But some days it is really, really hard not to. It's almost as if there is an invisible "Stupid" energy force in the universe, and it's like it has its own gravitational pull that starts in the pharmacy and pulls them in...like a pharmacy black hole, sucking in all the Stupid it can find. Once it starts in a day, it keeps rolling downhill, picking up speed, rolling up everything Stupid in its path like a Stupid Snowball from Hell.
Don't get me wrong, I have lots of patients that I just love, and I have been able to train most of my patients to call their refills in early, bring their bottles with them "just in case," etc. I've even had a few of them stop by this morning.
But, unfortunately, Stupid has reared its ugly head - a patient and an insurance rejection, I'm a tech down, I have a mild stomach bug, which is trying to trigger a migraine, I'm afraid it's going to be a struggle against Stupid all day, and my patience is non-existent already. I'm only an hour and a half into my day. I just hope I can hang on to what's left of the patience with what's left of my fingernails, not alienate anyone today, and not verbally pop off and actually call someone an idiot to their face.
Have you noticed that Stupid also goes hand-in-hand with supreme neediness? The energy-sucking, needy, time-wasting idiots that must speak to the pharmacist and then proceed to ask what isle something is on? That just openly revel in your attention, and ask all kinds of Stupid questions (and yes, there is such a thing, sorry to inform you!) just to keep you out front fawning over them? Almost like a very sick, Stupid pharmacist stalker? When I first got out of school, I thought it was kinda nice, until you learn that you are actually enabling a sick addiction.
Don't get me wrong, again. I love to answer questions and share my knowledge with patients. Patients who want to learn and do something better with their lives. Not people who pull up to the pharmacy and sit in their cars until they think of something clever to ask the pharmacist, just so they can feel important. I know it sounds mean and elitist and snotty, but I'm not here to make someone feel important.
I also understand the impact we as pharmacists can have on people's lives, so I don't mean to downplay patient interaction. I also don't mean to downplay the compassionate side of things - I know that many of these people who are chronically ill and older may only interact with people of the health-care profession. Many, many times we are their only social contact with the world. So I do see that side, and have great empathy and compassion for people in that situation - I've been in that situation myself and it's a horrible place to be.
So, that would be the reason I don't call people idiots to their face and physically toss them out of the store, and spend the time out front with them, with a smile on my face and invite them back or to call with any additional questions, knowing I'll be on the phone within five minutes of their getting home, answering yet another Stupid question they thought of on the way.
But by the same token, especially when it is really Stupid, Stupid takes my valuable time away from my patients who really have a legitimate medical question and need. Stupid also takes my time away from doing Stupid paperwork and Stupid governmental regulation-type tasks.
Most days I handle Stupid quite well. But it's days like today when events conspire, Jupiter aligns with Mars, and the swirling pharmacy black-hole pulls Stupid into my orbit that I just hate having to be at work.
Wish me luck! Share your Stupid stories below, so we know we're not alone, and so we can have a laugh! I know I certainly need it!
--T.Ph.RPh.
You know what burns me up about Stupid. Stupid thinks he's right. Stupid has no place in his brain that has the ability to think "maybe I'm wrong here". Stupid doesn't know he's stupid!! Unlike you, I have zero compassion for Stupid. Fuck Stupid and the horse he rode in on. If someone could hear the shouts inside my head while I am forced to interact with Stupid I would be locked away for life. Danger to the public and such. Oh I pull I my best country bumpkin accent and play along with Stupid until I can soothe his irrational rant with some lie or another but damn I hate every second of doing it.
ReplyDeleteStatements and questions from their handbook:
ReplyDeleteThat's not my copay.
I've been coming here for 8 years and I have never had a deductible.
The drug is not covered? But my doctor ordered it!
My dog is sick, Can you connect me with the vet's office?
What is the name of the Chinese restaurant in your shopping center?
You just have to put a label on a box.
I lost the medication, the dog ate it, i dropped in the sink/toilet/bucket of water, left it in Las Vegas, my houseguest stole it, the cops took it.
As a non-phamacist observer, the way the system is set up today requires a pharmacist to do the equivelent of a one-legged person playing hackey-sack! And the sad thing is, we don't need a new system - we need the OLD one back. The one where personal responsibility ruled: the doctor writes the scrip, the PATIENT checks with THEIR insurance to see if its covered, the patient pays CASH for their perscription, and the PATIENT files for reimbursement from their insurance company. How did it become the pharmacist's job to do the insurance work for the patient? In the name of "customer service"? That's crap! If a pharmacist has to do all the work for the patient dealing with their insurance, I say let the PHARMACIST CHOOSE THE PATIENT'S INSURANCE COMPANY FOR THEM! It's only fair! Maybe if that could happen we'd see some changes for the good, eh?
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