No Justice of Peace here and no one wants to certify documents

Hate people coming into the pharmacy asking for a Justice of Peace (JP) or pharmacist to certify photocopies.

People need to understand it is OUR choice to certify or sign your documents. We are not obliged to sign anything. Yes I'm authorised to do it, but sometimes I don't want to do it coz its a waste of time, or I'm busy or I'm simply in a bad mood.

When you come in with a stack of photocopies, I will most likely say no. Because I'm not gonna spend the next 10-15min signing my name FOR FREE when I can be dispensing scripts or provide a customer with medical advice coz that's business. Certifying documents is not business. Its volunteer work.

Another person came in today at the most busiest time and asked me to certify his documents.

Me: No sorry can't do it. I'm really busy at the moment.
Him: Please. Its very important. You just have to certify the documents.
Me: No I can't. I'm busy. Maybe try another pharmacy.

He gives me a dirty, shakes his head and walks off grumpy.

Why be grumpy for? He was dumb to walk into our pharmacy and asking that. There are about 10 different pharmacies in our area and he decides to walk into the most busiest pharmacy and expecting someone to certify. Come on be realistic please! Take your 'important documents' to a quiet pharmacy and get them to sign it, you'll get it straight away. Why make your life so difficult?

And don't be grumpy at me, I can say no you know! Its not like you're gonna be paying me to do it! If you pay me - I might consider it. But yeh, not worth my time.

Don't pay for something you don't like

Our pharmacy deals with generics post-dispensing. As in we inform the customer about generics after we've dispensed it. If they want to the original brand, they can tell us when they hand the script in or after we dispense it.

We did this with an antibiotic. Dispensed another brand, asked the customer if it was ok.

Him: You dispensed it already. I'll take it but next time you should ask me first.

And angrily walks away.

Why would you walk away with a brand you don't want and then pay for it?

If you didn't like it, just tell us and we will change the brand back. Don't make it sound like we forced this upon you and get all upset and then go to the counter and pay for it. After all its your money. If a restaurant gave me a latte instead of a mocha I ordered, I'm not gonna pay for it. I'm gonna ask them to give me my mocha and then I'm gonna pay for it. 

He could've said no I don't want this brand. Simple as that. No need to make a big massive speech about RESPECT. 

Myth: Man thinks suntanning lotion helps with his Vitamin D deficiency.

A regular fat man wants my advice on Vitamin D supplements.

He says his got a vitamin d deficiency and his already taking supplement tablets for it. He wants me to recommend him a lotion that will make his skin brown coz he wants to stay in the sun a bit so he can get vitamin D.

I thought he meant sunscreen to protect himself when he goes out into the sun. No. He actually wanted a suntanning lotion to make his skin brown.

Me: Suntanning lotion does not increase you vitamin d levels.
Him: Oh we use this overseas. I'm thinking of putting it all over my skin so when i go out into the sun, my skin will go darker.
Me: You know what these suntanning lotions are for? Its for people who want to improve their appearance coz they are too pale and they want to become a bit more darker so it looks nicer. You are a full grown man, and you are already tanned, I don't think these products are for you.
Him: Oh how I can get vitamin D then if I don't go dark?
Me: You can't see vitamin D. Dark skin does not mean you got lots of vitamin D. Plus the sun itself is too low to increase your vitamin D levels if you have a deficiency. Better to use tablets coz its got more vitamin D than the sun. And only a blood test can tell you if you have a deficiency - not the color of your skin.
Him: Oh I see, thanks for your help.

Pantoprazole brand price-match

A man comes into the pharmacy with a packet of Salpraz tablets which he bought from us yesterday which we charged him $15. He shows me an old packet of the same tablets (Pantoprazole Sandoz) he got before from a different pharmacy and he got that for $10. 

Him: Ok I bought this yesterday. Why did you charge me $15?
Me: Coz that's our price? 
Him: This is the one I got from another pharmacy and its $10.
Me: Yes they are the same tablets but different brands. We don't keep the Sandoz brand, instead we keep the Alphapharm brand which is the brand I gave you.
Him: Are both of these generics?
Me: Yes both of them are generics. There are many generics on the market. 
Him: Why is there a price difference? You're one should also be $10.
Me: No why should it be. They're different brands made by different companies.
Him: But you said they are the same so price should be the same.
Me: Same ingredient different companies. Look here. Sandoz brand is Made in Turkey. Alphapharm brand is Made in Spain. Quality may be a bit better and/or import tax could be different because they are made in different countries (total BS but anyway....)
Him: So what? Quality should be the same regardless of countries.
Me: Quality control is different, labour costs are different, tax is different.....They're different brands, so of course the prices are gonna be different.

Him: Fine. Why did you give me this brand? You should've told me if you didn't have this brand I take.
Me: I did. I showed you the box and you said it was ok. 
Him: I went home and saw my old box it was different.
Me: Well yesterday when I told you, you accepted it and went and bought it. You just decided to change your mind when you got home. But I did tell you.
Him: Well I want the Sandoz brand.
Me: We don't keep the Sandoz brand. Since we don't have the brand you want, would you like me to cancel this prescription and give your money back.
Him: Why?
Me: Because you want the Sandoz brand, and since I can't provide the brand you want, I'll cancel it and give you a refund.
Him: No no no .... give me the Salpraz back.
Me: Are you sure? If you don't want it, I'm more than happy to cancel it for you.
Him: No give it back to me.

I hand him back the Salpraz. He angrily snatches it off me and says: I'm not coming back to this pharmacy again. I don't like the service here.

And walks out.


LOL..... nothing wrong with the service here. You just not happy with the price.

He got so cut when I offered to cancel his script and give him a refund!!! It's like I don't even care or want to do his business. Didn't even try to bargain with him. He thinks his kingsh*t coz he's a customer..... Seriously, I can price match if its the same brand but come on, its a different brand - how can you compare?

Work experience kids

I feel kids these days lack basic social etiquette. But maybe its the area I'm working in? Dunno, but don't want to sound racist but from what I've seen in my pharmacy these days, makes me question that. 

A few school girls were hovered around the script counter playing with the pens so I walk up to them and ask them if they need any help. 

One the girls, still holding that pen they were playing with, and slouched at the counter, casually asks me: "can we do work experience here?" 

Me (gives them a dirty): You got to speak to the manager and his not here today. 

She: Oh ok then. Thanks (and walks off)

Now I don't know if their career adviser from their crappy high school taught them how to speak properly but when I had to look for work experience in year 10, I was told to this:

a) ask to speak to the manager or boss first

b) introduce yourself: what school you are from, and state purpose (i.e. year 10 work experience)

c) if available: tell them how long you need to be working there for 

d) have introductory letters from the school ready

e) be polite and well-mannered.

Didn't see any of that from the kids today. First they didn't even introduce themselves. "Hi I'm from XXXX high school and I was wondering if there's availability for work experience." Who are they? I'm not gonna let some random kids come into the store and muck around and touch the money. 

And when you are talking to someone asking for a favour (yes work experience is a favour), please do not slouch and play with our pens. Its very rude. 

And don't come in with a group of friends who talk so loud. We will not kidnap you so there's no need to bring in a whole gang. 

If they can't even do this properly, I don't know how they can survive in the real world when they grow older. Probably don't even know what a resume looks like! (PS. Should read some of my earlier posts. One hand-wrote their resume in pencil and another told us to PHOTOCOPY their resume and give back the original.) WTH

Anti-generics lady thinks she gets it for $5.90

I knew this lady was anti-generics but I still asked her.

Script was Keflex Syrup 250mg. Her health care card was not working. I told her the price before I dispensed it. She casually said ok.

After I dispense it, and came to swipe her card, (It was like $22), she says: "I always used to pay $5.90 for this."

Me thinks why is she telling me this. You accepted the price of $22 because you think you're all so good and that you don't take generics, and now you whinge about the price.

You know what I said:
Well that's the concession price and for the generic.
a) you don't have a valid health care card
b) you didn't want generics
So $5.90 does not apply to you.

She: Well I don't know. That's the price that I used to pay.

Me: You're probably thinking of something else. Anyway, please key in your pin number and press enter .... thanks.

Dr forward-dates E-mycin script

There was once an Indian man who came in with a script for E-mycin and 1% Clindamycin in Cetaphil Lotion. The lotion is not PBS so we charged a private price. After we make it, the daughter (whom the script was for) storms into the pharmacy and tells us off for over-charging her. Apparently she was charged $5.90 at another pharmacy and that she's been told she's always gotten it covered on PBS. 

How? I do not know. Because Cetaphil itself is not PBS-listed. Even after explanation, she still doesn't believe us and in the end, returned her lotion and refused to pay for it. Stupid customer thinking they know better than the pharmacists - yeh we get that alot.

Anyway, the Indian man (father) came in yesterday for a script for E-mycin 400mg Tablets. However the script was forward dated til next month. Tried calling the doctor but no answer coz its late. So told him the script can't be dispensed until we contact the doctor coz the doctor wrote an earlier date. 

He comes in today morning. Same script. So I called the doctor. Spoke to the receptionist at the surgery and she said the doctor is going on holidays so she wrote out several prescriptions and forward dated them. Do not dispense them until after that date on the script. They should be using an older script. 

Great. So I tell the man that I spoke to the surgery and that the doctor has purposely wrote that date and she can't get it before that date. Any problems call the doctor. 

Man: But this doesn't make sense. There's a doctor signature here and there's a date here. Obviously its a mistake.

Me: I clarified with the surgery. its not a mistake.

Man: Yes but i've worked in a bank for 4 years and you can't write a future date. 

Me: Well I've worked in pharmacy for over 10 years and let me assure you, doctors can write a future date if they want. 

Man: Well I don't know about this, its not that i don't believe you, but its just so unusual. 

Me: Yeh well if you have any questions, call the doctor. 

Man: I don't know anything about this coz my daughter gave me this script to get it for her.

Me: Yeh well then you CALL your daughter and ask her to call the doctor if she has any issues. Because I've called the doctor on my end and they said I can't dispense it. Alright? 

Man this stands there analysing the prescription. Look mate, the script is not change its date by itself. I've done my bit. Go call your daughter and let her deal with it. And i don't give an EF with you working in the bank for 4 years. I've worked in pharmacy for quite long and you have no idea how it works.

You are merely just a slave for your daughter who gets her poor dad to deal with these issues. Tell her to come in herself if she has a problem. 

Doctor opens a tube of Betadine and then asks customer to come get an exchange

A lady comes in to ask for an exchange. She bought Betadine antiseptic ointment a few days ago and she said the doctor told her not to use it but to use Bepanthen First Aid cream instead.

When I check the tube of Betadine, the cap has been opened. I told her we can't process any refunds or exchanges when its been opened.

She: I never used it. The doctor opened it!
Me: Yeh its been opened. You can't exchange it.
She: Why not? The doctor opened it, its not my fault!
Me: Doesn't matter who opened it but you wanted an exchange. I can't exchange it if its been opened.
She: But this is no use to me! The doctor said I can't use it coz it has color. So I have to use the Bepanthen instead! Please help me.
Me: I'm trying to help you here but its been opened, I can't do it.
She: But its not my fault!
Me: Yeh but its not my fault either. Its the doctor's fault. Why don't you go and speak to your doctor? His the one who opened it.
She: He opened it not me.
Me: That's between you and your doctor. It's got nothing to with us. I can't take it back and put it back on the shelf or sell to anyone else.
She: Then don't put it back on the shelf.
Me: What do you want me to do with it then?
She: I don't know. Throw it in the bin.
Me: Errrr so you want us to throw this in the bin and give you the Bepanthen free of charge is that right?
She: Yes
Me: Are you serious?!?!?!?!


Soooooo STUPID!

I just walked away and said that's very stupid. And told her straight out if its about money, then she should be asking the doctor to pay her the money. Don't come and ask us to bore the losses coz its not our fault. Stupid doctor, you know what colour Betadine is. Iodine is brown for god sakes. Why open the tube and look inside and then tell the patient its wrong. Idiot doctor. And don't pass the customer back to us and expect us to take it back! And stop begging me to give you an exchange for the wrong choice made. How dare she asked me to just chuck it in the bin and give her an exchange. No business would be that dumb to make that decision.

Later I speak to other customers who overhead the conversation and said that lady's got a problem. Obviously noone's gonna help you once the product's been opened!!!

Man begs us to fax his paperwork

A man interrupts what I'm doing and asked if we can fax something off for me.

Me: Sorry we don't do fax here. Just go to the library or newsagency, they can do it for you.

Him: But you did it for me last time!

Me: We never do faxes for customers here.

Him: Not you. But last time they did it for me here. Please I'm a long-term customer here. 

My boss overheard and said 'fine just do it for him. and charge him $2 per page"

Customer: Hold on. Listen, you gonna charge me $2 for the fax?

Boss: Yeh is there a problem?

Customer: Then I'm never coming here again!

Boss: Why's that?

Customer: You asking me to pay for fax?

Boss: Yeh fax is not free.

Customer: Why $2?

Boss: It's always been that price. Even at our old pharmacy, it was that price. Its normal.

Customer: So its normal?

Boss: Yes, you go somewhere else, they charge for fax too. Its not free. 

Customer: Ok I don't want it then. 

And customer leaves.

LOL.... so customer BEGS us to fax stuff for him (when we don't do faxes anymore) and then he's not happy with the price and complains..... *rolls eyes* dude, that's why you shouldn't come here and force us to do something we don't do! Faxing is a lot of effort, we have to stand at the fax machine and fax it for you. We got other stuff to do you know! 

Lady wants refund for cream after she's used it

Why do customers think they can refund or exchange items if they have opened and used it before? 

Lady buys a wrinkle filler for her face. Her daughter reads the packet and realises its to be used as a makeup base NOT as a moisturiser skin care. She wants to exchange it for Loreal anti-wrinkle cream. 

I open the packet and find there's remnants of the cream stuck on the tip. Obviously been used. I asked her, can't refund if you used it. 

She: No no no I didn't use it. I only squeezed a little bit out to try and then i realised its wrong. I didn't use it.

Me: You just said you squeezed it out that means you've used it. 

She: No no. Just a little bit!

Me: A little bit is still something. Do you want to buy something that someone else has used to test before? 

She: Please its the wrong one. I didn't know English. Please change for me. 

Me: You gotta speak to the manager then. 

My boss eventually decided to exchange for her coz she was whinging. 

Ridiculous though. 

Maybe I'll get the doctor to write the Spiriva prescription

A regular customer wants an owing for Spiriva capsules for her husband. I go its ok and then she got greedy and asked me if she can get 2.

Me: Sorry we can only give you one without a script.

She: But why? I'll bring the script back.

Me: Yes I know. But you don't have a script now. I'll give you another one when you bring the script in. 

She: Its not enough.

Me: Not enough? One box has 30 capsules in there. You use it once a day. This one box will last you one month!

She: Yeh just in case i don't see the doctor or I forget.

Me: Ummm.... no. If you want me to give you a box now, you need to bring a script in within 7 days anyway. So one box is more than enough.

She: Yeh maybe my husband is going overseas. I don't know.

Me: Maybe? Then maybe when you know for sure, maybe go to the doctor and get a script, then maybe I'll give you another one. And no maybe for bringing back the script. You MUST bring back the script within 7 days. 

She: Ok.......... 

MAYBE????!!!! What kind of reasoning is that? Maybe I won't give it to you knowing that you're a maybe for bringing back a script......... 

Incompetent doctor don't know how to prescribe Seretide

I don't know what's wrong with this doctor! No wonder noone sees her. She works in a medical centre. Today there's 3 doctors on. The 2 male doctors have 10 patients in the queue waiting to see them, whereas this lady doctor only has 1. Not a very popular doctor, which is expected, considering all the mistakes she makes in her practice! 

A young girl comes in with a script for Seretide 50/25 Inhaler. I look on her medical history, she's usually on the Seretide 250/50 Accuhaler. So I ask her, is she after the Accuhaler coz the doctor's written her a different one. She confirms by showing me an old device of the Seretide 250/50 Accuhaler. I tell her to go back to the doctor and get it changed coz the doctor's written the wrong one.

She comes back later with a script for: Seretide 250/25 Inhaler. which is NOT what she wanted.

I tell her again, that the doctor has written her the wrong one again. Getting a bit frustrated here. Both of us are like WTF is wrong with this doctor. I teach her she needs to check the script when the doctor gives it to her that it must write ACCUHALER and the dose is 250/50, otherwise she is going to have to go to the doctor again. 

Third time lucky, she gets it fixed up and comes with a script for Seretide 250/50 Accuhaler! Yay! The patient was a bit worried, kept on asking me if this is the right one. 

Seriously, this is poor practice. The doctor is not busy, she doesn't have a long queue, and she can't even do a simple thing, can't even prescribe properly even if the patient shows her the product itself. How hard can it be? 

And the fact that I have to teach the patient to double-check the doctor's work is just appalling....... 

Coversyl man with a cough

A customer comes into the pharmacy with a script for Avapro 150mg. I noticed he used to take Coversyl 5mg so I asked him if its been changed. He proceeds to whinge to me about the doctors from the medical centre.

Him: "Its so hard to find a good doctor around here. They all don't seem to listen to you."
Me: "Why what happened?"
Him: "I've been telling the doctors I get side effects from the Coversyl so many times, but none of them does anything! You tell them and they don't care."
Me: "Is it a dry cough?"
Him: "Yes! How'd you know?"
Me: "Coz its the most common side effect for Coversyl. A lot of ppl who take Coversyl need to switch to a different medicine coz of a dry cough. How long have you had the cough for?"
Him: "For years. Tell the doctor every time I come but they do nothing. They just say 'oh its rare'... so i decided to stop it myself and the cough stopped."
Me: "Thats very unusual. Doctors should know its not rare side effect. Well when you told them, did they investigate if its due to the Coversyl?"
Him: "Nop! Just told me its nothing and told me to continue with the Coversyl."


So i go on to explain to him about Avapro, to confirm that the doctor has took the right step and prescribed him Avapro instead. Different class of drug, no dry cough side effect but will need to monitor and review with the dr in a few weeks as its a different dosage. 

Had a long chat with him, and taught him how to do and read bp readings properly. 

He was really happy and said how come doctors don't talk to him like I talk to him? 

Me: "Maybe doctors are busy these days. I dunno haha"....


Yeh I know why ... the real answer is, some are lazy and all they do is sit there and reprint existing scripts from the computer..... 

Lipitor VS Zocor.

A lady comes into the pharmacy today to return the Lipitor which she bought yesterday. She would like to exchange it for the Zocor which the doctor has prescribed her today. She has a new script for Zocor.

Upon talking, it turns out that she has not taken any cholesterol medicines before. Blood test came back recently and it had her cholesterol in the high range. She came to see the dr yesterday and he prescribed her Lipitor. 

She went home and spoke to a friend and the friend told her she got really bad side effects with the Lipitor and told her not to take it. So lady returns today to see the doctor to change it over to a different one aka Zocor. 

I informed her that everyone's reaction is different. And its very unusual for doctors to switch patients from Lipitor to Zocor. Its usually the other way around. Furthermore, Zocor is an old-generation statin and is no longer prescribed first line. Lipitor is used by more people in Australia than any other statin. 

She says she knows but she insisted and said she prefers to use something that's been on the market longer because she thinks its 'safer'. 

No honey. Rhabdomyolysis is more likely to occur and compared to Lipitor, its lowering-cholesterol power is not as strong. 

Anyway, she insisted, so i dispensed Zocor to her and told her good luck. And that Zocor is not side-effect free so don't be surprised if she does get those side effects. 

It would be interesting to see what her reaction would be if she does get rhabdomyolysis with the Zocor.................

So dumb