I am NOT a criminal, Walgreens.

And I don't appreciate being treated as one.

from JoeUser Forums

I had a bad car accident a few years ago that have left me with permanent nerve damage in my back and legs.  I do well on the medications I'm on right now - one of which is a narcotic - and have been filling my prescriptions at one specific Walgreens near where I work at.

Recently, I tried to refill a prescription - for gabapentin, not for a narcotic - and was asked by the pharmacist who my doctor was.  I said that it was Dr Tabakian's office, but because St Louis University Hospital is a teaching hospital the interns that come through sign the 'scripts.  He said that he had called the doctor (the doctor whos name was on the bottle) and she said she didn't know me and wasn't prepared to refill it for me.  The whole time he's saying this he's got a VERY condescending attitude towards me, and it's getting snottier by the second.  I asked him if he called Dr T's office.  He said he didn't HAVE to.  I said fine, I'll call him - called the clinic on my cell phone, handed the phone over to the pharmacist and waitied to see what happened.  Apparently the pharmacist said that the nurse on the other end would have to call Walgreens and that I'd have to give her the number, handing the phone back to me.  She was a bit irate - as was I- but I gave her the number, she called, and I got my prescription from an even snottier pharmacist.  As I was paying, I told him flat out that I didn't appreciate his attitude towards me.  I'm not a criminal, and I don't like being treated as one.  I'm trying to do the right thing and use the same pharmacy  for ALL my medications; I call and tell them I'm going to be filling my regular 'scripts so can they please order them there so I won't have to run all over town trying to find a phsrmacy who has the meds I need, and guess what they do?  They give them to someone else, and then tell me I have to go elsewhere - and then, when I go back the next month, they treat me like a criminal who's doctor and pharmacy shopping her way around town.

Gah.

It makes me want to leap up on the counter, drop my pants, and show my scars to those snooty cunts who work back there.  Maybe I'll take my x-rays in sometime so they can see that yeah, I'm REALLY TRULY FUCKING HURT.  Maybe then they'll treat me like a normal person the next time I'm there.

I'm trying to do the right fucking thing, yet they treat me like a fucking criminal.

It's fucking bullshit.

misc
5,090 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
I hate that attitude. I mean, it's one thing to be cautious - but it's another thing altogether to be an ass.

Sorry you had to put up with that, K. You should've punched the pharmacist. That would've made you feel better, at the very least.
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
That's awful.   I'm glad you stood your ground and got your prescription filled.  I'm sure if you were doing something wrong they would expect you to slink away quietly.  I would complain.  So what was snotty pharmacist #2's response when you told him you didn't appreciate being treated like a criminal? 
Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top

For a second there I thought this was going to be one of those stories about the receipt nazi's at the doors of businesses that check to see if you are ripping them off.  (Long story, long discussion thread at another site I frequent about people's issues with such things and how going through those 'check points' makes people feel like criminals.)

Anyway, with apologies for the threadjack here, you have my sympathies on the dealings with the pharmacy.  They sound like real winners - NOT!  It really does suck dealing with problems like that, though I can almost, almost, almost see the other side of things where the pharmacy is trying to keep people that shouldn't be getting heavy duty meds from snagging them.  They don't need to cop attitude about it at all, and in fact really need to NOT cop attitude about it, but there are, sadly, those who abuse meds in society (you know some liberal is gonna chime in here with 'Rush Limbaugh') and the pharmacies and doctors are getting extra oversight and scrutiny in our modern times that causes them to harrass their customers.

It would do good to complain to Walgreen's corporate offices though.  Let them know of the problems and attitude and they'll rattle the cages of the locals there and get them to work on their customer service skills.  Check their web site for a contact us type thing and submit your comments that way.  If you are concerned that the locals would take any sort of action against you for your complaints, just keep the comments anonymous and give a real enough fake name when you submit 'em.

Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top

I mean, it's one thing to be cautious - but it's another thing altogether to be an ass

Exactly.

So what was snotty pharmacist #2's response when you told him you didn't appreciate being treated like a criminal?

It was the same pharmacist, and he said that he was sorry I felt like I had been unfairly treated - whch is a bullshit response.  It's not an apology, it's a way of placing the blame back on me.

 

though I can almost, almost, almost see the other side of things where the pharmacy is trying to keep people that shouldn't be getting heavy duty meds from snagging them.

Oh, I can too!  I KNOW that it's a huge issue, and that's why I try to use the same pharmacy every time.   But, when I go in to pick up the meds they've ordered for me, I usually find they gave them to someone else - and they send me to a different place to get my meds.  Then, when I go back the next month to get 'scripts filled, they say 'well, you didn't fill these here last month!  You must be pharmacy shopping!'.  

It's just not fair.

 

It would do good to complain to Walgreen's corporate offices though

I'm going to this time.  It's not just the pharmacist anymore, it's a couple of the techs now too.  Fuck that.

They're also all from the same doctor, and legitimately prescribed for several excruciating conditions, yet the looks and attitude I get are the same as yours, suspicion, presumption, condescention, lots of 'double checking' and questions I always refuse to answer.

My prescriptions are from the same clinic every single time, written on the same yellow and pink and blue headed paper with the same address and the same clinic name on it.  Every. Single. Time.  Like I explained earlier, it's the PHARMACY who's sending me off to other places to get meds because they don't have what I need in stock....then they turn around and look at me like I'm some junkie. 

I understand the need to keep an eye out for people who are filling lots of prescriptions from different places all the time, I really do.  However, you and I get the same medications every month from the same physicians and we (try to) fill them at the same pharmacy.  At what point are we going to be treated like anyone else who usues Walgreens, like normal people who just happen to have legitimate medical issues that require treatment with narcotics? 

Gah.  I swear, the next time that stuck up prick of a pharmacist looks down his abnormally large nose at me I'm gonna grab him by his scrawny neck and......

...nah.  He's not worth going to jail over.  I'd never get into nursing school if I did that.

 

It's enough to make me consider mail order.

Y'know, that's the first thing Dave said when I called him crying after the latest run-in with Asshole The Pharmacist.  I think I'm going to seriously consider it.

Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
So much for those feel-good, "we go the extra mile" commercials Walgreens likes to put out, huh?

That really sucks.

It's almost enough to make me change pharmacies. (But Walgreens is so CONVENIENT. )
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
What sucks is, as I'm sure both you, dharma, and LW know (and probably Gene), a competent pharmacist that you trust can, quite literally, save your life by catching contraindications the doctor doesn't (often because of competing prescriptions from different specialists). When pharmacists make judgment calls like this, it erodes the trust that should exist between the pharmacist and the patient.

This genuinely sucks. Completely so.