Hate-mail…sorta

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as Hate Mail, Me being a dick, My nose itches

Well, it took much longer than expected, but I finally got some hate mail! Well, it wasn’t necessarily hate mail, as much as it was some idiot douchebag sending in a rude comment. I’m so happy - I’m touching lives!

Hey angriest pharmacist guy. To reply to one of your earliest questions, you do not have a fan club because you are what’s called a “biter”. Are you in some way related to theangrypharmact? To me, you are like those people on state who come in and say “I don’t want the generic metronidazole, I know the state for brand”. The drug would work the same, you just think your better than everyone else so you get the brand. Have a great life. ~John

Very clever, using a colloquialism and all. You must have graduated high school! You obviously didn’t get much further, judging by the AIM.com email address…It’s 2007, not 1999, John. Get a god damn real email address already!

No, I’m not related to the AngryPharmacist. I don’t know him. I’ve never even exchanged pleasantries with him. I did happen upon his site and loved it…so, I semi-jacked the name. If you read both, you’d know that our content is quite different, as is our writing style. God forbid two different entities start up similar ’services’ about/providing the same thing. Damn you Coke and Pepsi. Piss off MSN and CNN. Go to hell Cingular, Verizon, Sprint, and US Cellular.

I don’t quite understand your metaphor…probably because it doesn’t apply, but mostly because it uses such poor English it’s really fucking hard to understand. I guess you’re saying I think I’m better than everyone else, but in the prior sentence you called me a copy cat. Contradictions run rampant! Ya know, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. BTW, Flagyl is like $130 for 30 tablets…no one even carries it…:-)

I suppose I could change my name to DrugCzar, DrugDiggler, or BenitoDruggolini, but I think TheAngriestPharmacist is easy to remember. Plus, I already forked over the 8 bucks for the domain name. I also bought TheAngrierPharmacist.com - so don’t get any ideas.

Anywho, I applaud your attempt at a burn, failed as it is…

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Another pet peeve of mine…

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as True Story, Work Sucks

I turned away a C-II script today. Why, you ask? Because it was for Oxycontin 120mg. In case you aren’t completely savvy, Oxy doesn’t come in that strength. The highest it comes in is 80mg. The patient just told me to triple it and fill it with 40s. Riiight…I know that’s well within the realm of what we can do - with physician approval, but I doubt I’d get a doctor on the line on Sunday evening at 5pm…before Labor Day!

EDIT: It comes in 160mg - I was wrong! I’ve never carried it ay my store. Thanks, Jaded Intern…:-)

-=+=-

Okay, so back to my pet peeve - I think it’s my most major one of all…Stock bottles lying around. I fucking hate it. I want them put away immediately after they are checked — Not after you count another few orders, not after you take a piss, not after you take a few drinks of Mountain Dew…NOW!

It is merely another medium for a mistake to happen. I know some pharmacists don’t care. Put them up at the end of the shift. But, I want it done immediately. It bothers me, and I am the king of my own domain.

When I arrive for a shift and the counter is littered with bottles, I do absolutely NOTHING until I’ve put all the bottles away. It’s my way of making a point and hopefully paving the way for change. It hasn’t yet done shit…but maybe someday…maybe…

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Okay, why in the hell don’t I have a fan club?

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as Stupid People, True Story, Work Sucks

Someone get on that…:-)

Anyway, here’s the new story:

Schmuck #1 comes in and hands me a bottle requesting a refill for his wife’s Risperdal 0.5mg. I told him around 15 minutes. He comes back with, get this shit, “Fill it with 0.25mg this time.” Whaaaa? I told him that wasn’t how things worked…we can’t just change a prescription all willy-nilly. Then he told me to call her doctor and ask for the change. I told the schmuck that the doctor would think I was looney if I did that without reason. What is the reason?

“Well, her hallucinations have doubled, she’s throwing up a lot, and I think she had a seizure”

Are you fucking kidding me? It’s not time to reduce the dose. It’s time for the emergency room and a psych ward…

Whoa…

-=+=-

Broke 200 today. First time ever. Big shit huh? It was me and a two techs…one at a time. One left as the other came in…Twelve hours of complete psycho hell…

Still yet…200? Big shit right? Look at the lower right hand corner of your screen. Notice the day of the week…yeah…NOT MONDAY. I doubled my usual volume on a fucking Wednesday…

Whoa…

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No, that was *not* your question…

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as Lazy People, Stupid People, True Story, Work Sucks

“La Pharmacia, this is TheAngriestPharmacist. How can I help you?”

“Yes, I had a question.” [Yes is not the answer to the question I asked]

“Alright, go right ahead…”

“What is Paroxetine for?”

“Well, it’s actually approved for lots of different things. It’s mainly used for depression, but it can also be used for generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even obcessive compulsive disorder…”

“I see…is it the generic for Paxil?”

“Yes, ma’am, it is…”

“Okay, that was my question…Thanks!”

*Click*

No, that was not your question. The problem here is that people are so poor at communicating what they actually want an mean, they immediately pretend like it was YOU who was not effectively answering their question or communicating with them. Should I have answered the question, “What is Paroxetine for?” with “It’s the generic for Paxil,” this lady would have called me retarded and told me that was not what she asked. Then she would have asked what it were for — and THAT would have been her question!

Freaking crap…

-=+=-

The following jobs must be done daily at my pharmacy: Put away the order, take out the trash, put the HIPAA trash where it needs to be, Return Scripts to stock that are older than 7 days (call the patient if they are a regular), attempt to rectify any outstanding “problems” from the day/previous day, call the doctors that have overnight voicemails to get them out of the way, vacuum, package and put stamps on any Rxs we mail out, sanitize the trays and counters, refill all bottles and lids, label the day’s prescriptions, and make the pharmacist smile at least once with an anecdote.

That list is hanging in my pharmacy (mine is verbatim). My question is, why in the hell does none of that shit ever get done? My tech help is limited, and I can admit we are a little understaffed. But, why am I the only person willing to hang out a few minutes after or come in a few minutes early to insure they get done — it only makes the day run smoother and more efficiently. Not only am I the only person willing to do it, I’m the only person that cares if it even gets done…especially the important shit.

Anyone else have a pharmacy that isn’t efficient because the little stuff isn’t done in a timely fashion?

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Transient People or Societal Degradation?

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as PSE, True Story, Vacation, Work Sucks

Maybe it means the profession has grown where everyone trusts every pharmacist (and pharmacy) fully, or maybe it means our society has degraded into a transient grouping of people with no urge to support a single pharmacy or better their healthcare experience by staying true to a single pharmacy or pharmacist, but today, I encountered something that lies somewhere in the middle.

I received a bottle for a script from some small town outside of Indianapolis. Not such a weird occurance. I’m pretty near to a major interstate. Here’s where it gets silly. The script was written by a doctor in Atlanta, Georgia. The first fill was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where it was subsequently transferred to the store in Indiana. The man lives in Iowa. Maybe he’s a truck driver? I don’t know, but he used three different chains in all.

Of course, it was for Viagra, and he wanted only one tablet. Again, not that weird, but we’re talking several thousands of miles between all the different pharmacies.

Is there anyone that is a diehard Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, or Costco customer anymore? Even if they end up somewhere else, they still go to that pharmacy? I don’t know anymore.

What does it mean? Someone explain it to me…

-=+=-

Why does someone want to buy 96 tablets of 30-mg Pseudoephedrine before they go on vacation? I got that today and was perplexed. You’re gonna be gone for 7 days, and you think you’re going to take 13 tablets of PSE per day? C’mon! I don’t even take that much in a year.

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