Robbed at Gunpoint

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as Drug Seekers, Robbery, Technicians, True Story

No, I wasn’t robbed…today anyway.

A Notre Dame Med student and pharmacy technician emailed me recently, asking about my thoughts on robbery — as her store had been robbed, “a few times lately. So have many others.”

You might have noticed, in preparation of writing this post, I added a new poll asking if “your store had ever been robbed.” At this point, the vast majority (Close to 90%) of pharmacy employees have not been robbed — at least the ones that frequent TAestP.com haven’t!

Anyway, she also asked about dialog within the pharmacy about it. Apparently, it was a hush-hush/taboo topic in her pharmacy — and that bothered her.

—————————-

Well, in TheAngriest Pharmacy, it is not a taboo topic. While we don’t discuss it every day, it is something that every employee is made aware of at hire. Occasional updates are also provided and questions are answered. My initial training of technicians discusses what to do in case of robbery. Obviously, I tell my younger female techs to stay quiet, get/stay out of the way, not make eye contact, and do whatever you are told (except go with the person - I’ll be damned if I allow an armed robbery turn into a kidnapping). We also cover the “corporate policy” on the matter which obviously says, “no merchandise is worth your life - give it to them.”

We also discuss potential lapses in security, or areas we are deficient. Thinking like a criminal and recognizing these weak spots before the bad guys see them could prevent that easy “in” by criminals. This also goes with shoplifting.

Now, for myself, I operate under a different set of rules.

I’m a grown ass man. I’m in the best shape of my life at 6′3″ 205 pounds. I even hold a few weightlifting records at my high school AND college (squat and deadlift). Let’s put it this way, I wouldn’t fuck with me.

If someone tries to rob me, they’d better keep my eyes on me. If they turn their head, even for a second, I’m going to knock them the fuck out. I have a stationary printer right next to the station I work at each day. If I can lay my hands on it, I really don’t think the alleged robber would survive. If he did, there would definitely be some mental deficiencies to deal with.

Some of you are going to say how ignorant that cockamayme plan is. That someone could get hurt. I could get shot. I could get someone else shot. It’s not worth it. Blah Blah Blah. — Those of you that would argue against me knocking out some punkass pharmacy thief need to buy some Massengil and rinse the sand out of your vaginas. The only danger posed is upon myself. All this doesn’t even have anything to do with money — as insurance would cover a robbery. This all goes back to the principle of the issue — If I *can* stop a criminal, shouldn’t I? Am I not doing a disservice to the community in allowing this asshat to escape and get away with 30k of my inventory as well as scarring my staff?

Yup, that’s the plan………now. I was robbed once several years ago. I didn’t hit him tho — I didn’t ever really
think about it until after that happened. But, it is the reason I think the way I do now. I know I could have taken this little bitch. I feel bad I didn’t light his ass up. Anyway, I have a locked safe that is an ‘island,’ they knew that and they only wanted C-IIs. I unlocked it quickly before they could see in it. I pulled out the top shelf all the way — thereby blocking the view of everything that was under it. So, they only got half my inventory (I was proud of that little maneuver! Of course I have cameras, but I made damn sure that I knew his face like the back of my own hand, and I had a pretty good idea what the gun was. I even followed them out the door (I pretty much walked them to the door and followed them to the parking lot) and got the tag of their van and watched which way they went — so I could tell the cops. They got caught a few miles outside of my town.

I would have been a great witness. Too bad they both died. One was shot in the chest by one of the cops. Apparently, John Wayne thought he was gonna battle his way through 15 cops on his way to Opiate Heaven. The other took a little detour to Opiate Heaven. His detour was, ironically, the Opiate Highway. Get the metaphor? He died in jail a day or two later. A condom full of Oxycontin exploded in his belly. He knew he was gonna get caught and thought he’d be the king of the jailhouse!

Have you ever been robbed? How did you take it? Did you just follow orders?

Concerning my, “Knock The Fucker Out” Method — Great Plan or GREATEST Plan?

Reporting Illegal Activity

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as Disgusting, Drug Seekers, Laws, Me being a dick, Stupid People, Traffic, True Story

I can’t believe the trash that is finding its way to my website and the crap they are searching for to get here.

As you can see to the left, someone has searched a few very sketchy things — and likely found a post where I’m bitching about someone pulling this shit.

“i wrote a fake prescription but let you take the meds” and “wrote fake prescription but got the meds can i still get caught” came from LAKELAND, FLORIDA and originated from someone on Mindspring Cable (which is owned by Earthlink). They might have been at IP Address 208.118.34.241 and using Firefox 3 — I’m not sure (Just kidding, I’m positive). I’m also pretty sure that his host-name might or might not resolve to user-387c8nh.cable.mindspring.com — He visited the website at approximately 11:21:52 PM CST and was here at least four minutes. His original search sent him to “Weirdest Fake Scripts EVER” and his second websearch sent him to “Busting a Fradulent Script.”

This kind of pisses me off. I hope he found this page and read the comments from all the pharmacists that wouldn’t hesitate to throw his ass under the bus. I’m forwarding a copy of this story to the Lakeland, FL police (they have a really nice website!). I wonder if it’s enough to get a subpoena to track that IP to the user. I wonder if that person will read this website again…before the cops get to his house.I hope he’s at home, right now, shitting his pants. I wonder if a printout of this website could be admissable as evidence. Then again, we could just use the handy-dandy email plugin and send a copy to the judge!

Readers, what do you think about the situation? I realize I’m a prick. I realize that this might be a slight invasion of assumed privacy (that doesn’t really exist), but can you blame me? If I’m not part of the solution, which I am charged to be, I am part of the problem. So, I’m doing something about it…

Weird Situation

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as Disgusting, Drug Seekers, Education, Laws, Technicians, True Story, Work Sucks

I got the following comment from Kaiye as a reponse to the post saying patients need to call their doctor for refills themselves. I thought it was a weird situation and deserved addressing at a greater length.

is this wrong? You tell me.
I was in my pharmacy Wednesday, waiting for a prescription re-fill. The two ladies who work the counter and the lady pharmacist were talking about a customer who had just phoned.
“who is Mrs. L—–?”
“dunno”
“well, her daughter just called and she says her mom needs a re-fill on Vicodin”
“hahahaha! Fat chance!”
This is a small town. Everyone knows Mrs. L. and her daugher.
Should they be talking like that? Isn’t there some kind of pharmacist rule about client privacy?
Embarrassing situation, I won’t be back there, that’s for certain.

When patients are seeking early refills or cause problems — even just one time — their name is remembered forever. They, unfortunately, get labeled as a drug seeker or problem patient. Concerning this situation, for all you know Mrs. L could have already called 10 times that morning and her daughter called while you were there.

While the comment was unprofessional, it was intended only for the ears of employees that are all trained in the protection of private health information. That doesn’t make it right, but you know I have to defend my fellow pharmacists to a certain extent.

Anywho, that’s exactly why I do not allow people to lurk around my counter — I FORCE them to go sit down in my little waiting area — out of earshot. If you were at the register, however, picking something up — that is a different story. Comments like that should not be made while someone is at the register or close enough to hear the comment. I’ve had problems with that in the past with some technicians — inappropriate conversation that continued when a patient approached. If we were all alone and no one was in the store, it may be okay to refer to briefly, but if a patient approaches, all talking needs to cease immediately!

Honestly, I would just speak with the manager — discretely — perhaps by phone, and let him/her know what was said, that you think it was inappropriate/unprofessional (or illegal?), and the staff needs to be notified of the fact that their words are heard by more than just the pharmacy staff — and since the comments were negative and contained HIPAA protected information someone could be in big trouble. If you wouldn’t say it in front of that patient, you probably shouldn’t say it at all. While they probably won’t fire or even reprimand anyone, it’d be a good opportunity for some retraining.

What’s really weird about the situation is the fact that it appears the pharmacist (or someone on the pharmacy staff) didn’t even know who Mrs. L is — yet they said “fat chance” about the refill. It’s confusing because people can have refills on pain medicine — and some people take it consistently for many many years w/o issues. Why the person would act like “fat chance we don’t refill that drug” on a medicine that can be refilled is weird.

Some medicines (in the C-II class) aren’t allowed to have refills. These are meds like Percocet, Oxycontin, Adderall, Ritalin, et al. Maybe they said one of these and the employees realized she couldn’t have a refill and maybe you misunderstood the drug name?

I’d still call the pharmacy…

Well, what do you all think? What’s the potential for this situation to go REALLY sour? Anyone ever had this bite them in the ass?

Busting a fraudulent script — UPDATED

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as Drug Seekers, Laws, Management, Me being a dick, Stupid People, Work Sucks

Every pharmacist has been in a situation before where they have considered calling the police on a person trying to pass off a fraudulent prescription. Some pharmacists pass the buck and merely give it back to the patient rather than deal with it. Others are pretty gung-ho and do their best to see the person into the waiting arms of the authorities. I kinda go back and forth. It’s a case by case basis.

I recently got an email from someone giving out tips on how to ensure pharmacists have the best chance of busting the scam-artist. It all makes complete sense, but it may not be things that we would think of in the spur of the moment.

I’ve reposted the “scenarios” below with the permission of the author, but I have edited them somewhat to make them more clear/applicable. My thanks go out to the author — Michelle.

-=+=-

Suggestion 1: Someone brings in a fake prescription. After they leave, you call the doctor and verify that this is a fake prescription. The office confirms that it is fraudulent, altered, or illegal for whatever reason and instruct you to not fill it and have the person arrested. So, you call the police, and they tell you to notify them when the person arrives and stall the scammer when they come in to pick it up. You wait…they show up. Here’s a tip…tell your employees that when the customer walks into the store and announces their name, NOT TO STARE AT HIM LIKE HE HAS THE PLAGUE!! Your behavior gives you, and your intentions, away. Scammers will pick up on this — noticing the attention and bolt.

Suggestion 2: The patient will call you to see if their prescription is ready. All fake scripts will be called on by the scammer first to “test the waters” depending on your (or your tech’s) response here dictates whether they ever come in. DO NOT ASK “What exact time will you be here?” RED FLAG. Under normal circumstances, you wouldn’t care what  exact time it was picked it up. If you ask, the person will know that the police will be there to meet them, and he/she won’t show up. This will remove the gratification you so desperately need to see the person leave your pharmacy in handcuffs.

Suggestion 3: Don’t tell them over the phone that they shouldn’t use the drive-thru. Scammers know it is easier for you to arrest them in the store, so when you tell them “Uhhhh, just come in the store, something is wrong with our drive-thru,” or “We need you to come in the store to sign something,” they will know you are lying, and they won’t show up. Another thing about this that will backfire is when they do show up and the supposedly broke drive-thru is full of customers.

Suggestion 4: For the purpose of this suggestion, we’ll call our prescription forger “Sally Smith.” If you work in a big chain, you have lots of customers. They know this — that’s why they frequent the busiest stores. You cannot possibly know all your patients by name immediately. So, let says “Sally Smith” walks into your Walgreen’s at 11:00am with a fake prescription for Xanax. She gives it to you and leaves. You call and verify that it is indeed a fake prescription. You alert all of your employees that when Sally Smith comes back in they are to call the police. You and your employees anxiously await Sally’s arrival. “Did Sally show up yet?” “Watch for Sally to some in!” Well, Sally has been at this for awhile and before showing up, she decides to call you and see how you react on the phone, most often zealous pharmacists give themselves away when trying to get someone arrested. Its 3:00pm. Sally calls “Hello, my name is Sally Smith. Is my Xanax prescription ready yet?” If the pharmacist immediately responds with “Um, YES! It is ready!” She immediately knows the jig is up because you knew who she was without checking the Will-Call-Bin or the computer system. What you should say is, “ Sally who? What’s your birthday? Okay. Hold on. Let me check…..When did you drop it off? Oh, yes, Sally, yea that’s ready for you.” This is much more believable. If they sense anything, they just won’t come in — they can just forge another one and drop it off somewhere else.

Suggestion 5: Someone comes in with a prescription that you suspect is xeroxed. Medicare/Medicaid is slowly rolling out measures to counteract forging of prescriptions like watermarks, heat sensitive ink, and separate pads for controlled drugs. Anyway, you think its copied/altered. The customer gives you or your technician the prescription and leaves the counter but walks around the store pretending to be shopping. If you, as the pharmacist, are going to hold the prescription up in the air under a light like its evidence from a murder scene to see if it is copied, here is a tip, go somewhere where the customer cannot see you do this! They will be watching/waiting. If they see this followed by you grabbing the phone in an adulterous rage, they are going to bolt. In addition, go somewhere out of the pharmacy and call on the Rx. The patient might hear their name or see you say their name and assume you are going to find out it’s fraudulent…and bolt.

Suggestion 6: If someone comes in late at night to fill a controlled substance, right before closing time, there is a reason. They know you cannot contact the doctor at that hour and you just want to go home so some pharmacists will just fill the prescription as is. Some pharmacists may decide to not fill it until they can call tomorrow and verify it. Just tell them that rather than give them the drugs or lie to them. And definitely don’t blatantly lie to them by saying something like, “The pharmacist-in-charge already left for the night and took the narcotic key with them. I can’t fill anything until she gets back tomorrow morning at 9am. You can come back then.” These types of people have usually worked in a pharmacy or are very familiar with pharmacy workflow due to the frequency of their pharmacy visits. They will know that every pharmacist has access to the narcotic cabinet and just because one pharmacist leaves does not mean that narcotics cannot be filled — how retarded does that sound? Turning away all prescriptions…yeah right! Assuming they are ignorant of the ins and outs of pharmacy is wrong, and it will keep you from catching them and seeing them punished for their crime(s).

-=+=-

The readers of this post are going to have varying degrees of opinions on this matter. We can all agree that is illegal, and we discourage it. Where we will have differing opinions is on what is done after the prescription has been determined as fraudulent.
1. Some will always call the cops.
2. Some will just tear the script up and tell the patient they know it was fake and tell them to not come back to their store (and make notes in the computer on the patient’s profile).
3. Some will just write fake on it in sharpie and give it back to the patient when they come in.
4. Some will leave the script alone and tell the patient they don’t have the drug and will give the script back to them.
5. Some will call the cops and have them come pick up the fake rx and make no attempt to have the person arrested in their store.
6. Some just fax the Rx to every pharmacy/doctor in their area and then give it back to the person and see what happens when they try and go to the pharmacy down the street.

None of them are wrong, necessarily. I am a big fan of Number 6. It’s really quite humorous to hear the stories from fellow pharmacists when the person continues to peddle a forged Rx to every pharmacy in town, and they ALL know it’s fake in advance.

Some employers refuse to allow their pharmacists to call the authorities or have an arrest made within the store — as it might scar the store’s reputation or bother the other customers/patients. I think this is a punk ass cop out. But, in this case, pharmacists are restricted to numbers 2, 3, 4, and/or 6.

So, what’s the right way to handle the situation? What do you do? What have you done in the past? I realize that stories are sometimes pertinent to show what you have done in the past, but try and keep them short and to the point.

UPDATE!!!

Read the Fraudulent Prescription Writing Guidebook at:
http://deadword.com/site/stripmall/hogshire2/bottom.html
If we know the rules and tricks they pull, we can counter them.

Weirdest Fake Scripts EVER

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as Doctors, Drug Seekers, Me being a dick, Polls, Stupid People, True Story, Work Sucks

As you might have noticed, there’s been a new poll up for the last few days. It replaced the PRESIDENCY POLL — which makes me think that The Angry Pharmacist and I should throw our hats in the 2008 Presidential election for the Libertarian Party. I’m sure we’d do a little better than Bob Barr and his Pedo Smile and creepy mustache. The final tally on the presidential poll was 41% (75 Votes) Obama/Biden - 33% (61 Votes) Angry/Angriest — 26% (48 votes) McCain/Palin. I think the Democratic swing on the side is due to the high salaries of readers — mostly pharmacists. Any more analysis than that, we’ll leave to the DrugMonkey.

So, the poll was over Fake Scripts — either phoned in and caught or brought in and easily identified. We’ve all seen a #20 from an ER Doc magically turning into #200. As if that’s not easy to bust. We’ve seen script pads stolen. I’ve even seen a crack head bring in a fake Rx for Vicodeen (spelled like that) on a Wendy’s napkin. Most of the time, their busted on nomenclature, getting greedy and writing for an exhorbant quantity, or having problems in the past and getting the old *VERIFY CONTROLS* written as their middle name.

I recently had a very original fake script come in. It was for a duo of people that I’ve had problems with in the past getting early refills, but I did not know they were in cahoots. The first was on my radar for early refills and multiple ER visits. The second was on my radar for early fills and being a bitch when she dropped her vicodin in the toilet, and I refused to give a shit.

NOTE: THESE PATIENT NAMES AND DOCTOR NAMES ARE MADE UP. The real patient and doctor names made sense — they were real people, in the computer, and the doctor was one that the patients had each seen before. Hence why I was able to call the doctor’s office to verify the scripts — I can’t believe I have to explain that…retards have learned how to use the internet apparently.

The first script came in on the voicemail at around 10am:
Missy Elliott (DOB 7-1-71)
Metronidazole 500mg po BID x7d #qs
Vagifem 25mcg 1 PV hs #36
Dr. Kobe Bryant (555-1234) [Roberta on Voicemail]

While this didn’t immediately set off any alarms, I thought the Vagifem quantity was a little high. I looked up the dosing and saw that it was once daily for 2 weeks then one bi-weekly. So, that is a 90 day supply. Her insurance paid adjudicated, so I didn’t really care.

The second script came in on the voicemail at around 11am:
Vanessa Hudgens (DOB 12-14-88)
Metronidazole 750mg po daily for 21 days.
Dr. Kobe Bryant (555-1234) [Roberta on Voicemail]

That one didn’t really set off the alarm, but I did call to confirm. I’d never seen oral Metronidazole used like that for such a long period of time. Ten days is usually sufficient. Some bugs require TID dosing of the 750mg tabs, but 21 days? I decided to call and have them double check with the doc. I had no intentions of caring about the first script — just the second. The first was already filled sitting in the bin.

So, I called and they looked and looked and found no record of that patient being seen since September 2007. They also had no nurse or receptionist working there by the name of Roberta (or anything similar). Now, my bullshit meter was on high alert. I immediately grabbed the other script and had them look up that patient. She had NEVER been seen by that office. They searched their computer both patients by name and birthdate.

The Drug Seekers have evolved. Rather than start out with the nuts, they shot for some antibiotics — to get it in their profile that they had seen that specific doctor who phone in an Rx for them, filled it, and picked it up. Busted, bitches! They were testing us — to see if they could sneak that by us. I’d bet my house that a Norco script was going to be called in later that week.

So, I alerted that office of the names/birthdays of these bitches. I also put a note in their profile that they are not allowed to have controlled meds filled at my pharmacy. The office staff was going to mass-fax every doctor and pharmacy in the area alerting them to this shit.

Let’s see those bitches get a controlled script filled in this town again without it being scrutinized, verified, and checked arduously by the techs and pharmacists.

As a follow up, I called both patients with the numbers I had on file, and as I expected, both were disconnected.