Pharmacy prank calls

[crossurfingers]

Has anyone here been a victim? I have a few times. The most notable one being what sounded like two teenagers asking about Viagra. I was youtube surfing and it's more common than I thought.

http://youtu.be/HxwkyKV8PU4

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[Ackj]

Has anyone here been a victim? I have a few times. The most notable one being what sounded like two teenagers asking about Viagra. I was youtube surfing and it's more common than I thought.

http://youtu.be/HxwkyKV8PU4

I've had calls that have been this bizarre, but they were legitimate patients. Also had a tech say "I think this is a prank call" but I saw the caller ID and knew that it was one of our patients who wasn't so great with their English.

Another time had a lady try to call in an rx for percocet with kids crying and dogs barking in the background, using a male doctor's name. When I asked to speak to the doctor, she lowered her voice and said "this is the doctor."

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I get them once or twice a week. None so far have been very good at concealing their prank. And the rate has gone up since school let out and the kiddies are staying up until 3AM. Because I'm bored and typically devoid of human contact, I usually play along. If I can get them to hang up before I do, I consider it a victory. So far I'm like 35-0.

 

[Ackj]

I get them once or twice a week. None so far have been very good at concealing their prank. And the rate has gone up since school let out and the kiddies are staying up until 3AM. Because I'm bored and typically devoid of human contact, I usually play along. If I can get them to hang up before I do, I consider it a victory. So far I'm like 35-0.

What's your defensive strategy? How can you have such a streak against something like the "hello game"?

 

[WVUPharm2007]

What's your defensive strategy? How can you have such a streak against something like the "hello game"?

Depends on the offensive strategy. Which is usually not well thought out.

 

[rph3664]

I once had a giggling girl call up and ask how old you had to be to get birth control pills. I told her, in all seriousness, that there was no age limit as long as she had a prescription, and when she realized I wasn't fazed by this question, hung up. 😛

When I was in school, one of our graduate students told a story about a woman who was calling with a, ahem, personal issue, and she hemmed and hawed, trying to figure out how to describe it, and a man in the background yelled, "Tell them it's in your snatch!" So, that's the word she used. Got her point across, I guess.

 

[eagles22]

I like to call up and tell the pharmacist that I just took a suppository and my stomach is hurting and I can't get the taste out of my mouth.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I like to call up and tell the pharmacist that I just took a suppository and my stomach is hurting and I can't get the taste out of my mouth.

Wow. That's pretty weak.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

Wow. That's pretty weak.

Agree. It also fails at being funny because it's something that might actually happen...

 

[rph3664]

I like to call up and tell the pharmacist that I just took a suppository and my stomach is hurting and I can't get the taste out of my mouth.

This wasn't a prank call, but one evening when I was working retail, a young woman came from the ER with a script for Phenergan suppositories (she was newly pregnant and having a rough time of it) and said, "The doctor says I have to stick these things up my butt." 😳 I replied, "Yes, they are for rectal use." She must have been feeling better, at least temporarily, to have said a thing like that!

 

[eagles22]

Agree. It also fails at being funny because it's something that might actually happen...

That's why it is funny. You can string along a buddy for a good minute or two before breaking the news that it isn't a real call.

 

[Sparda29]

A few weeks after I saw the movie Hot Fuzz, I got a call from a customer who wanted to refill his prescriptions. He said his name was Paul Ivan Staker. I responded the same way Sgt. Angel responded in the movie.

Customer: My name is Paul Ivan Staker.
Me: Yep, Paul Ivan Staker, PI Staker, PISSTAKER!

It turns out it was a real patient also and not a prank call.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcSg6dAZ03w[/YOUTUBE]

 

[rxlea]

The suppository one isn't funny at all... I have heard of some patients swallowing them or putting them in with the wrapper still on. If the patient is counseled correctly, you can totally avoid that. Also, sometimes people don't know the proper names for body parts so I have encountered people saying ***** or **** for vagina or dick/wang for penis. It comes down to health literacy and lots of patients don't have the reading comprehension or understand "health" beyond a 5th grade level. So when patients say "butt" "ass" "snatch" or whatever, it really doesn't phase me. And, acting completely normal when they say things like that, instead of laughing like a school child, makes them feel more comfortable.

As for prank calls, we had them a lot when I worked in the ghetto; mostly little gang bangers thinking it was funny to ask about ribbed condoms, KY Jelly, Viagra, and "itching on their dick/*****" so they could get us to say it. We also had people call up and demand to know how much percocet we had and say that they were coming by with a glock if we didn't have it ready.

 

[Dr Wario]

I had a person call and ask me if we cut out the V's from brand name Valium and if he could have them (still not sure if it was a joke). One of my techs prank called me from inside the store looking for tie-dyed Oxycontin on a busy Monday...I wanted to punch her in the face.

I love my techs 🙂

 

[Dr Wario]

This wasn't a prank call, but one evening when I was working retail, a young woman came from the ER with a script for Phenergan suppositories (she was newly pregnant and having a rough time of it) and said, "The doctor says I have to stick these things up my butt." 😳 I replied, "Yes, they are for rectal use." She must have been feeling better, at least temporarily, to have said a thing like that!

Speaking of suppositories, one of my techs had her day brighten up when a rude customer asked her where he should put them.

 

[rph3664]

I had a person call and ask me if we cut out the V's from brand name Valium and if he could have them (still not sure if it was a joke). One of my techs prank called me from inside the store looking for tie-dyed Oxycontin on a busy Monday...I wanted to punch her in the face.

I love my techs 🙂

Did he also know that you were cutting the "K"s out of brand name Klonopin?

 

[All4MyDaughter]

That's why it is funny. You can string along a buddy for a good minute or two before breaking the news that it isn't a real call.

But's it's not funny. I guess you just don't get that. When calls like that come in, we answer them like professionals and move on. It's not funny... it's dumb. Sorry

 

[owlegrad]

But's it's not funny. I guess you just don't get that. When calls like that come in, we answer them like professionals and move on. It's not funny... it's dumb. Sorry

In general, the person being pranked does not find the prank funny. Although I agree with you, not funny at all.

 

[rph3664]

This wasn't a prank call either, but at my last job, I got a call one Saturday evening from a man who was changing the oil in his motorcycle, and he wasn't familiar with the metric system and wanted to know if CC's and ML's were the same thing.

He guessed (correctly) that all the retail pharmacies in town were closed, and figured there might be a pharmacist at the hospital (also correctly; this hospital has 24-hour pharmacy service) and that we would know the difference.

Another time, one of my friends said that her dad, who lives in a small town about 50 miles away, called her, panic-stricken, at midnight because he thought he took his bedtime meds twice. His town has a critical-access facility, but my friend told him to call the place where I worked, and "this nice lady pharmacist" reassured him that he would be okay even if he took those particular pills twice (IIRC, Zocor and something else). She wondered if he had spoken to me, but no, he had spoken to the overnighter. I let her know that she really reassured him. 😎