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.
(I go to the pharmacy I have been going to for the last three years. I am on their computer system, which is listed by name and birthdate. My doctor’s office tells me to pick up my prescription. I usually don’t have any problems.)
Me: “Hello, I have a prescription for myself. My name is [First Name] [Last Name] and my birthday is January 20, 195X.”
Clerk: “Okay, what’s your name?”
Me: “[First Name] [Last Name].”
Clerk: “How do you spell your last name?”
Me: *spells last name*
Clerk: “Your birthdate?”
Me: “January 20, 195X.”
Clerk: “January 15, 195X?”
Me: “January 20.”
Clerk: “January 15?”
Me: “No, January 20.”
Clerk: “January 15?”
Me: “January 20. Two-Zero. Twenty.”
Clerk: “Oh, I keep on thinking you said fifteen. Okay, January 20, 2015?”
Pharmacy | Cornwall, England, UK | Right | February 25, 2017
(I work in a dispensary (basically a pharmacy) and we’re only allowed to give out one month’s supply of medication at any given time. This isn’t by our choice; it’s a standard set by the board. One patient comes in to get her medication. I go and get her prescription and she pays when this happens
Patient: “Excuse me, this is only a month’s supply. The doctor told me I was on a three month course.”
Me: “Yes, that’s right. We’re only allowed to give out a month’s worth of medication at a time.”
Patient: “But the doctor told me I was on this for three months.”
(At this point, one of the older dispensers behind me chimes in.)
Colleague: “It’s a three month course, meaning that you’re on that medication for three months, but we can only give out one month at a time.”
Patient: “Can I speak to the doctor about this?”
Colleague: “You could but this isn’t a standard set by us. It’s a nation-wide standard.”
Patient: “So I have to come in once a month and pay?!”
Colleague: “Yes.”
Patient: “This is extortion! I would like a complaint form!”
(After about another five minutes of this back and forth, the patient finally went on her way. Do you know what our ‘extortionate’ price is for keeping people alive? £8.05.)
(A customer comes into the pharmacy and approaches the back desk.)
Pharmacist: “Good afternoon. How can I help you?”
(The customer raises their hand and shows the pharmacist their hand, their thumb is blue and turning a dark colour.)
Customer: “Oh, hi. The other day I accidentally smacked my thumb with a hammer and it’s gone blue and I can’t feel anything… Should I go see a doctor?”
(A customer had called our store about a discrepancy with a price from her insurance. The pharmacist thinks he found the issue and is relaying the information to the customer.)
Pharmacist: “All right, cross your fingers and toes and hope that this works!”
(I didn’t think much of it and went back to my work. When he hangs up, he starts laughing.)
Me: “What’s up?”
Pharmacist: “You know the customer I was on the phone with? Mrs. [Name]?”
Me: “Yeah?”
Pharmacist: “I told her to cross her fingers and toes that her insurance would work.”
Me: “What about it?”
Pharmacist: “I just remembered she doesn’t have legs!”
Pharmacy | Sydney, NSW, Australia | Right | January 11, 2017
Customer: “I have a question about the dry shampoo. It says here on the can that it’s flammable. Does that mean if I spray too much on my hair and go out in the sun my hair will catch fire?”
(Speechless, not sure if she was joking, I quickly reassured her that the flammable message was about leaving the actual can near heat, and her hair wouldn’t catch fire when she went out into the sun.)
(I’m waiting in line at the pharmacy; there’s one other gentleman in front of me, and then a fairly stereotypical “little old lady” up at the counter. I try not to judge, but…)
Lady: “I’m sorry, I just don’t understand.”
Pharmacist: “I just need you to give me your birth date for the system.”
Lady: “But those are my pills.”
Pharmacist: “I know, but I need to be able to type your birth date into the computer.”
Lady: “I don’t understand. I gave you my name.”
Pharmacist: “Yes, ma’am, but I need both your name AND your birth date.”
Lady: “Do I look like I’m too young to get pills?”
Pharmacist: “It’s not how old you are, ma’am. We just need the confirmation so we don’t give the wrong pills to the wrong person.”
Lady: “But they’re MY pills.”
Pharmacist: “Yes, ma’am. Please, just tell me the month and day you were born on…”
(This goes in a loop for about seven minutes, with the line getting longer and longer. Finally she relents and gives her birthdate… And takes another ten minutes trying to sort out how to use the credit card reader, refusing to let either the pharmacist or anyone else help her. Finally, she gets done, shuffles away, and the gentleman in front of me is called up.)
Man: “I’m picking up for [Man], my birthday is [Date], my phone number is [Number], my address is [Address], my first born’s name is [Son], and you can HAVE him if it speeds this up!”
(The rest of us, including the pharmacist, burst out laughing!)
Pharmacy, Retail | PA, USA | Right | December 27, 2016
(It’s Christmas Day, and I work at a pharmacy retail store that is part of a very large chain. We are a 24 hour store, and we don’t close on Christmas, so we’re usually the only place open. Christmas Day sales are mostly batteries and last minute gift cards, and there’s been a steady stream of customers all morning. During a lull, an older woman walks in.)
Woman: “Hello! I would like to purchase six [Store] gift cards, each one for $10.”
Me: “Okay!”
(I grab the gift cards from next to the till, and count them quickly to make sure I have the right amount.)
Woman: “Now, should I make this out to [Store]?”
(At this point, I realize that she’s writing a check, which my register won’t let me accept as payment for gift cards, so I speak up.)
Me: “Oh, unfortunately, I can’t take a check.”
Woman: “Excuse me?”
Me: “Yeah, sorry, it’s a store policy. [Chain Store #1 ] and [Chain Store #2 ] don’t either. I can take cash, credit, or debit, but that’s it.”
Woman: “Well, I don’t have a debit card, and I don’t have any cash!”
Me: “I’m sorry, but I still can’t accept a check.”
Woman: “You, young man, have just ruined Christmas!”
(I told my manager about what the customer said, and was known as “The Grinch” for the rest of the holiday season!)
(I work as a pharmacist in a pharmacy inside a department store. This takes place on Black Friday and the entire store has massive sales going on; however, the pharmacy is just running under normal business hours. This is the first but not last occurrence this entire day.)
Patient: “You guys are open today?”
Me: “Yes, we are. Just normal hours today, though.”
Patient: “So that means I get my prescriptions half off, right?”
Me: “No, that’s not how it works.”
Patient: “But the entire store is on sale. You guys should be, too!”
Me: “Well, there’s no Black Friday in the pharmacy.”
Patient: “YOU SHOULD!”
Me: “Tell you what; I can give you 30% off the cash price of your prescription. I can’t discount insurance, but I can work with the cash price. Just don’t tell anyone I’m doing this.”
Patient: “Sure!”
Me: “Okay, the cost of your prescription with the discount is… [price around $3000].”
Patient: “What?! I pay $5 normally!”
Me: “Well, that’s the cost of the prescription, so take it or leave it.”
Pharmacy | Blyth, England, UK | Working | November 25, 2016
(I’m in the pharmacy waiting to pick up my regular prescription, which is two-month’s worth of anti-depressant. Unfortunately, the pharmacy only has one box left of my dosage that day, so I’m about to ask for a ticket to come back tomorrow to finish my order, when the woman serving me – not the chemist – leaves me dumbfounded. )
Worker: “Oh, we only have one box left; do you just want to try something else?”
Me: *after a couple of stunned seconds* “Um, what?”
Worker: “Since we only have one box left, do you want to just take something else?”
Me: *after another few seconds of staring blankly at her* “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I can’t just mix and match anti-depressants like that. Doesn’t sound like a good idea.”
Worker: “Oh. Right, then.”
(I was still stunned when the actual chemist came over to give me my medication and the ticket to pick up my other box I was owed. You would think an employee handling medication would be aware switching up and mixing anti-depressants like that would do more harm than good!)
Pharmacy, Retail | San Francisco, CA, USA | Right | November 16, 2016
(A male customer comes in, walks up to the counter, and puts a package of batteries on the counter.)
Customer: “I want to return these.”
Me: “May I have your receipt, please?”
Customer: “I don’t have a receipt.”
Me: “Then I will need a government issued ID.”
Customer: “I have a college ID.”
Me: “I am sorry, sir. It must be a valid government issued ID.”
(He hands me the college ID.)
Me: “I am sorry, sir. This ID isn’t government issued.”
Customer: “Fine, then I won’t return ’em. Stupidest f****** rule ever.”
(The customer proceeds to wander around the store looking around, and then returns to the front counter with his hands empty.)
Customer: “I lost my batteries.”
Me: “Okay, sir, I can have an employee help you look for them.”
(I wave an employee over and assign him to help the customer look for the batteries. They head out to the floor to look. The customer selects a few items as he is looking around. Then all of a sudden, with his hands full, he casually walks right past the cashier and out the front door. I walk up to the doorway and yell.)
Me: “Sir, you need to come back in and pay for those items.”
Customer: “Why? You stole my d*** batteries!”
(I watch him get in his car. I get the license plate number and call the police and give them a general direction the customer headed. The police call me back fifteen minutes later.)
Officer: “We caught the suspect. He was trying to return the items you described as stolen to the [Drugstore] across the street from you.”
Me: “What?! Wow! Okay … uh… hmm.”
Officer: “Yeah, I know. Sometimes I can’t wrap my mind around how some people can be so stupid either.”
(My dad is the pharmacy manager and is bringing me in to job shadow him and his coworkers. My dad is well-known and well liked among most of his customers and has never shown anyone disrespect before, being an easy-going and reasonable man. He’s in the middle of unlocking the pharmacy as it is ten minutes before opening, and already there is someone at the drive-thru.)
Customer: *immediately as the technician turns on the speaker* “Why aren’t you guys answering your d*** phone?!”
Technician: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but we only just opened. Can I help you with anything?”
Customer: “You can get me my prescription. How dare you keep me waiting any longer than I already have?!” *note that she only just got here, as have we*
Technician: “All right, ma’am. Just one moment.”
(The technician takes her information before turning around and give me a knowing exaggerated look. I resist giving the customer the finger as she huffs and turns to her daughter in the passenger seat who rolls her eyes as the technician talks to my dad. My dad comes over to speak with her and give her her medicine.)
Dad: “I’m really sorry for the wait, ma’am, but we haven’t opened the pharmacy yet. Here is your prescription.”
Customer: “You WOULD’VE known I was coming if you just answered your d*** phone!”
Dad: *with high level of patience and positivity that I can only ever hope to achieve* “I’m sorry ma’am, but again, we have only just started opening the pharmacy. There was no one here to answer the phone until two minutes ago. I hope you have a good day.”
Customer: “Don’t get snappy with me! You should always answer the phone!” *drives off*
Dad: *shrugs at me* “She’s not a regular. She probably doesn’t know our hours.”
(Everyone got back to work and the rest of the day went on pretty peacefully. It was only later that my dad checked the phone and found thirteen unheard messages, from 2:43 am, 3:11 am, 4:13 am, etc. All of them had no actual messages and were silent. Three guesses who they were all from and the first two don’t count.)
Clerk #1 : *continues ringing up items* “This is on sale. If you’d had your card, you could have had the discount. Ooh, this one would have been a BIG discount if you’d had a card.”
(Our pharmacy automatically substitutes a generic for brand name medication when a generic is available. The exception is if the doctor writes “brand name only,” or the patient specifically requests brand name. Of course, the generic names aren’t as well known, so the customers will sometimes be confused as to what prescription they have until we explain that the medication is a generic and does the exact same thing as the brand, though at a lower cost. The information about the drug is also printed on a pamphlet, including the brand names, in case they don’t believe us.)
Me: “Hello, [Pharmacy]. [My Name] speaking. How can I help?”
Customer: “I didn’t get [Brand Sleep Medication]. I got it with something extra! I just want the regular type.”
Me: “I’m sorry, something extra?”
Customer: “Yeah I got [poorly pronounced Generic] instead, and you guys gave me extra.”
Me: “Ma’am, that’s the generic name of [Brand]; there’s nothing extra in it.”
Customer: “I don’t want the extended release, just the [Brand].”
Me: “Ma’am, that IS the regular strength. That’s just the name they use.”
Customer: *finally getting the point* “So, this [Brand]?”
Me: *giving up trying to explain generic* “Yes, ma’am, it is [Brand].”
Customer: “So there’s nothing extra in it?”
Me: “Right. Here, what’s your name, so I can look it up?”
(She gives me her name and DOB so I can verify she does in fact have the generic.)
Me: “Okay, I looked it up, that is the [Brand], regular strength.”
Customer: *finally getting the idea* “Okay, thank you!”
(I get off the phone, and the pharmacist, who has been listening to my call the whole time, is trying not to laugh as he’s talking.)
Pharmacist: “So she DIDN’T have ‘extra stuff’ in her medication?”
Me: “No, she didn’t. It was just [Generic]. Why don’t they just read the information labels?”
Pharmacist: “That would take away half of our job description.”
(We are going to close soon, but we aren’t very busy and she’s getting an important medication, so I can get it ready for her if she needs it tonight.)
Me: “Sure thing. Did you want to get this tonight or come back tomorrow?”
Customer: “Oh, I need it tonight. When will it be done?”
Me: “Well, we close at six, so before then!”
Customer: “Oh, you can’t get it ready any sooner…?”
Me: “Uh… It’s 5:45 right now.”
Customer: *in a snippy tone* “Well, how was I supposed to know?! I’m not wearing a watch!”
(I work in a pharmacy. A youngish woman approaches the counter.)
Customer: “I’m here to pick up my daughter’s prescription.”
Me: “Of course. Can I get her name and DOB?” *She gives it and I look it up* “I’m sorry, but we don’t have it here.”
Customer: “The doctor should’ve called it in two days ago. It’s all right, though, I can use my DEA to call it in.” *a series of numbers and letters used to identify doctors*
(I’m a little surprised. She doesn’t really look old enough to prescribe.)
Me: “Ma’am, are you a doctor?”
Customer: “No, but I have a DEA.”
Me: “Well, that might not be necessary. It might be on hold at drop off.”
Customer: “All right, I’ll check there first.”
(She goes to the other counter, and I lose track of her with my own customers. About 30 or 45 minutes later, she comes back to pick up her daughter’s prescription.)
Me: “Oh, glad she got her [prescription].”
Customer: “Yeah, it wasn’t over there, though. Glad I could take care of her and call it in without having to call the doctor. ”
(It’s late on a Sunday afternoon, when most doctor’s offices are closed.)
Me: “It must be reassuring you can always get her medicine. You could do it too if you had an NPI [other set of identifying numbers, necessary for calling in narcotics].”
Customer: “Oh, I have one of those, too, but I don’t really use it. I work at a women’s health clinic, so I’ve never prescribed those.”
(I work in a pharmacy in an area known for prescription drug abuse, and where narcotics are given out like candy. This was reassuring on her part.)
Me: “Oh. Here’s her prescriptions ”
(We do have a few patients that are doctors, and write their own prescriptions, and occasionally for their family that are also our patients. They’re usually arrogant, however, and argue prescription prices, drug types, etc. She was extremely nice, though. It made my day a little bit better.)
Pharmacy | The Woodlands, TX, USA | Right | October 11, 2016
(A woman, aged around 40, comes to pick up her prescription. I ask for the last name so I can find her in the system. It is a long complex last name, and our system requires full perfect spelling to bring it up. She spells it out slowly and condescendingly. I brush it off and get her prescription from our bin. When I walk back to the counter she throws a coupon at me. I had noticed her prescription was already billed to insurance AND coupon, so I ask her what’s it for.)
Woman: *rudely* “If you read it, you’d know.”
Me: “The reason I ask is because there is already a coupon applied.”
Woman: “Oh, well, it must’ve been automatically applied.”
(That isn’t possible; we bill them like insurance and it is somewhat a long process, especially when it’s a coordination of benefits. I say nothing to that and ask her to type in the last four digits of her phone number as one of our verification methods. Rudely again, she snaps.)
Woman: “Why would I do that?”
Me: “If you want your prescription, you must verify your number.”
Woman: “Well, that’s an invasion of my privacy.”
Me: “It’s to ensure the prescription goes to the correct person.”
(She reluctantly agreed and she dramatically covered the PIN pad all while grumbling as it as if it was a debit pin. Her prescription was in my hand and it contained her full name, address, and the full phone number she partially typed. She then began to make small talk as she handed me her cash. I gave her the change, and she stood at the counter staring at the receipt and recounting her change for literally 15 minutes. Since I was fairly new, my coworkers explained that she was notorious for being rude. When she comes through drive-thru, apparently she doesn’t speak a single word. She just throws her credit card into the drawer and expects us to know that she’s picking up.)
Pharmacy | QC, Canada | Friendly | October 4, 2016
(My friend and I browse the natural supplement section of the pharmacy. She hands me bottles of diet pills and I read the ingredients. Note that she cannot take any caffeine or green tea because of health problems.)
Friend: “What’s in this one?”
Me: “Caffeine, laxative, raspberries.”
Friend: “And this one?”
Me: “Caffeine and green tea.”
Friend: “And this one?”
Me: “It’s written GREEN TEA in gigantic green letters on the bottle.”
(I recently had a cyst in a very intimate place get infected and had to get antibiotics to treat it. Note that I also work in this particular pharmacy and all of us can be a little bit quirky about some things. This conversation happens when I go to pick up the antibiotic and my coworker asks me if I’ll be calling out of work for illness.)
Me: “Oh, no, I just got a cyst that’s infected.”
Coworker: *eyes light up* “Oh! If you go somewhere to get it popped, can you have them record it? I love watching the pus come out!”
Me: “Umm, it’s in a place you wouldn’t want to see.”
Coworker: “Oh.” *pause* “Just blur that part out!”
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