is everything all right, sir?”
Customer: “I forgot to use my coupons on this stuff. Oh, my God, my wife is going to kill me. Here, you need to refund all of these so I can do it again and use my coupons.”
Me: “I… I’m sorry, sir. I can’t do that.”
Customer: “Well, why the h*** not? I have the coupons right here; there’s no one else in line right now.”
Me: “Sir, it’s against company policy. I cannot refund your items for full price, and then sell them back to you when you’re using coupons.”
Customer: “Well, I’m going to tell my wife you did this!” *storms out*
Going To Have A Date Of Death If You Don’t Get It Right
Going To Have A Date Of Death If You Don’t Get It Right
Bad Behavior, Columbus, Extra Stupid, Ohio, Pharmacy, USA | Right | July 14, 2018
(I work in the pharmacy of a regional grocery chain. We require the person picking up a prescription order to give us the patient’s name and date of birth; if they don’t give us the date of birth, we cannot release the prescription order to them. I am doing my scheduled counter rotation when a baby boomer who looks like a redneck Santa approaches. He is talking away on his cell phone.)
Me: “Hi there. Picking up?”
Customer: *pulls his phone away from his face* “Yeah I’m picking up for my mother-in-law. Wife’s after me to get this stuff.”
Me: “Sure thing. What’s her name?”
Customer: “Her name is [Mother-In-Law].”
Me: “And her date of birth?”
Customer: *scoffs* “I don’t know. She’s my mother-in-law. I don’t pay attention to that s***.”
Me: “Unfortunately, our system requires we enter the patient’s date of birth to help prevent prescription theft.”
(The customer quite literally turns very red. I steel myself for an angry tirade.)
Customer: “This is bulls***. Simple mother-f*****…” *storms off, ranting and raving to his wife*
Boss: “[My Name]… what was that all about?”
Me: “He didn’t react very well to me telling him I needed his mother-in-law’s birthdate to release her meds to him.”
Boss: “He was on the phone with his wife, wasn’t he?”
Comeuppance, Illinois, Jerk, Patients, Pharmacy, USA | Healthy | July 6, 2018
(I go to the pharmacy department of a larger than normal location of a major retailer. It’s about 2:25 pm, and the gates to the pharmacy counter are down with a sign apologizing for being closed for lunch. There are about four people ahead of me in line. Though I am in a hurry, I decide to stay since the sign states that they will reopen in five minutes. Four minutes later, the gates reopen, and the pharmacist is at the counter alone, since her support staff hasn’t returned yet. She greets the first man in line.)
Pharmacist: “Thank you for waiting. How may I help you, sir?”
Man: “I’m here to pick up my prescription, under [Man].”
(The pharmacist verifies personal information with the man.)
Man: *as the pharmacist is ringing up the order* “I had to wait ten minutes for you guys to open! It’s just ridiculous that—”
Pharmacist: *cutting the man off, in a tone that is both mockingly concerned, and professional* “Yes, sir, it is ridiculous that I have to work a ten-hour shift, and am only allowed twenty minutes to sit down and eat in the back of this store. I’m so sorry that you had to wait that short amount of time. Your total is [amount].”
(The man said nothing further, refused to make eye contact with anyone, paid, and left. By then, her staff had returned, and the pharmacist went to the back of the work area, immediately answering the phone. The staff made short work of the rest of the people in line, who all were friendly to the workers. I was out the door before 2:40 pm.)
Dallas, Ignoring & Inattentive, Patients, Pharmacy, Texas, USA | Healthy | July 5, 2018
(I pull into a drive-thru pharmacy to pick up my prescription, and there’s just one car in front of me. It’s ten full minutes before the car in front of me drives off and I can pull up to the window, but I’m not in a hurry, so I don’t really mind.)
Me: “I’m picking up a prescription for [My Last Name].”
Pharmacist: “Okay, let me just pull that up.”
(She’s gone for a few minutes, and I’m starting to think that this is why the line was slow. Obviously, I think, they must have new people there who don’t know what they’re doing. When she comes back
Pharmacist: “I’m sorry, but I don’t have any filled prescriptions listed under your name.”
Me: “But I got an email saying my prescription was ready.”
Pharmacist: “I don’t know what to say. We have you in our system from about two years ago, but there’s nothing recent.”
Me: “Can you check again? I got the email, so I know it’s ready.”
(The pharmacist is gone even longer this time, and I’m starting to feel pretty righteously indignant.)
Pharmacist: “No, we don’t have anything ready for you.”
Me: “Look, that just doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand how I can have an email from Walgreens right here saying that my prescription is ready, but you guys apparently don’t have it.”
Pharmacist: *blank stare* “Ma’am, this is CVS.”
(I felt like such a complete moron that I just drove away in embarrassment. Pharmacist, if you’re out there, I’m really sorry I didn’t apologize!)
Diễn Đàn Người Việt Hải Ngoại. Tự do ngôn luận, an toàn và uy tín. V́ một tương lai tươi đẹp cho các thế hệ Việt Nam hăy ghé thăm chúng tôi, hăy tâm sự với chúng tôi mỗi ngày, mỗi giờ và mỗi giây phút có thể. VietBF.Com Xin cám ơn các bạn, chúc tất cả các bạn vui vẻ và gặp nhiều may mắn.
Welcome to Vietnamese American Community, Vietnamese European, Canadian, Australian Forum, Vietnamese Overseas Forum. Freedom of speech, safety and prestige. For a beautiful future for Vietnamese generations, please visit us, talk to us every day, every hour and every moment possible. VietBF.Com Thank you all and good luck.
News
Library
Technology
Giải Trí
Portals
Tin Sốt
Home
