Vie For A Vial
California, Crazy Requests, Jerk, Pharmacy, USA | Right | March 6, 2018
(I just started working at a small, independent pharmacy. It’s located in the downtown area of a small town that is predominantly upper-middle-class families. And with that population, we get patients in that ask for a bit more specific requests than what I’m used to. I have just started and am being trained when I overhear this conversation with my technician. Note: since we are small pharmacy, profit margins are tight, so for expensive medications, we don’t open the bottles and fill them until the patient has come to pick up and paid. We pride ourselves on customer service, doing almost anything for the customer.)
Customer: “I’m here to pick up for [Customer].”
Tech: “All right, just give me a few moments to pour these bottles into the vial.”
(She is getting over 400 tablets of the medication.)
Customer: “Let me see what you’re putting it in.”
Tech: *shows the vial* “Will this one be good for you?”
Customer: “No! That one is too tall; I’m going to spill it.
Tech: *shows different vial* “What about this one?”
Customer: “No! It’s too short; I’m going to lose it.”
Tech: *shows another vial* “This one? I can fit it in two of them.”
Customer: “I don’t want to; that’s too much!”
(This repeats for a couple minutes, going over various vials, usually the same one, multiple times, the customer making up some random excuse.)
Tech: *showing her the first vial* “What about this one?”
Customer: “Yes! That one is perfect!”
(The tech finishes up putting her medications together and the patient leaves.)
Me: “How did you handle that without freaking out?”
Tech: “I was about to punch her in her face if she said no to another one of these stupid bottles.”
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