Every got into a fight with customer?

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chobo

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Hello guys,
Just have a story to tell you and want to see if my actions were right.. Critism is appreciated.
So I have been working at a retail pharmacy for 4 months now as a pharm tech and it was a good experience and still is. I first applied to retail because I wanted experience before heading to pharmacy school. At first money wasn't the issue because I was more interested in getting experience. I can tell you from my experience that retail pharmacy is very very stressful but you just have to be positive and try to get through. I work for 9 hours a day with no breaks because our pharmacy is very busy and I would sacrafice my breaks just to finish more prescriptions. Well even though I get paid 7 dollars a hour, im still greatful I have a good pharmacist :). K now for the main story. I an Korean and I have been getting abused by this 1 customer who is about 60 years old for some quite now along with another tech who is African American. Mr Grand Turino comes through drive through and gets pms for no reason.

Grand turino : who the hell are you!!!
Me : Hello sir, can I have you first and last name?
Him : oh bull**** just give me my medication so I can get out here!
Me : I have your medication, I just need to confirm it is yours so I neex your d.o.b.
Him: oh my ****en god where is the pharmicist (white)
Me : sorry about the inconvenience, she s ill come to aid you. Be happy!!

Well this happen two times but yesterday when he did this the third time, I blew up.. One of the pharm techs (black) was having trouble with him so I stepped in. I told him nicely to calm down and I would help him on his way but he told said " ****, not you again let me have my medication and let me get the **** out of here ". I told him to calm down in a nice manner but then he told me I will calm your ass down by pinning you to the ground.... At this point I was getting attacked and had enough of him so I yelled through the intercom to get his racist ass out of here and told him to shut his dirty mouth. He was still hollering and threatened to call the pharmacist so I gladly told him my name :).

So was my actions necessary? This was my first time fighting with a customer. From this experience, I realized that getting paid 7 a hour for this amount of work is bs. The only reason I am staying is because of experience, family like workers, and love working with patients. Well after the fight, the general manager and the pharmacist told me they were witnesses of the incident anx would back me up.. and I got my first 5 min break because they told me to get some fresh air! Lol..

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Nope, you were wrong. You can refuse service and "eject" someone like an adult or you can go into macho fratboy mode.... Not the end of the world, but take a deep breath
 
I would not want to refuse his medication cause im here to treat him, not get abused by him. The main pharmacist and the general manager stated that he will be transferred to a different store.
 
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OP - although corporations only worship profits and probably will fire you, IMO you did the right thing. There comes a time when you don't let yourself be stepped on anymore.

Now for the practical stuff. If the company really insists on firing you, see if you can negotiate a resignation instead. Having the general manager and the pharmacist in your corner will help. The reason is you don't want future employers to find out you were fired from this job as that may affect your job searches down the road.

I speak from experience. Even though I'm a student now, I've worked in the corporate world for 20+ years and have handled my share of personnel problems.
 
As a man you did the right thing. As an employee you did the wrong thing.
 
Thanks for the feedback! I am sure im not going to get fired because I have recieved certificates for excellent customer service and the main pharmacist said he is crazy and that I had the right to tell him to shut his mouth.. the fact that he was calling me a chink, fuker, and threaten to beat me up 3 seperate times along with yelling and cursing over the intercom led me to do what I did. Again thanks for the feedback and more advice is appreciated !
 
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Thanks for the feedback! I am sure im not going to get fired because I have recieved certificates for excellent customer service and the main pharmacist said he is crazy and that I had the right to tell him to shut his mouth.. the fact that he was calling me a chink, fuker, and threaten to beat me up 3 seperate times along with yelling and cursing over the intercom led me to do what I did. Again thanks for the feedback and more advice is appreciated !

Although I think you were justified in telling him off, you ideally could have said "security to the pharmacy" and ended it at that, thus eliminating the risk of poor behavior on your part. However, we've all encountered these kinds of patients (or at least I have), and the best thing to do is calmly refuse service. I volunteer for a suicide hotline, and we are allowed to warn the caller that we will hang up if he/she persists in using abusive language. My 2 cents. Difficult customers are always...well...difficult :p
 
Isn't $7 below minimum wage?

I worked at CVS where there were 3 within a block or two of each other (one 24 hour store, one regular, and one brand new). All the pharmacy techs and pharmacists (except pharmacy managers) would rotate around all the stores. If we had a problem with one customer like that we would transfer there script to another CVS. If it went to all 3 then we would tell them to go to Rite Aid.

One of the pharmacist I worked with would throw vials against the wall making meds fly everywhere and slam phones sometimes breaking them, so we probably didn't have the best system.
 
Isn't $7 below minimum wage?

I worked at CVS where there were 3 within a block or two of each other (one 24 hour store, one regular, and one brand new). All the pharmacy techs and pharmacists (except pharmacy managers) would rotate around all the stores. If we had a problem with one customer like that we would transfer there script to another CVS. If it went to all 3 then we would tell them to go to Rite Aid.

One of the pharmacist I worked with would throw vials against the wall making meds fly everywhere and slam phones sometimes breaking them, so we probably didn't have the best system.

As a volunteer at Rite Aid, hey! Here in Downtown Sacramento, we encounter problems with customers all day long. After a while, you get used to the yelling, the profanity, the lack of manners/patience, and you find that a calm demeanor is the best strategy.
 
As a volunteer at Rite Aid, hey! Here in Downtown Sacramento, we encounter problems with customers all day long. After a while, you get used to the yelling, the profanity, the lack of manners/patience, and you find that a calm demeanor is the best strategy.

Hah not an insult to Rite Aid! But the only other pharmacy was Walmart or super markets and those were a few miles further.
 
Hah not an insult to Rite Aid! But the only other pharmacy was Walmart or super markets and those were a few miles further.

Haha just giving you a hard time :p Out of curiosity, how did you deal with patients who are... well, impatient, or irritable? I've certainly had my fair share of patients yell at me, insult me, etc. I don't, however, think it's a reason to stay away from retail pharmacy (after all, life is full of difficult situations).
 
Ever heard of typo? Typing from my phone. Guess you got nothing to do but troll T.T. stay on topic this is not a spelling b :)
 
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to OP, Every knows grammar? "Every got into a fight with customer"

It's a typo brah. :p

OT - The nerves of some customers these days lol. I'd say you did the right thing on standing up for yourself, but the word choice could have been better. But then again, it's difficult to be professional when someone is attacking you. :eek:
 
Hello guys,
Just have a story to tell you and want to see if my actions were right.. Critism is appreciated.
So I have been working at a retail pharmacy for 4 months now as a pharm tech and it was a good experience and still is. I first applied to retail because I wanted experience before heading to pharmacy school. At first money wasn't the issue because I was more interested in getting experience. I can tell you from my experience that retail pharmacy is very very stressful but you just have to be positive and try to get through. I work for 9 hours a day with no breaks because our pharmacy is very busy and I would sacrafice my breaks just to finish more prescriptions. Well even though I get paid 7 dollars a hour, im still greatful I have a good pharmacist :). K now for the main story. I an Korean and I have been getting abused by this 1 customer who is about 60 years old for some quite now along with another tech who is African American. Mr Grand Turino comes through drive through and gets pms for no reason.

Grand turino : who the hell are you!!!
Me : Hello sir, can I have you first and last name?
Him : oh bull**** just give me my medication so I can get out here!
Me : I have your medication, I just need to confirm it is yours so I neex your d.o.b.
Him: oh my ****en god where is the pharmicist (white)
Me : sorry about the inconvenience, she s ill come to aid you. Be happy!!

Well this happen two times but yesterday when he did this the third time, I blew up.. One of the pharm techs (black) was having trouble with him so I stepped in. I told him nicely to calm down and I would help him on his way but he told said " ****, not you again let me have my medication and let me get the **** out of here ". I told him to calm down in a nice manner but then he told me I will calm your ass down by pinning you to the ground.... At this point I was getting attacked and had enough of him so I yelled through the intercom to get his racist ass out of here and told him to shut his dirty mouth. He was still hollering and threatened to call the pharmacist so I gladly told him my name :).

So was my actions necessary? This was my first time fighting with a customer. From this experience, I realized that getting paid 7 a hour for this amount of work is bs. The only reason I am staying is because of experience, family like workers, and love working with patients. Well after the fight, the general manager and the pharmacist told me they were witnesses of the incident anx would back me up.. and I got my first 5 min break because they told me to get some fresh air! Lol..

It you want more specific criticism, the way you approach your customers is off. It's very impersonal and too static. The elderly are already pretty nervous about being in pharmacies. So by treating him like any other person without any kind of empathy makes your customers a little more stand-offish with you. I'll give you what my dialogue would've looked like.

(Grand turino : who the hell are you!!!) I'm gonna omit this part because if this is the first time you're meeting him and this is his first response, you don't need to bother. Just walk back to production and have someone else handle him.
Me : How are you doing? can I get your last name?
Him : oh bull**** just give me my medication so I can get out here!
Me : I'd like to but I don't know who you are.
(if he still refuses, speak to your pharmacist and have them handle it. 7/hr is not enough for me to stress myself out with dysfunctional individuals)
Me : sorry about the inconvenience, she s ill come to aid you. Be happy!!
(to be honest, you should never be apologizing because they refuse to cooperate. The only times you should be apologizing is if you legit messed up a prescription, typed it in wrong at drop off and now they have to wait longer, whatever YOU did to inconvenience them. If its insurance or something they did, it's not something you can control. And as a male, don't tell another male to be happy either. No western male likes emasculated men.)

I've worked at cvs for 3 years myself and im asian. I've had my share of difficult/racist customers but every tech knows damn well we don't get paid well enough to deal with ****ty customers. That's for the people who make 115k.
 
Yea man thanks :) its hard to keep a straight face when dealing with angry customers. Will watch what I say to next time !
 
OK everyone remember to play nice everyone (and that typos are not really that big of a deal)! ;):laugh:

I am going to go against the grain here and say you did not handle yourself well. If someone is treating you that badly call a manager and let them handle it. It really is not good to "get into it" with a customer. You can't control their actions but you can control your own. :thumbup:

How much you make per hour is hardly relavent IMO, no one should be treated that badly. You could, in a calm, professional tone, tell the patient that they are not permitted to speak like that and tell them to leave. If they don't, call the police. But honestly before it ever gets to that you should just let the manager handle it. :)
 
I would agree that you could and should definitely have better control over your own actions. Don't ever sink to the level of the customer, no matter how rude or out of control they are behaving. Besides, you have to set the example for your technicians once you are a pharmacist!

I once had a customer pick things up off of my counter and begin throwing them at me, and my manager got involved and invited them to leave. They were also being irrational, and there was no reasoning with them, so I did not even try, but I did not return fire, either :p

It might just give them something to think about after they realize that they are not getting a reaction out of you ;)
 
Should have taken a deep breath, told the customer that you would be right back, backed out the prescription and handed the hard copy back to them. We are refusing to serve you because you are threatening us. Goodbye
 
Did the correct thing. The moment he threatens you physically he is out of the store and police are called. No questions asked. I know that is our policy. (I am at a CVS)
 
OK everyone remember to play nice everyone (and that typos are not really that big of a deal)! ;):laugh:

I am going to go against the grain here and say you did not handle yourself well. If someone is treating you that badly call a manager and let them handle it. It really is not good to "get into it" with a customer. You can't control their actions but you can control your own. :thumbup:

How much you make per hour is hardly relavent IMO, no one should be treated that badly. You could, in a calm, professional tone, tell the patient that they are not permitted to speak like that and tell them to leave. If they don't, call the police. But honestly before it ever gets to that you should just let the manager handle it. :)

This

Should have taken a deep breath, told the customer that you would be right back, backed out the prescription and handed the hard copy back to them. We are refusing to serve you because you are threatening us. Goodbye

Or eventually this

Your life will become a lot easier once you can learn not to stoop to other persons levels simply to get the last word in. And this goes beyond the world of pharmacy.
 
well you did hold out for a while before blowing up at the pt. That should count for something. But yeah just make sure that it doesn't happen again. I can't blame you b/c I've had days where I was just not in the mood to deal with the pts abuse. But learn to laugh it off. That makes the pts even more mad. And you are right you don't get paid enough $$ to put up with that sh#$ so call a pharmacist or a manager. They make the big bucks so make them work for it.

Man this makes me miss the pharmacy so much. Sorry I spent the summer in a cold dark room by myself working 18 hrs/a day imaging my cells. So I miss the crazy times in the pharmacy :D
 
Your life will become a lot easier once you can learn not to stoop to other persons levels simply to get the last word in. And this goes beyond the world of pharmacy.

I like that so much I want to frame it and put it on my wall. :laugh:
 
I have always been told that when a pt becomes belligerent or argumentative, the first step is to call a manager. Dealing with dip**** customers is part of their job... and, more importantly, you will have a witness there in case the pt remains ornery, so if they complain about you it's not just a case of he-said-she-said. Of course, if threats of physical harm are involved, simply tell the patient that you will not be servicing them and that they will need to leave or you are calling the cops.

Never really had someone get loud or violent with me. Been threatened with legal action a few times, though.
 
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