The first Grumpy Pharmacist, and no, 5 minutes isn't too long to wait

Hey everyone, if you really want to see some epic rants about how shitty retail pharmacy is just check out this guy:

http://www.theangrypharmacist.com/

Anyways, I figured I would do a blitzkrieg of posts today, because, well, I want to!

So anyhow, last week I had this wonderful patient in (we are supposed to call them patients and not customers because this is health care afterall) and hand me a prescription with 3 orders... forgive me, I cannot remember what the hell they were, it's not important.

Anyhow, she asks me "How long will that be, I'm in a hurry"

Now before I get into the meat of the is rant I want any of you non-pharmacy staff readers to know that it's not a good idea to start off the whole prescription filling process with this.  You should at least have the courtesy to say hello when we say, "Hi there, how can we help you"

Anyhow, it was a pretty slow afternoon (probably a Thursday, I really don't recall), and it was straight forward so I responded, "About 5 minutes or so".

Lesson #2, do not follow the pharmacist's (or assistant's) response by rolling your eyes, sighing and saying "Oh geez, that long hey" followed by "Well, I wouldn't normally ask you to do it faster but I'm in a hurry" (By the way, she is ALWAYS in a hurry, even though she's retired, which is weird in my eyes).

I am here to say, and I'm sure R can back me up, that "5 minutes" is not long in the world of retail pharmacy.  In my store 15 to 20 minutes is usual, and in some settings it could be 45 minutes.  So to imply that 5 minutes is too long is only giving the entire pharmacy staff a reason to take their sweet ass time filling your ungrateful ass prescription. 

I could have taken the high road (I kind of did) but I told her that in my profession, I would rather be right than fast... I also told her that the pharmacy across the street might be able to do it a little faster (knowing full well she has no file there which means she would have to walk across the street, set up a file, get her insurance set up, have them check the provincial data-base very closely, and the finally fill the prescription) as long as they weren't too busy (and yes, I fully realized it would take them longer than 5 minutes to do that entire process, but it was more like a dare than a suggestion).

Anyhow, I'm off to the local chain coffee shop named after a Hockey Star to wait 20 minutes in line for my coffee.

J