No receipt

A lady was waiting for her script to be filled but she was in a hurry so took her script and left. 

On the way out, our security guard stops her as she had a plastic bag with 3 boxes of Panadol and Codral Cold & Flu in it. She said she bought it from another pharmacy but couldn't produce a proof of purchase. 

She: This is ridiculous! I'm in a hurry and now you won't let me leave because I bought something from another pharmacy!
Me: Yes sorry but you need to provide a proof of purchase. If you can't then I'll have to check the security cameras for you to find out if you walked in with those goods.
She: I'm in a hurry! I don't have time for this!
Me: You need to provide a proof of purchase.
She: I can! You just have to come with me to the other pharmacy and they will show you! Do you even sell this?!?!? Have you checked?!?!??
Me: Of course we sell this. We're a pharmacy. No I'm not gonna go to another pharmacy for you. I can either check the cameras for you, if not then we will have to call the police. 
She: Fine check it check it! This is ridiculous.

So I check the cameras, yes she did come in with the goods.

Me: Ok I saw the camera. That's fine, you may leave now.
She: Give those back to me! 
Me: Next time, as a tip for you, you must have a receipt if you are buying things from another pharmacy. Otherwise how are we suppose to know? 

She storms out and then curses the security guard that he'll get a divorce because of what he did to her. Omg, its his job to check bags! Otherwise what's the point. What did she expect us to do? Just listen to her story and then let her walk out. That's dumb!

Medicare no big deal

This lady holding a child in her arms interrupts me whilst i'm serving another customer.

Mother: Excuse me, I've got a script to be filled.

Me: Yes, you'll need to take it in at the prescriptions in counter overthere.

Mother: Yeh but there's noone there.

Me: Someone will come and assist you when they are free. 

So I end up dispensing the script for the child. Upon entering the name, the child's name did not pop up on our system. New patient. So I ask the mother, who was holding the child, for a Medicare card as her name was not on the system.

Mother: (gave me a dirty) Look I don't know what the big deal is, you should have all the details on the system.

Me: The deal is, her name is not on the system, hence why I need a Medicare card.

Mother: Omg, all the details are on the prescription. 

Me: No its not. The doctor only wrote the name. There's no Medicare or Address either. 

Mother: Well my daughter's sick and we've been waiting for a long time.

Me: Well, most people who walk into our pharmacy are sick but everyone still patiently waits. (me smirks) 

She says nothing. She later decides to take a jab at my other workmates. An item didn't scan at the counter so had to ask for a price check.

Mother: OMG, now i'm gonna wait a WHOLE YEAR for you people to check the price.

Assistant comes back and overhears her: That was $4.90 and no it did not take a year! (walks off)

Lady purchases for items and leaves.

What is wrong with this lady? 

Doctor asks me a random question if I sell ear drops

A received a call from the doctor. 

First thing he asks me: "Do you have ear drops?" 

Me: Which one are you after?

Him: What do you have?

Me: I've got many. Depends on what condition you're after. Antibiotic, ear wax, painful ear???

Him: Do you have Sofradex?

Me: Ok so you're after an antibiotic ear drop. No I don't have Sofradex as its out of stock from the manufacturer. I've got Otocomb ear drops if you want something similar.

That's just like calling me and asking do I sell tablets. Yes we do - we're a chemist - but depends on what you want.

No need to tell me your lifestory. My answer is no.

When you ask the store if we keep a certain product, and we say no, that means no. 

A lady came into the pharmacy to ask for a long cotton swab, I tell her I don't have the long one, I've only got the normal short ones. 

Me: No sorry we don't have these long ones. I've got the normal shorter cotton bud ones if you like.

She: Yeh you know, my husband had a stroke, and he needs to use this everyday to clean his mouth.

I look at her...and thought: "yeh and your point is??" 

Me: Ok. 

She: So do you have it? My husband really needs it.

Me: I've already told you. We don't have these ones, we've got the normal short ones. 

She: Are you sure? Can you look for me?

Me: Yes I'm sure what I sell in our pharmacy.... 

She: My husband very old, and........

I just switched off. Her purpose was to buy that long cotton bud and I've told her we don't sell it. Now why would telling me the story of your husband and why he needs it, change my answer from no to yes? 

I don't get it. 

Medicare should audit doctors for over-prescribing quantities

Doctor's wasting our taxpayers money by over-prescribing. There's no need to prescribe max quantity every single time and there is an option on the system to change quantity. 

- prescribing 50 tabs of Abbocillin tablets for a 2 day treatment. All they need is 8 tablets! 
- prescribing 2 bottles x 150ml (total 300ml) of Ventolin Syrup for a baby who's only taking 0.5ml three times a day for 3 days...... one bottle is more than enough

Such a waste of resources and money. *shakes head*

Viagra man wants assistance with condoms

A middle aged man came in with a script for Viagra 50mg. When I handed him the medicine, he said: "I also need a packet of condoms."

Me: "Oh yes, its just in the first aisle on your right."

Him: "Can you please show me? Coz I don't know which one to get."

Okkkk, well being the professional I am, I led him to that section. 

Me: There a lot of different types, here they are. Different sizes, different flavours. 

Him: Yeh I just need a small one. 

Me thinks small packet or small size? But if its small size, i don't want to rub it in. 

Me: Hmmm, did you just want to go for the standard size like this Ansell one?

He picks up the Ansell RIBBED and asks me: "What's this one?"

I have no idea. I haven't used one before or seen one. Read the packet ..... me: "Oh its just not smooth. Its got bumps on it." 

He says: "Ahhh ok I'll get this one."

Doesn't help when you're a female......... 

Unprofessional nurse complaining about vaccines Havrix & Typhim

A nurse from a local medical centre calls the pharmacy to complain that our pharmacy didn't tell a patient to keep their vaccines in the fridge. The vaccines (Havrix Junior and Typhim) were dispensed by a colleague pharmacist yesterday. So I check with my colleague to see if they informed the patient to keep the vaccines in the fridge:

Pharmacist: Yes. Coz I asked him if he was going to the see the doctor straight away and he said no, his seeing the doctor the next day. So I told him to keep it in the fridge until he sees the doctor.
Me: Did you put a fridge sticker on the vaccine?
Pharmacist: Yes definitely.

Good. I asked the nurse is the fridge sticker on the vaccine. She says yes. I informed her that I spoke to my colleague who served the customer and they said they informed them to keep it in the fridge until they see the doctor.

Nurse: Well the customer says she didn't.
Me: The pharmacist asked him if he was seeing the doctor straight away and he said no. So she told him to keep it in the fridge. There's no point of asking when he was gonna see the doctor if she wasn't gonna tell him how to store it.
Nurse: Well maybe there was a language barrier? The customer doesn't understand English and you tell him to keep it in the fridge. His not gonna understand that.
Me: The customer is Arabic right?
Nurse: Yes.
Me: Well we've got many staff here who speaks Arabic. Any one of them could've translated it for him. If he didn't understand, he could've said he didn't understand. But he didn't say anything, he never asked for translation, and he seemed to understand some basic simple English. He probably just forgot when he got home.
Nurse: What about the fridge back and cool pack? He lives 20min away. You should've given him a fridge bag. The fact that you didn't - don't you think that's a big unprofessional.
Me: No fridge bag and a cool pack is not a legal requirement. Even if we did supply him a fridge bag, his not going to keep it in the fridge anyway. 24 hours later, it would be deemed unusable anyway so it makes no difference fridge bag or not.
Nurse: Look I don't know but your pharmacy is responsible for this. The patient is not going to spend another $100 to get these vaccines when its your fault.
Me: I disagree with that. I feel that the pharmacist did all she can on her part - informed him to keep it in the fridge and there's also a fridge sticker. Now if the customer goes home and doesn't do as we tell them to do, well that's beyond my control.
Nurse: The customer is always right.
Me: Now you're being unreasonable. From what I can see, the customer probably just forgot but please do not shift the responsibility to us coz we did every right on our end.
Nurse: Well I think you are responsible and I will be making an official complaint.
Me: Feel free to do that. You can complain directly to the Pharmacy Board. It doesn't seem we can resolve this today so let them decide. I am happy to supply you with their number if you want.
Nurse: Who are you anyway?
Me: On the pharmacist on duty today. If you like, you can speak to the Pharmacy Manager.


Transferred the call to the Pharmacy Manager who agreed with what I said and told her to get lost and that if the patient wants, we can sell them a second box for cost price. But if you want it for free, then she's dreaming.


Afternoon comes, the customer comes in with the vaccines and speaks to my boss. My boss told him the nurse knows nothing and that she's giving him all these wrong information. Customer said the pharmacist should have EMPHASISED to him to keep in the fridge. My boss' comeback which I think is perfect was basically: "The only thing she could've done better was to go home with you and put it in the fridge for you." LOL .........

We ended up giving the customer a discount (out of good faith) for the second box but certainly not free.

And that nurse was such an idiot. Is she really a registered nurse? Or is she some random lady that sticks needles in people? I can't comprehend how can she speak like that with no sense of judgement. So unprofessional and saying 'the customer is always right." I'm a health care professional, a pharmacist, not a random grocery seller at the markets. We have protocol and we've followed protocol.

If her patient goes home and doesn't take their medications, is she the one responsible for that?

Just go back to nursing school dude and don't step into the way we work. Trouble maker. I should be the one making the complaint to the Nursing Board about her unprofessionalism and giving wrong information the patient.