The *Angriest* Pharmacist You want your prescription filled when? Eat shit…

I Feel Cheap – Very Cheap

I'm back. Sorry for the lapse. I've been busy and somewhat injured making it hard to type.

Has any pharmacist out there ever sucked up their pride and done something they normally wouldn't do for a patient because that patient brings in a lot of scripts (and income) into the pharmacy? I did that today, and it made me feel sick.

A *long* time patient came in today. My keystone tech took his script. He was just diagnosed with Type II Diabetes Mellitus. He's not overweight, so it was somewhat surprising to me. He already has a meter and lancet device. He didn't get that from me. The script was one of those generic scripts (Glucose Test Strips + Lancets #qs for one month +PRN Refills) Keystone tech had a conversation with him about exactly which meter he had and what kind of lancets he would need.

They settled on the Accuchek Comfort Curve and our store brand lancets which are made to fit pretty much any lancet device. We put the strips on hold -- he still had some of those. So, we merely filled the strips and Metformin 500mg po BID. Easy enough right? Right. He was comfortable with the price -- his insurance knocked off very little, but the cost on the strips was 5 bucks and his metformin was 5 or 6 bucks.

He got home, and pretty much immediately called back. He wanted to speak to a manager. I have gotten to the point where I don't like to handle complaints. I like to let keystone tech handle it -- she's great at it. I'm usually a dick. Go figure. But, he wasn't having it. He wanted to talk to me.

I got on the phone and he was angry. He didn't yell. He didn't curse. Lucky for him, because if he would've gotten hostile, I would have not been as nice as I was. I was shocked I didn't call him a fucking asshole as is...Anyway, he has the nerve to tell us that his lancet device is a Accuchek MULTICLIX (which has some sort of drum-type lancet where one drum has 5 or more lancets in it so there's less handling of sharps). He then tells me that he told this to my keystone tech and the prescription CLEARLY states that -- we screwed it up. He then goes on to tell me that he drives out of his way to get to us because he gets good service from us. Then he started with the "here's what is gonna happen A --- you all are gonna do this. B--- you are gonna do this" bullshit. I was having none of that. I offered to fix it, eat the difference and mail it. That wasn't good enough. He needs the lancets now. He needs to be checking his blood sugar 5 times a day (WHICH IS FUCKING BULLSHIT AS TAP SAYS). Then he tells me I have to pay for his gas to get back out there.

So, I looked at his profile. We fill 10 scripts a month for this guy, and we get pretty good return on his stuff. I also know that he buys a ton of vitamins, assorted OTC vitamins, and other stuff from us. So, he's a pretty valued customer. I sucked up my pride. Rather than tell him I heard the entire conversation and that he told my keystone tech that the store brand lancets would be sufficient AND that the prescription merely says lancets and nothing more, I folded. I told him I would refund the 5 bucks. I also told him I would get the Multiclix ready and edit the price to zero. The difference between the two would cover the cost of his gas and troubles as the Multiclix are much more expensive (They are like 14 bucks per 100 whereas the store brand is 4-5). So, I returned the store lancets (I told him to just pitch them as he refused my offer to GIVE him a lancet device that they would work in -- he wasn't comfortable with that since he's used to the Multiclix...that also pissed me the fuck off). I then filled the Multiclix, billed it to his insurance (to at least cover a little bit of the loss), and I changed the price to zero. My net loss was 18 or so dollars.

So, anyone that is familiar with business knows that 3% net profit is ideal after all is said and done. That's unrealistic in pharmacy, but it's a decent gauge. So, to make back that $18, you have to sell ~33x that amount to cover the loss. So, I have to do close to $600 worth of business to make that back...That's exactly why shrink/theft is such a huge deal and horrible for business. Now, I'm not saying it's theft, but I damn sure bent over backwards here.

I know that I'll make that money back, but I feel like a freaking spineless piece of shit for kissing this guy's ass like I did. But, word of mouth goes a long way in my area -- and I'm sure that he'll let it be known to everyone how nice we are and how we made things right.

Then again -- I did make a note in his profile that he gets no more favors...:-)