FAQ

Just like your real pharmacist, I have an amazingly good bullshit detector. Mine even works over email. People expect me to believe wild claims like, “The pharmacist refused to fill my prescription for NO REASON!” or “They made me wait for over an hour and many other people came in and left before me. They skipped them over me cause I’m [insert ethnicity or group].” Even if this were true, I cannot help.

Here’s what I would do: Call the pharmacy. First and foremost, DO NOT BE A DICK (http://www.theangriestpharmacist.com/2009/02/12/be-nice/). Ask to politely speak to the pharmacist that filled your prescription or the pharmacist on duty. [Asking to speak to the manager usually puts them on the defensive - you just need a pharmacist]. Ask that pharmacist to explain to you what happened because you don’t understand. Ask questions to ensure that you fully understand the situation. Thank the pharmacist for his time.

If you aren’t happy with his answers, and you weren’t an asshole to him/her, you can then ask for the PHARMACY manager [the STORE manager (http://www.theangriestpharmacist.com/2008/09/24/the-last-day-ill-ever-be-questioned/) cannot help]. This then escalates to the PHARMACY DISTRICT MANAGER.

Do not escalate in hopes that you are going to get free drugs or gift cards. You are just going to get yourself blacklisted (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=blacklisted). It’s also pointless — and one of the reasons healthcare/drug costs are so fucking high.

Finally, in most of these situations, the person tells me they do not trust a pharmacy, pharmacist, or technician. They may give a reason. It is usually stupid. Regardless, **if you do not trust your pharmacy, pharmacist, or technician, you need to find a new fucking pharmacy**. Is that a hard concept to understand? Why do I have to explain this to people? If you are unhappy with the food at a restaurant, do you keep going week after week and just bitch about it to TheRagingServer (http://www.ragingserver.com/)? No, you go somewhere else when you eat out. Find a new pharmacy.

Just like your real pharmacist, I have an amazingly good bullshit detector. Mine even works over email. People expect me to believe wild claims like, “The pharmacist refused to fill my prescription for NO REASON!” or “They made me wait for over an hour and many other people came in and left before me. They skipped them over me cause I’m [insert ethnicity or group].” Even if this were true, I cannot help.

Here’s what I would do: Call the pharmacy. First and foremost, DO NOT BE A DICK (http://www.theangriestpharmacist.com/2009/02/12/be-nice/). Ask to politely speak to the pharmacist that filled your prescription or the pharmacist on duty. [Asking to speak to the manager usually puts them on the defensive - you just need a pharmacist]. Ask that pharmacist to explain to you what happened because you don’t understand. Ask questions to ensure that you fully understand the situation. Thank the pharmacist for his time.

If you aren’t happy with his answers, and you weren’t an asshole to him/her, you can then ask for the PHARMACY manager [the STORE manager (http://www.theangriestpharmacist.com/2008/09/24/the-last-day-ill-ever-be-questioned/) cannot help]. This then escalates to the PHARMACY DISTRICT MANAGER.

Do not escalate in hopes that you are going to get free drugs or gift cards. You are just going to get yourself blacklisted (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=blacklisted). It’s also pointless — and one of the reasons healthcare/drug costs are so fucking high.

Finally, in most of these situations, the person tells me they do not trust a pharmacy, pharmacist, or technician. They may give a reason. It is usually stupid. Regardless, **if you do not trust your pharmacy, pharmacist, or technician, you need to find a new fucking pharmacy**. Is that a hard concept to understand? Why do I have to explain this to people? If you are unhappy with the food at a restaurant, do you keep going week after week and just bitch about it to TheRagingServer (http://www.ragingserver.com/)? No, you go somewhere else when you eat out. Find a new pharmacy.

However, from this point forward, if you send me a link to analyze and raise hell about, I would like you to include your OWN analysis/thoughts. Send me your thoughts — I do care. I won’t rip you apart if you’re wrong or off-base (unless you have some sort of weird slant or agenda, and it’s uber-evident).

If you send me a link without any thoughts or ideas, I’m going to merely direct you to this very spot each time and ask you to resend with some analysis.

Exception: If you use StumbleUpon to send me links, you can’t include much text. This is, however, accepted (and the preferred method in most cases). If you are able to add text, consider sending your thoughts. My STUMBLEUPON Profile (http://theangriestpharm.stumbleupon.com/) — add me as a friend to send me links and stuff via this method.

All this information and more at my disposal, and you ask me what I know as a generality? If there is something you wish to know (that you cannot find via the normal avenues like GOOGLE), I would be more than happy to help. But, I REQUIRE SPECIFICS. Exactly WHAT do you want to know? More importantly, WHY do you want to know this? I answer questions to help people achieve maximum benefit from their drug therapy — this is best achieved when they have all the information they require at their disposal. However, when people merely want this information to “double check” what another pharmacist (see above question about TRUSTING YOUR PHARMACIST) has told them or prove someone else wrong (yes, I have been used to win a bar bet before and it pissed me the hell off), because it wastes my time and benefits no one.

PS – It is OK to ask questions of me for shear enrichment — because you want to learn — just say so. Pharmacy students — you guys might not get as much leeway with this. I’m not gonna do your homework…:-)

Look up who represents you in CONGRESS (http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/). Look up who represents you in your STATE CONGRESS. Write them letters with your ideas and concerns.

I know it’s a thrill when I agree with you (as it should be), I just cannot help you here.