(An order comes to my pharmacy for a well-known antibiotic. This antibiotic is known to smell exactly like rotten eggs, so most of us just hold our breath while we count it and try not to think about it too much. We dispense it to a woman who is picking it up for her teenage son. Everything is normal and she leaves with the prescription, but about 10 minutes later she comes stomping back into the pharmacy, pretty much shoves the person that I am currently helping out of the way, and throws the bottle of medication on the counter.)
Customer: “I want to speak to your manager right now! You guys gave me rotten medication!”
Me: “Really? Let me look at the expiration date on your bottle. Normally we don’t keep anything that has one less than a year away.”
(I look at the bottle and see that the pharmacist wrote a date of over a year away, and I go over to our stock bottle and check and the numbers correspond with each other.)
Me: “Hmm. Well, ma’am, it doesn’t look like this medication is expired but I will have the phar—”
Customer: “You are just lying! I mean, come on and open that bottle! It smells totally rotten! I can’t believe that you would ever give someone bad medication! My son is very very ill!”
Me: “Oh, that’s just because the active chemical that is in this medication has a bad smell. Trust me, I wish there was something that we could do about it back here, too. Most of us hold our breath while we count it.”
Customer: “Stop ****** lying to me. You just don’t want to admit you did something wrong! I will have your job for this, b****!
(At this point the pharmacist who has been listening the whole time walks over.)
Pharmacist: “Ma’am, while I don’t like the fact that you are calling my staff names like that I will let you know two things. One is, certain chemicals have a bad smell. It’s just a fact of life. So, while I know that smell is unpleasant, it’s just one of those side effects that come with being able to take medications that will help your sick son. I assure you it’s supposed to smell that bad. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t work right. Two, since you don’t seem to want to listen to my employees and call them awful names, this will be the last time that you or any members of your family can shop or fill any type of medication here. Maybe in the future you can learn how to treat people the way you want to be treated.”
(The woman proceeded to turn bright red with embarrassment and tried to apologize, but my boss wouldn’t hear it. That was almost two years ago and he still will not allow her or her family to fill their prescriptions at his pharmacy.)
Call Center, Crazy Requests, Extra Stupid, Florida, Patients, Pharmacy, USA | Healthy | October 24, 2018
(I work as a customer service representative. Our company manages prescription plans for a government-run insurance primarily for seniors. We also function as a mail-order pharmacy. This call takes place while I’m still in training during my first week taking calls.)
Me: “This is [My Name]; how can I help you?”
Customer: “Yeah. My husband needs to start taking [drug]. I want to know if his plan will cover it.”
Me: “I can certainly check that for you, ma’am. May I have some information?”
(After I verify her husband’s account information, I look up the medication.)
Me: “Okay. Your husband’s insurance will cover that for an approximate cost of [total].”
Customer: “Well, that seems like too much, but he needs it. Can you send it to him, please?”
Me: “Let me see.”
(I check, and we do not have a prescription for it, nor has another pharmacy filed a claim.)
Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am. We will need your husband’s doctor to send us a new prescription before we can fill it.”
Customer: “Oh. Well, his doctor won’t write it. You have to stop drinking for six months, and my husband likes to have a beer or two every night, so the doctor won’t write one.”
Me: “I’m sorry. But without a prescription, we cannot send a medication.”
Customer: *getting angry* “But I told you that his doctor won’t write the prescription! Can’t you just send it if we pay full price?”
Me: “Again, ma’am, I’m sorry, but we must have a prescription before we can send the medication.”
Customer: “Well, why can’t you just send it?!”
Me: *rubbing my temples at this point* “Ma’am, that would be illegal.”
California, Hospital, Non-Dialogue, Patients, Revolting, USA | Healthy | October 23, 2018
When I was very pregnant — ready-to-pop pregnant — I went to an appointment, to make sure everything was still going good, heart beating, moving around, all that stuff. I decided to grab fast food on the way in, and soon realized that my stomach wasn’t happy with my choice.
When I got into the appointment, I mentioned that I was slightly worried that there had been no Braxton Hicks, and the nurse assured me that I probably had but just didn’t realize it, and hooked me up to monitors. The whole time we were talking, I was holding in an incredible amount of gas, and trying to be discreet. She walked out and closed the door, and I finally let it go.
My husbands eyes were watering, and the thunder actually knocked things off the shelves. The first was followed by several more rather powerful explosions. At this point I was surprised the paint wasn’t peeling off the walls, and I looked over at the contraction machine and realized that it was faithfully recording every rumble. I was dying, knowing that the nurse was going to come in any second and have her eyebrows sizzled off by the noxious fumes. My husband was trying very hard to appear supportive and not laugh, but failing miserably.
The nurse came back in, and apparently completely oblivious to the smell, triumphantly held up the contraction tape to declare, “See?! You are having contractions! Powerful ones, too. Those are what we are looking for!”
My husband almost fell out of his seat, howling and wiping his eyes, while I was left to explain that no, that was my lunch, and those were literally the most monstrous farts I had ever been involved with.
To this day, I cannot figure out how she was able to walk into that green haze, and not realize what was actually going on.
Can’t Catch Anything Worse Than That Rotten Attitude
Bad Behavior, Canada, Friends, Health & Body, Lazy/Unhelpful, Manitoba, Street, Winnipeg | Healthy | October 21, 2018
(My friend and I are walking down the street when an old man suddenly collapses in front of us.)
Me: “Sir? Are you all right? SIR?!” *no answer*
Friend: “Call 911!”
Me: “On it.”
(The ambulance arrives in less than five minutes. Sadly, the old man has died. He had a massive heart attack and was probably dead before he hit the ground.)
Me: *suddenly realizing* “Wait a minute. [Friend], don’t you know CPR?”
Friend: *looking shifty* “Yes. Why?”
Me: “Why didn’t you do anything for him?”
Friend: “Because he looked gross. I didn’t want to catch anything. Besides, he was dead already; it wouldn’t have done any good, anyway.”
Me: “…”
(We’re still friends, but I lost a lot of respect for her that day.)
California, Doctor/Physician, Hospital, Ignoring & Inattentive, Jerk, Non-Dialogue, USA | Healthy | October 20, 2018
I have been battling with a cold for a couple days before finally caving and going to see a doctor, as I think it might be the flu. When I’m there, I also bring up the fact that I have been having some acid reflux issues as of late. I bring these all up to the nurse practitioner who is seeing me before answering the standard questions.
I firmly believe the two people you should always be honest with are your doctor and your therapist. I also have fibromyalgia and other chronic pain issues and I will, on occasion, use CBD or marijuana to help with the pain, as I don’t like taking pain pills. When asked if I smoke, I answer honestly.
The minute I bring up marijuana use, my doctor stops trying to figure out what is causing the acid reflux. He immediately goes on a tirade about how some people are allergic to marijuana, and says I am most likely allergic and should stop because prescription drugs would be a better solution.
Keep in mind, I have been using marijuana for this issue for over six months and the acid reflux issue started only a month ago. When I try to direct him toward other possibilities, he directs it back toward marijuana being the source. Turns out, it’s the breakfast sandwiches I have been eating in the mornings, which I’ve had to figure out on my own.
Australia, Bizarre, Hospital, New South Wales, Patients | Healthy | October 19, 2018
(I am about eight years old, before mobile phones. I’m at the local hospital emergency room with my mum and brother after my brother broke his arm playing hockey. It’s packed and the wait is around four hours. A man in his 60s patiently waits in line to check in. He waits about twenty minutes with no visible injuries.)
Nurse: “Can I help you?”
Man: “Ah, yes, I guess. I’ve been shot.”
Nurse: “Sir, we’re extremely busy here.”
Man: “I’ve been shot. I think I need to see a doc.”
Nurse: “Sir, we’re extremely busy and I don’t have time for jokes. Please leave.”
Man: “No joke. I need to see a doc.”
(He turned around and lifted his jacket and shirt up to reveal a gunshot wound in his back. The nurse went pale and called for help, telling the man to sit in a chair. It turns out he’d been driving along a bumpy dirt track with a shotgun in the tray of his ute. One of the bumps must have knocked the trigger, because the bullet went through the tray and the driver’s seat into his back, the tray and seat slowing it down a fair bit but still causing problems. He then drove himself almost 50 kms to the hospital and waited in line.)
Arkansas, Employees, Ignoring & Inattentive, Pets & Animals, Retail, USA | Healthy | October 18, 2018
(I have a sleep disorder. This disability is mitigated by my service dog, a Labrador. I am taken to a store for some items I need. This is generally not an issue. My service dog goes with me, because it isn’t safe to leave her home. Unfortunately, I begin to have issues. My dog alerts me, so I quickly stop what I am doing to find a worker.)
Me: “Listen. I have exactly one minute before I pass out. Please do not call the EMTs. I will be fine.”
(My service dog is whining and pawing at me, basically getting in my way, and trying to get me on the floor before I pass out — basically, what she’s trained to do.)
Employee: “Yeah, whatever.”
(I knew this was a bad sign, but I didn’t exactly have the time to find someone else. I sat on the floor nearby and promptly passed out. I woke up being loaded into an ambulance while animal control was taking my service dog into a cage. My dog was understandably freaking out, trying to come to me, because they were disrupting her work. I have a medical alert bracelet that says NOT to separate my dog from me on my wrist. I was still a bit out of it from passing out. I did the only thing I could think to do: scream at the top of my lungs. Everyone stopped to look at me. It took ten minutes to convince the EMTs to let me go, and longer to get animal control to give my dog back to me. This was all because an employee didn’t listen. Apparently, they had panicked when they saw me on the floor. They ran over, which prompted my dog to gently nudge her away from me — not aggressively, just a gentle push. She is a larger dog, though. The employee called 911, saying that my dog had attacked me and tried to hurt them. Mind you, my service dog was in full dress: a harness that says, “service dog.” on both sides, a collar that also says, “service dog,” on it, a tag stating that she is for medical alerts, AND a leash that says, “Service Dog. Do Not Pet.” I realize that retail isn’t a fun time, but that whole incident could easily have been avoided. I did inform their manager, but they still work there, so I don’t know what all happened. They glare at me every time they see me, though.)
Assisted Living, Geeks Rule, Michigan, Patients, Silly, USA | Healthy | October 18, 2018
(I work at the front desk at an assisted living home for seniors. I’m just sitting here, minding my own business, when a rather upset resident in her 80s comes up to the desk.)
Me: “Hello, [Resident]. What’s the matter?”
Resident: “I don’t know if I should tell you…” *wringing her hands*
Me: “It’s okay; you can tell me.”
Resident: *shifts eyes around before leaning in close* “He’s coming back. Voldemort.”
Me: *eyes go wide* “Uh…”
Resident: “You don’t believe me. No one does. But Voldemort is coming, and the children are going to die.”
(I called for staff to come help her to her room, and just stared as they walked her back to her room while she continued on about Dark Marks and wards and spells. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh at the riddikulus-ness or be super impressed that an 80-year-old had Harry Potter knowledge. I think I’ll go with both
Assisted Living, Geeks Rule, Michigan, Patients, Silly, USA | Healthy | October 18, 2018
(I work at the front desk at an assisted living home for seniors. I’m just sitting here, minding my own business, when a rather upset resident in her 80s comes up to the desk.)
Me: “Hello, [Resident]. What’s the matter?”
Resident: “I don’t know if I should tell you…” *wringing her hands*
Me: “It’s okay; you can tell me.”
Resident: *shifts eyes around before leaning in close* “He’s coming back. Voldemort.”
Me: *eyes go wide* “Uh…”
Resident: “You don’t believe me. No one does. But Voldemort is coming, and the children are going to die.”
(I called for staff to come help her to her room, and just stared as they walked her back to her room while she continued on about Dark Marks and wards and spells. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh at the riddikulus-ness or be super impressed that an 80-year-old had Harry Potter knowledge. I think I’ll go with both
Bad Behavior, Medical Office, New Jersey, Patients, USA | Healthy | October 17, 2018
(I am going for my annual gynecologist appointment. Just as I am walking into the office, I see my doctor running out. He tells me he has to go deliver a baby. I wish him luck and head in to sort out my appointment, and see a woman talking loudly and angrily with the receptionist.)
Woman: “When will he be back?!”
Receptionist: “I don’t know. He actually said to cancel his morning appointments. He said he’d be back in an hour.”
Woman: “I can’t wait that long!”
Receptionist: “We do have an opening at one pm or you can reschedule!”
Woman: “No! This is unbelievable! I have my appointment! How dare he leave to deliver a baby?!”
(At this point, the receptionist, another patient, and I are all wide-eyed.)
Receptionist: *slightly losing her cool* “Ma’am, he’s delivering a baby. It’s an emergency.”
Woman: “No, it’s not! A c-section isn’t an emergency! I need my appointment!”
(They argue back and forth a bit before she walks off and I head to the counter.)
Me: “Hello. Should I wait or just come back? I know delivering a baby might take some time.”
Receptionist: “You can take the one pm appointment; he’ll be back by them. Some people don’t understand that someone having a baby is an emergency
California, Doctor/Physician, Hospital, Ignoring & Inattentive, Jerk, USA | Healthy | October 17, 2018
(I’ve had a cough for a while that just isn’t going away. On the weekend it gets so bad that I have difficulty breathing. Since it’s the weekend, I have to go to the emergency room. Even though I’m an adult, my dad goes with me, because being female and fat I often don’t get proper treatment. This time around, I don’t even get a doctor; I get a physician’s assistant. I’m too busy coughing and gasping for a decent breath to talk at this point. She doesn’t even bother to examine me and snaps at me the very second she comes past the curtain.)
Physician’s Assistant: “You have the flu. Go home!”
Dad: *looks at the woman in shock* “You didn’t even listen to her lungs, or touch her at all.”
Physician’s Assistant: “I don’t have to. She has the flu. Go home.”
Dad: “She’s having problems breathing. You need to listen to her lungs!”
Physician’s Assistant: *makes a great show of “listening” to my lungs, which lasts less than five seconds* “She has the flu. Go home!“
Dad: “Can’t you at least give her a Rocephin shot?”
Physician’s Assistant: “It won’t do anything for the flu. Go home!“
(She then flounced out and insisted I be discharged. The next day was a weekday and I went into my doctor without an appointment. He immediately informed me that I had a severe infection that required antibiotics, NOT the flu. He then gave me a Rocephin shot and I started to feel better by the afternoon. You can bet the hospital got a REALLY stern letter from me.)
Extra Stupid, Hospital, Teenagers, USA, Utah | Healthy | October 16, 2018
(I work as a nurse in a cancer hospital. One day I see a teenage boy, maybe 15 or 16, standing at the front desk of our inpatient unit. As I have a few spare moments, and it doesn’t appear that anyone else has helped him yet, I walk over to him.)
Me: “Hello! How can I help you today?”
Teenager: “Um, yeah. I’m here to see my Grandma?”
(Yes, it came out as a question, but I just brushed it off as being nerves at having to talk to a stranger.)
Me: “Fantastic! If you’ll just tell me her name, I can point you in the direction of her room.”
Teenager: “Uh… I don’t know.”
Me: *blank stare* “You don’t know what?”
Teenager: “I don’t know her name.”
(We blink at each other for a few seconds, as I’m too stunned to say anything.)
Me: “I’m sorry; I really don’t think I can help you out.”
(We have over 150 patients in our hospital. And how you don’t know your own grandma’s name is beyond me!)
Health & Body, Patients, Retail, Silly, USA | Healthy | October 16, 2018
(I’m chatting with a customer and it comes up that her entire arm, from the elbow down, was badly broken in a car accident. She is only just starting to get enough control of her hand to limply hold a pen. The conversation, of course, drifts to her physical therapy, and she talks about her progress as I encourage her.)
Me: *single fist-pump* “You can do it!”
Woman: *laughing* “No, I can’t! That’s the problem!”
Me: *single fist-pump* “You’ll eventually be able to do it!”
(We chatted for another minute or so before she left. I hope she recovers quickly, or, at the very least, is able to keep smiling as she goes!)
Several months ago my cousin woke up with an absolutely massively swollen right eye, so naturally, she went to the hospital to have that checked out. They administered two CT scans, diagnosed her with a large, inoperable, cancerous tumor sitting right behind her right eye, and gave her six months to live.
Cancer is rampant in our family, so this makes sense in the context. However, she’s always been kind of easy-going and also, she refuses to believe it, so she just didn’t tell anybody and went about her life as usual.
A few weeks after the diagnosis, she was at a normal dentist appointment, and whenever anything touched her right cheek, it hurt a lot, more than it ever had at the dentist, even though she was just having a check done. Her dentist informed her that she had a severe sinus infection. She told him about her recent diagnosis, and he was absolutely not having it.
The next day they went back to the hospital together, in his free time, and he demanded they do another check and pointed out her sinus infection. It turned out he was right; she had a severe sinus infection, not a deadly tumor, that had spread up to right behind her right eye, and had caused an infection. She received normal treatment for that, and within a short time everything was back to normal. The first CT scan had been incorrectly calibrated, and the second one had been incorrectly interpreted.
Having spent many of my teenage years in hospitals myself, I’ve seen a lot, but I had never personally encountered a doctor as dedicated as that dentist before.
Extra Stupid, Patients, Pharmacy, USA | Healthy | October 14, 2018
(I stop by my local pharmacy to pick up my prescription of birth control pills and to talk to my buddy who is a pharmacist. I notice on the package it says, “To be taken orally.” I point it out to my friend.)
Me: *with a laugh* “Well, what idiot doesn’t know that?”
(My buddy’s eyes grow big and she says
Buddy: “Oh, no. You would be surprised! The reason that is now on there is we actually had a woman sue us because she claimed we didn’t properly instruct her on how the pills had to be taken orally, and she got pregnant.”
Me: “Well, then, how the heck did she use them? Where did she put them?”
(Then, it dawns on me where she must have put the pills.)
Coworkers, Hospital, Jerk, Rotterdam, The Netherlands | Healthy | October 13, 2018
(I am working the night shift in a student team. One of our tasks is getting blood and stuff for the operating surgeons all around the hospital. This night a sixteen-year-old boy on a scooter has been hit by a car and is haemorrhaging profusely. I am called to get blood for the blood transfusion that needs to be done. However, due to the fact the boy is being reanimated while receiving a blood transfusion and an operation, there is no time to fill in a form. This is the conversation I have with the man at the blood lab
Me: “Hey, I don’t have a form, but I need blood for the sixteen-year-old patient that’s bleeding out downstairs.”
Blood Lab: “If you don’t have the form, you don’t get the blood.”
Me: “But they don’t have the time to fill in a form, as they are operating on him while giving a blood transfusion, and he was just reanimated.”
Blood Lab: “But you don’t have a form.”
Me: “Yes, I know, but the boy is dying.”
Blood Lab: “Well, it’s not my fault if he dies; come back when you have the form.”
(Sir, I know that you were technically right, but is a form more important than the life of a sixteen-year-old boy?!)
Looking After One Child So Much You Forget About The Other
Hospital, Ignoring & Inattentive, Kansas City, Missouri, Parents/Guardians, Patients, USA | Healthy | October 12, 2018
My mother was a pediatric cardiac nurse and was taking care of a boy who had just had open heart surgery. She left for the weekend, and this story was relayed to her the next morning she was in.
The mother of the young boy suddenly started to have severe abdominal pains during the night. The nurse realized after checking her over that she had forgotten to ask her a very important question: when was the last time she had had her period? The mother said, “Oh, it’s coming any day now.”
The nurse looked at the nurse supervisor who was helping her. This is a children’s hospital, so they had no labor and delivery ward. The supervisor started to panic. This hospital is up the road from another, adult hospital. So, the supervisor decided to put the mother in a wheelchair and push her down to the adult hospital. This hospital is located at the top of a hill, so as he was pushing her down to the other hospital, the wheelchair slipped out of his hand. Luckily, he caught her before she got too far away, and got her to the adult hospital before she delivered the baby.
When my mom got back that Monday, she went to the boy’s room and saw that the mother was back already. She found that the mother had been so focused on taking care of her son before his surgery and getting him the surgery that she hadn’t realized she hadn’t had her period in over seven months.
Luckily, both the son and baby were able to leave the hospital soon after, and last my mother heard they were all doing well.
The Pharmacy Version Of “I’m Looking For A Book That’s Red”
Australia, Crazy Requests, Health & Body, Melbourne, Pharmacy | Healthy Right | October 10, 2018
Customer: “I need to get a repeat on my medication. I’ve ran out of the script so can you give me an owning? I’ve been here many times.”
Me: “Sure, that shouldn’t be a problem. Can you give me your name and the name of the medication you want owning?”
Customer: “My name is [Customer] and I don’t know what the medication is called.”
Me: “Oh, okay. Do you know what the medication is for?”
Customer; “No. Just look up the medication I’m on.”
Me: “You’re on a few different medications.”
Customer: “It’s a little white tablet.”
Me: “All but one of the five medications you are on are white. Box or bottle?”
Customer: “No idea. Just give me an owing.”
Me: “Sir, sorry, but without know what the medication is for or what it is called, I cannot give you an owing. But would you know what it is if I showed you the packages it comes in?.”
(I quickly grab a few bottles and boxes of medications that the customer is on, hoping it jogs his memory.)
Customer: “Nope. I don’t know which one it is. Just give me an owing. It’s a little white pill! You’re suppose to know what I want!”
Me: “Sir, as I said, a few of your medications you are on are small white pills., I’m sorry but I want to make sure I am giving you the right medication. Are you sure you don’t know what the medication is called or what it is used for?”
Customer: “You’re no help. You’re suppose to know what I want!” *leaves the store*
College & University, Colorado, Nurses, Silly, Students, USA | Healthy | October 10, 2018
(We are sitting at break in my Med/Surg Nursing course one afternoon, and we’ve just finished clarifying that our final exam is NOT cumulative. I notice my classmate next to me has hiccups.)
Me: “Got hiccups?”
Classmate: “Yeah.”
Me: “Want me to scare them out of you?”
Classmate: *sleepily* “Nooooo! Don’t scare me.”
(Jokingly, I throw my arm around her and lean in.)
Me: “Hey, hey, [Classmate], the fourth test is cumulative!”
Classmate: “WAIT, WHAT?!”
Me: “Oh, my God, no! We just finished discussing this! I’m joking.”
Classmate: “…”
Me: “HOLY CRAP! It actually stopped your hiccups!”
(We all lost it. Forget “boo.” If you want to scare a nursing student, just tell her the exam will be harder!)
Ignoring & Inattentive, Iowa, Patients, Pharmacy, USA | Healthy | October 8, 2018
(I’m a Certified Pharmacy Technician at a midwest grocery and pharmacy chain. I’m not exaggerating when I say I get far too many of these calls EVERY DAY.)
Me: *answers phone with usual friendly attitude* “This is [My Name] at [Pharmacy]; how can I help you?”
Customer: “I need a refill on my prescriptions.”
Me: *pulls up profile after asking for name and birthdate* “Okay, which ones did you need refilled today?”
Customer: “Oh… I don’t know the names.” *describing various pills*
Me: *sighs and facepalms* “Right, let me get you on with the pharmacist.”
(Long story short, folks: you, as the customer, are personally responsible for knowing exactly what goes into your body and what prescriptions need to be refilled. WE DON’T HAVE ALL DRUGS MEMORIZED JUST BY HOW THEY APPEAR IN OUR HEADS!)
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