Funniest encounters at a Pharmacy

[akaykay]

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at our pharmacy, we once had a guy come in and ask the pharmacist, in private, if there were any morning after birth control pills for men. 🙁


do you guys have any stupid comments/funny encounters to add?

 

[MindOverMatter]

One of our techs was talking to a man in the drive-thru, which means she was using the phone receiver to speak through the glass.

Our system is notororiously horrible in its function, and made even worse when the car's engine is loud. Such was the case with this man. Anyways, the tech asked twice for him to repeat his last name, when the guy yelled

"you could ****ing hear me if you'd get off the damn phone!"

 

[Requiem]

"you could ****ing hear me if you'd get off the damn phone!"

What a surprise! I'm appauled! A drive through is such a professional environment!

 

[MindOverMatter]

What a surprise! I'm appauled! A drive through is such a professional environment!

It is a glass pane of invincibility, that drive-thru window.

 

[JerryPharmD]

From a young female: "Can I still have sex when I take the sugar pills?" [of a 28 day combined oral contraceptive]

I feel more sorrow than humor, but it was an interesting moment nonetheless.

 

[PharmDstudent]

From a young female: "Can I still have sex when I take the sugar pills?" [of a 28 day combined oral contraceptive]

I feel more sorrow than humor, but it was an interesting moment nonetheless.

It would have been funny if you had said, "It's birth control, not sex control."

 

[JerryPharmD]

Some guy had 3 meds that were $1.00 each and they were supposed to be free. He actually called the pharmacist a f***ing motherf***er several times. 😱

 

[no-see-um]

I once had an irate customer who was like, "Last month my medicine said '3 refills' now it says '2 refills' this month! What kind of pharmacy are you running here?! It should say 3 refills each month! This is fraud!!"

So, I had to explain subtraction and what a refill actually means.... "IT DOESN'T STAY THE SAME, it goes down by 1's!!"

I still don't think I totally convinced him. He looked at me like I was a shyster or somethin...

I also had a guy who couldn't hear too well - a very old man in his 80's. I was like- "It'll be about 15 minutes", then the guy's like, "WHAT?! WHAT DID U SAY?! 10?!" Me: No, FIFTEEN, FIF-TEEN. Customer: WHAA? 10?!?! So I was like, "FINE 10!". (It probably killed 5 minutes just arguing the issue). Guy was like, "THANKS YOUNG MAN!" And another customer waiting was like, "I shoulda used that trick!".

 

[Quiksilver]

the topping on the cake is the lady who bought the Alli OTC starter kit via drive-thru. Way to go, fat-so, can't even get out of the car for a pill that requires exercise. This story never gets old.

 

[McZyprexalynn]

There are so many... I have two just from today.

First, I answer the phone (and keep in mind that a person has to navigate through the automated system) "Walgreens pharmacy, blah, blah, blah." The man on the other end proceeds to say "Is this CVS?"

This isn't exactly pharmacy related, but the pharmacist was ringing up and counseling this guy. The guy proceeds to ask "You know that coffee shop next door? Can you buy just a cup of a coffee there?" Imagine that. Coffee at a coffee shop.

We have a guy who will only let us fill Toprol XL brand name in the unit dose packaging, because "how do you know that it wasn't cooked up in the back of a car if it comes in a bottle?" For some reason, that seems to be the only one of his meds he cares about though.

I also had a guy request that we order back the round Finasteride for him because there was a "noticeable difference" when he switched. So I look up the NDC that he got before and order it for him. Apparently Teva makes Finasteride in both oblong and round tablets - same color, nearly identical bottles. We had given him the oblong Teva tablets the time before. He was taking 1/4 tablet and a younger guy, so I'm guessing it was for hair loss. I'm not sure how he determined his "noticeable difference" but some people aren't worth arguing with.

 

[Mags]

dont know if i mentioned this one but:
someone pulls into our drive thru
"wheres the nearest walgreens" (we're not one, funny thing is theres one literally 100 feet from us"

youre already here lady, why dont you stay.. hehe

the other day on our telemonster.. i had the strangest message:
"Hey yah, so I sent this guy Dee, in to buy some diet pepsi. I wanted him to get two twelve packs. They's supposed to be 2.79 each, but theys 4.99. But I'm sending him over now. So call me"

no name, no phone number, no id on tele.
had us rolling. he punched all the way thru to the doctors line and left that? hehe

 

[Old Timer]

This is the best pharmacy story of all time and this is 100% true. This takes place in a small independent pharmacy on South Street in Philadelphia. South St. is a little unusual.

9PM Friday: We closed the store to remodel. At 9PM we emptied the stock into the basement and using sledge hammers and chain saws, removed all of the fixtures from the building. We also removed the carpeting. When we were done, there were cinder block walls and a concrete floor.

9AM Saturday: The carpet installer came in and installed wall to wall carpet. Not the cheap industrial stuff, high quality carpet.

4PM Saturday: The fixture people come in and install all new state of the art fixtures.

11PM Saturday:The employees and the wholesaler's staff start re-stocking the shelves.

3AM Monday: Mission accomplished. The store looks like it's brand new. It is packed with merchandise.

9AM Monday: The Store reopens.

11AM Monday: In walks a 6' tall African American male. He is wearing a black leotard, black tights and a red cape. He is striding towards the pharmacy with enough speed to cause the cape to flap. He approaches the pharmacist and asks:

Is all you have in the store is bubblegum?

The pharmacist must now decide whether it is in his best interest to actually answer the question truthfully. He responds to the patron that all we have is bubblegum. The man turns and strides out of the store with his cape waving behind him.

This is a 100% true story, believe it or not.....
​

 

[MountainPharmD]

One of my favorites is, Me: "Hi this is blah blah blah pharmacy how can I help you?" Customer: "Oh hi! Are you open today?". Only through superior will power have I resisted the urge to reply with one of the thosaund smart a$$ comebacks that pop into my head.

Another one of my favorites, usually happens when I have 1000 things going on and no time for anything Tech: "Pharmacists call on line one." ME: (stopping to answer the phone when I have 10 waiters and 5 people waiting to be counseled.) "Hello this is the pharmacist how can I help you." Customer: "oh yes is this the druggest, I would like to get my atenolol refilled the number is 6660666." ME: ARRRGGGGGGGGGG

 

[Jbuprepharm]

There are so many... I have two just from today.

First, I answer the phone (and keep in mind that a person has to navigate through the automated system) "Walgreens pharmacy, blah, blah, blah." The man on the other end proceeds to say "Is this CVS?"

lol, and similarly, I work at a CVS, and there's a Walgreens maaaybe a whole mile from us, and this guy comes through the drive through, insisting that his wife has filled with us before, and when I tell him that she's not in the computer he realizes he's at a CVS and asks "is CVS the same thing as Walgreens?"

*sigh*

 

[JerryPharmD]

One of my favorites is, Me: "Hi this is blah blah blah pharmacy how can I help you?" Customer: "Oh hi! Are you open today?". Only through superior will power have I resisted the urge to reply with one of the thosaund smart a$$ comebacks that pop into my head.

Along the same line (this has happened more at least 2-3 times):

We get a call on Saturday around noon
Patient: What time do you close today?
Me: Nine o'clock
Patient: AM or PM?
Me: Well, we're not staying open all night and it's 12:15 PM, so that would be 9 PM.
Patient: Okay, thanks.

They haven't called me out yet for being a wiseass on this.

Another guy calls about once every couple weeks with stupid questions. He has prostate problems and told me in gory detail how his doctor examined him several times. I felt sooo dirty after hanging up.

 

[McZyprexalynn]

lol, and similarly, I work at a CVS, and there's a Walgreens maaaybe a whole mile from us, and this guy comes through the drive through, insisting that his wife has filled with us before, and when I tell him that she's not in the computer he realizes he's at a CVS and asks "is CVS the same thing as Walgreens?"

*sigh*

The best part is that there are no CVS pharmacies in this state.

I work at a 24 hour pharmacy. The first thing the automated system says is "Thank you for calling your 24 hour Walgreens." It seems like about once a day, someone asks "how late are you open?" "We're open 24 hours." And no one ever just says "oh, ok." The response is always "even in the pharmacy?" or "even in the rest of the store?" or "the drive thru too?" or "so if I come in at 11pm I can have a prescription filled?" I blame this on the Kinkos next door who used to have a sign up that said Open 24 hours, but they were only open overnight Monday through Thursday nights.

 

[MindOverMatter]

Had a guy a few weeks ago come through the drive-thru to pick up his Chantix continuing pack while smoking. He kept telling me how good it works too.

 

[pharmdog22f]

I counseled a woman on metronidazole vaginal gel. When I asked her if she had any questions she asked "Can I have sex with it?" I told her to try to seperate her she prob shouldnt have sex right after applying the gel because sex may remove the gel from the area it needs to treat. (I was also thinking she prob has a STD and shouldnt be having sex). She said thank you. As I walked away she said "by the way....Your a real cutie!" True story!

ALSO,


I enjoy the people that refuse to have metoprolol XL they only want Toprol XL because they never get generic. At this point I open their profile and name about a half dozen meds they are on and the only brand that I name is their ToprolXl so then they decide to try the generic.

 

[pion]

I counseled a woman on metronidazole vaginal gel.

That is SO funny you posted this. I came to post the following interaction, which happened tonight when a woman was being counseled on metronidazole vaginal gel:

Pt: Is it harmful if you eat it?
RPH: Um...why would you ever eat it?
Pt: Oh, my boyfriend is coming over tonight.

I should add that she was NOT an attractive woman.

 

[Jeddevil]

Pt: Is it harmful if you eat it?
RPH: Um...why would you ever eat it?
Pt: Oh, my boyfriend is coming over tonight.

I should add that she was NOT an attractive woman.

Thanks for that. I totally just threw up a bit in my mouth. 👎

 

[pharmtard]

Okay, that's disgusting.

A few days ago a new med assistant called in a new prescription. How do I know she was new?
Metformin 500mg "take at 2AM and 2PM"
And that's why I prefer they just read 2QAM and 2QPM without trying to interpret.

 

[OUTexan]

We had a lady call the other day wanting the pharmacist to write a letter for her because she had taken Histussin-HC and a positive drug report showed up to her employer. She got this cough syrup in December and decided to call asking for this the 1st of September. She said she had a little cough a few days before the drug test and that is the reason it was positive. The pharmacist denied her claim saying it goes against everything he stands for. He isn't there to help people beat a drug test.

You might vouch for a lady who was a solid customer, but when the lady has only filled at your store once (8 months ago), you kinda raise an eyebrow.

 

[ajh88]

People often come to our store to pick up their meds and we don't have anything ready for them. About 95% of the time, they have called their refill in to a different location, but say "I thought I could pick it up at any store." Yes, because every Wal-Mart in the county fills your prescription when you call it in to the original store. 🙄

We actually had a woman get so enraged that we didn't have her medication ready one night she cursed the pharmacist out (all the while insisting she dropped it off at our store to a gray-haired male pharmacist) - we calmly tried to explain that both of our pharmacists are female, but she was convinced she was right.

 

[no-see-um]

People often come to our store to pick up their meds and we don't have anything ready for them. About 95% of the time, they have called their refill in to a different location, but say "I thought I could pick it up at any store." Yes, because every Wal-Mart in the county fills your prescription when you call it in to the original store. 🙄

Well many patients have no idea how the medication gets to the counter, all they want is for the medication to be there when they get there. I had a prescription the other day handed over to me for a compound and the lady was like, 'why 15 minutes? don't you just take the pills off the shelf?'. First of all, it was a COMPOUND. So I explained the whole process- pharmacy 101. We have an entry step, where a technician enters the Rx into the computer, blah blah blah, THEN USUALLY we throw the 'pills' in the bottle and dispense after it's paid for and we checked it for interactions. But in YOUR case, I'm going to have to crack 'em open and make a liquid supension! 👍

We actually had a woman get so enraged that we didn't have her medication ready one night she cursed the pharmacist out (all the while insisting she dropped it off at our store to a gray-haired male pharmacist) - we calmly tried to explain that both of our pharmacists are female, but she was convinced she was right.

I wonder what the medication was... (psychotropic?)

 

[dgroulx]

We have a patient who won't take Teva generics because "the Israeli's really import their drugs from China and everyone knows that products from China have poison in them."

I also check the comments on a patient to look for any specific requests. Some only want 30 dram bottles, some want their pills double counted, etc. This week I found one that read "wants Bran on their Oxycontin". I felt like going out to the cereal aisle to complete their request.

 

[SpirivaSunrise]

Sometime during my first week or two at work:

Lady: Hi, I'm here to pick up
Me: No problem, what's the last name
Lady: Jane Doe
Me: Looks through the bins, can't find it. Looks through stack of unfilled, can't find it. Computer...she's not even in there. Are you sure you dropped it off here?
Lady: No, but my husband did. He told me it would be ready in an hour.
Me: Hmmm...trying to figure out how on Earth we misplaced her Rx
Lady: This is the photo department isn't it?
Me: 🙄 No....this is the...pharmacy
Lady: Oh! Well, then what are those bins you were looking through with the letters on them?!

 

[Jeddevil]

I had a lady ask me a strange question this week. She said her doc wanted her to pee in a cup to check to see if she is passing stones. He had given her this small cup. She said she was peeing all over her hands and wondered if I had any ideas on what she could do.

I told her to use a bigger cup. 😱 She thought that was a great idea.

 

[MountainPharmD]

I always wonder what makes people lose their minds when they get to the pharmacy. I am giving them something they are directly going to put into their bodies. You would think they would want to me to take whatever time I need to get it exactly correct and make sure there are no problems.

How many people yell at their doctor right before surgery? "Hey doc you sorry SOB why is this taking so long? All you have to do is cut me open real quick and sew me up. Hurry up! I have an appointment and I have been here all morning waiting. You poeple are incompetent I want to speak to the hospial manager....blah blah blah."

I was talking with one of my techs and we thought a good money making invention would be a customer camera. We would vidoe tape all customer interactions and save the really idiotic customers. We would compile them and sell them and make millions!!!

When someone is chewing my butt I wonder if they saw a video of themselves later how stupid they would feel.

 

[no-see-um]

Sometime during my first week or two at work:

Lady: Hi, I'm here to pick up
Me: No problem, what's the last name
Lady: Jane Doe
Me: Looks through the bins, can't find it. Looks through stack of unfilled, can't find it. Computer...she's not even in there. Are you sure you dropped it off here?
Lady: No, but my husband did. He told me it would be ready in an hour.
Me: Hmmm...trying to figure out how on Earth we misplaced her Rx
Lady: This is the photo department isn't it?
Me: 🙄 No....this is the...pharmacy
Lady: Oh! Well, then what are those bins you were looking through with the letters on them?!

I guess everyone wears labcoats and has a bunch of medication bottles behind em in a photo developing area...

 

[no-see-um]

I am giving them something they are directly going to put into their bodies.

Some see it as no different from putting a Big Mac and fries into their bodies.

There's very little appreciation for the intracacies involved in what medications do. Tablets are called 'pills', refills are called 'orders', etc and they see medicine as a foodstuff.

 

[Old Timer]

I was talking with one of my techs and we thought a good money making invention would be a customer camera. We would vidoe tape all customer interactions and save the really idiotic customers. We would compile them and sell them and make millions!!!

This is the best idea I have heard in eons. I'll go in on it with you.

When someone is chewing my butt I wonder if they saw a video of themselves later how stupid they would feel.

This is one of the best statements I have heard in a long time. It applies to all of life. If people actually saw how idiotic they act over the most unimportant minor issues they would (mostly) be ashamed of themselves.

 

[Requiem]

Along the same line (this has happened more at least 2-3 times):

We get a call on Saturday around noon
Patient: What time do you close today?
Me: Nine o'clock
Patient: AM or PM?
Me: Well, we're not staying open all night and it's 12:15 PM, so that would be 9 PM.
Patient: Okay, thanks.
.

Tell them there's only two 9 o'clocks in a day, and one's already gone. Then hang up.

 

[Requiem]

This is one of the best statements I have heard in a long time. It applies to all of life. If people actually saw how idiotic they act over the most unimportant minor issues they would (mostly) be ashamed of themselves.

Kinda like saying every new pharmacy grad is unappreciative and ungrateful and needs to experience a 'real crappy job'?

I jest, old timer.

 

[pharmtard]

I had another new nurse the other day. She called in some Phenergan w/ codeine. I asked what amount to dispense. She sounds very confused and asks me "does this come in a 60 ounce?"
So I ask if maybe it's 60ml's and she's like "yeah, that makes way more sense".

I swear you must not have to graduate high school to get those jobs.


Other than that it was the man screaming on his cell phone with his insurance company in our waiting area over his higher copay. I'm pretty sure it was just a non-formulary and he'd never gotten non-formulary before, but he was absolutely enraged as he screamed to the insurance he'd never paid more than $35 for a med and he wasn't about to start and they were darn well gonna cover it.

 

[DrugDealer]

I like the little old people who are baffled by the automated phone system. They really think they are talking to a real person.

THis little old lady came in one day and I couldn't find her scripts anywhere. I asked if this was something her doc was calling in, or if it was just a refill. "oh, they're refills. I called and gave the numbers to some man this morning." I'm like, "Um, there are no men who work here. Are you sure you called this particular CVS?" She knows it was this store, she's been coming here for 10 years, she called and her the numbers to a man! WHy don't I just ask him! I just ask her what the meds are that she's looking for and go ahead and process the refills while she waits. After she leaves, I ask if we had any male floaters or anything that morning, and I'm told no. She thought the male IVR voice was a real person.

Another day, a little old lady calls and tells me she's been typing in her prescription number on the phone for 10 minutes and it won't take it. I ask her what the number is, and she replies L-I-S-I-N-O-P-R-I-L. oh brother.

 

[babietuan323]

Girl walks up to counter holding magnum XLs and asks me "have you ever had any experience with these?"

me: ummmm.... no i'm asian

 

[firefighter9015]

So who knew that there was a black market for neurontin??
I was working one day at a pharmacy and a man calls to get his neurontin transferred from a store in NY. I get the info from the man, and give it over to the pharmacist. She recognizes his name from a pharmalert (a system that alerts pharmacist to people being watched for fradulent prescriptions). The pharmacist calls him back and tells him that we are going to be unable to transfer the prescription. He then continues to call back every 30 minutes, wanting his prescription refilled, each time in a different location. One time he even swore up and down that someone had stolen his name and prescription, yet it was the same voice and he called in on the line that we call out on (meaning that he had saved the number on caller id andcalled it back), and he knew the pharmacist's name, even though he had never talked to her before and she had never mentioned her name in the conversation (she usually answers the phone with "this is the pharmacist how may I help you?".

 

[Gabby Pentin]

Other than that it was the man screaming on his cell phone with his insurance company in our waiting area over his higher copay. I'm pretty sure it was just a non-formulary and he'd never gotten non-formulary before, but he was absolutely enraged as he screamed to the insurance he'd never paid more than $35 for a med and he wasn't about to start and they were darn well gonna cover it.

Hey, at least he called them! I'm forever telling my patients to call their insurance if they don't think their copays are right, but they seem to think that whining about it to me is the better option.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Girl walks up to counter holding magnum XLs and asks me "have you ever had any experience with these?"

me: ummmm.... no i'm asian

 

[bibiancheng]

I had once helped a mid-age puffed hair lady to get through some insurance problem, however in the mid of the conversation when I was explainning the insurance policy to her, she suddenly jumped back to the "confidential line" and started swinging her head vigorously. I wondered what's wrong? and turns out that a 5-cm gecko had just jumped onto her big curly hair!!! She was a loyal customer, but after that incident, I hardly saw her coming back.

 

[DrugDealer]

I had once helped a mid-age puffed hair lady to get through some insurance problem, however in the mid of the conversation when I was explainning the insurance policy to her, she suddenly jumped back to the "confidential line" and started swinging her head vigorously. I wondered what's wrong? and turns out that a 5-cm gecko had just jumped onto her big curly hair!!! She was a loyal customer, but after that incident, I hardly saw her coming back.

Umm, why was there a gecko in the pharmacy?

 

[Farmercyst]

Umm, why was there a gecko in the pharmacy?

Maybe they thought they could save $500 on their Medicare part D by switching to geckos.

 

[museabuse]

"Does two vitamin B6 pills make a B12?"

 

[parabolic]

Over the phone.

Customer: I just picked up a pair of reading glasses at your pharmacy, and I want to know, if the prescription number goes up, does that mean I need higher or lower magnification?

Me: Ma'am, you might want to call an optometrist, those aren't the kind of prescriptions we deal with at the pharmacy.

Customer: But I bought them at your store!

 

[kbv]

i get so many good laughs that i can feel younger by 5 years.

here is my story: (over the phone, ESL speaking customer, tons of Rx labels piling, lines of customers waiting, yelling, disputing)

me: (introducing)
cus.: I gonna give my daughter 1.2 mg but the spoon only has 0.3 and 0.6.
How can i give her the liquid? (very concerned about the right dose)
me: (look up profile)
1. < 2 yrs
2. Dx: shake well and give "---" 1.2 ml (30 mg) twice a day
me: (correct the cus.) you're supposed to give your child 1.2 ml, not 1.2
mg (keep repeating this sentence about 10 times)
cus.: (finally) ok, it's 1.2 ml. But how can I give the medication to her, the
spoon only has 0.3 and 0.6
10 mins passing, I was like "Oh my God, why me?"

me: (take a deep breath, and exhale slowly)
mam, you can give your child 4 times of 0.3 or 2 times of 0.6. Either
way you give her the exact dose.
cus: but it's 0.3 and 0.6 blah blah blah (for 5 min)

I lost myself. I even told her "this is a basic math level", that "this is a basic multiplication".
But I told myself to be more patient, tolerant, b'cause this was for a <2 yrs child.

Finally, the RPh, overhearing our conversation, recognized the patient and told me to inform the cus that her husband, the one picking up the liquid, already got a counseling on how to dose the medication. But guess what, the husband picked up the liquid 4 days ago but the wife just called in now to ask about the dosing.

I learned 2 lessons: being a parent means responsibility and some knowledge, and being a HC professional means ethics, reponsibility, and liability.

What a day!

 

[anteater07]

A mother goes to our drive-thru to pick up birth control for her 16 year old daughter. I told her that we were still waiting for a refill authorization. The mother goes crazy, telling me that someone from CVS called and left a message (she never actually listened to the message and just assumed that the refill was ready). She screams loudly, telling me that it would be my fault, the pharmacist and CVS if her daughter got pregnant! I was ready to give her a pack of condoms...but she drove off before I could grab a box...

 

[DHG]

Do y'all know where I can get a good STURDY bra? I can't ever find one that can hold me up.

The pharmacist and I were like..."huh??" And I think we're both Bs so I don't know why she thought we would know where to get a bra sturdy enough for her gazongas.

😕

We did laugh after she left, tho. 😀 Thank goodness for the crazies, they make life interesting.

 

[nerv12345]

lol, and similarly, I work at a CVS, and there's a Walgreens maaaybe a whole mile from us, and this guy comes through the drive through, insisting that his wife has filled with us before, and when I tell him that she's not in the computer he realizes he's at a CVS and asks "is CVS the same thing as Walgreens?"

*sigh*

out of all of these posts...this one got me the most

PEOPLE ARE SO FREAKING STUPID!!! ahhh