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A pharmacist example for non-pharmacists.

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Holy shit, its almost been a year.

No, Im not dead.  Just took a small vacation from the site.  Family, work, etc.  It happens.

Ive been going through the (years worth) of comments posted to this site, and from what I can see, they seem to follow a common trend:

  1. Im an asshole, and all pharmacists are assholes.  All of them, but when its time to refill your Norco they are your savior and best friend.
  2. Fibromyalgia is real, I’m an asshole for thinking otherwise.  Santa is also real.  Ever notice how spell-checkers always get hung up on fibromyalgia like its a word that doesn’t exist?  Interesting. (OH COME ON, LET ME POKE SOME FUN)
  3. Tell me your entire life story to justify your usage of pain pills to try to convince yourself that you’re not a crackhead.  If you don’t think you are a crackhead, then you probably aren’t. Convincing the internet with some 10 page paper on how you got hurt, and SSI denied you, and you’re on ALL THESE MEDICATIONS and the mean pharmacist wont refill them early because your crackhead kid’s friend “stole them”, blah blah blah isn’t going to help your issue.

That pretty much sums it up.  Im sad for humanity.

On a lighter note, I want to put something into perspective for those non-pharmacists out there who think we just stand there, drink coffee, and deny your pain pills while laughing manically.  Just bare with me.

Imagine you own a small cell-phone dealership.  You carry all sorts of cell-phones, from the latest Android, to the iPhone, to the big bricks in the bag from back when we all had mullets.  So many fucking cell phones people come in and go “holy fuck! you have a lot of cell phones”.  You also have a big button to make them all ring at once just because you are that much of a badass.  Is your dick hard from cell-phone envy? Mine is; I’m typing this one handed actually.

Anyway, a customer comes in with a letter from T-Mobile.  The letter says “Dear badass cell-phone dealer, please allow my member to purchase ONE iPHONE”.  You happily take the letter, and give your customer a shiny new iPhone.  Your customer is so fucking happy because his baby-momma keeps on calling, and his old phone just isn’t working as well as it should be.  You go to the cash register;

“That’ll be $200 for the phone please” you ask with a smile.

“What the fuck! I don’t have any money! This is supposed to be free! I have a VISA card” the customer yells rudely like you insulted his mother

“Okay, do you have the card so I can process it through VISA?” you respond.

“No.  Call up VISA and get the number for me” as the crackhe..er..customer caresses his new iFre..er..iPhone.

Let me pause the exercise right here.  Would you, as a customer who goes ANYWHERE make the store clerk/cashier/etc CALL YOUR CREDIT CARD COMPANY for your credit card number?  Am I the only one who thinks if you asked this you would be laughed all the way out the front door?  No? Good.  Lets continue.

After 20 mins, you finally get the VISA number of your BELOVED customer.  You punch it into your little device and an error spits out:

“TRANSACTION DENIED, VISA CUSTOMER MUST USE ANDROID PHONE”

Oh shit, looks like Google is fucking Visa.  You gingerly tell the customer that his card will not pay for his nice iPhone because his credit card company wants him to use an Android phone.

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN! T-MOBILE SAID I NEED AN iPHONE!”

You kindly explain that if he wants an iPhone, that he would either have to pay for it, or you can contact T-Mobile to see which Android phone would be the best fit for you so Visa will cover the cost.

The customer throws the iPhone at you, and storms out mumbling that the cell-phone shop down the street will get him his iPhone.  You restock the iPhone and proceed to repeat this same conversation about 4 times before you get to go home.

So the story ends.  That customer was a dick right? I mean it wasn’t the pharmaci..er..cell store owner’s fault that his insur-….credit card company didnt cover his iPho..damn…medications!  I mean what kind of asshole would blow up at someone who is doing their best to help them out?

One word answers this question: EVERYONE.  EVERY-FUCKING-SINGLE-ONE.  Welcome to retail pharmacy, here is your tough skin and alcohol habit.

It sucks to get yelled at, and it sucks even more when you are getting yelled at over something that is 100% out of your control.  If you are one of those “Oh, well they make 100k a year to get yelled at” idiots go fuck yourself.  Any decent human-fucking-being with a soul doesn’t like to be yelled at day in and day out while doing their job of helping people.  Especially when you are getting yelled at while you are trying to HELP them.  The money is there for our knowledge to keep you from doing something stupid and dying, not to be your own personal fucking punching bag.

Its good to be back bitches.

Comments #

Comment by anna on 2013-09-10 22:13:39 -0700 #

miss you!!!!!!! welcome back!!!!!

Comment by J on 2013-09-10 22:42:19 -0700 #

All is right with the world again! Welcome back, Oh Great One.

Comment by Jeny on 2013-09-10 22:48:04 -0700 #

So glad you’re back

Comment by ToasterPastry on 2013-09-10 22:48:11 -0700 #

Part of the problem, no all of the problem, stems from Big Pharma and their desire to create the next blockbuster drug. Pharmaceutical detail reps approach the physician with coupons and discount cards. It’s covered by everybody, only $5 per month. The doctor, and quite frankly the drug detail rep, doesn’t really understand the complexities of third-party payors. So, the doctor writes the script. The patient hands the script to the pharmacist. The patient gets a bill for $250. Patient, typically a octogenarian who after a certain level of brain loss, has loss of inhibition, and takes it out on the pharmacist. There is, in fact, your problem. I’m confused about the cell phone analogy. Good luck.

Comment by kelly on 2013-09-10 23:07:48 -0700 #

i love it……need more

Comment by PMHNP on 2013-09-10 23:33:10 -0700 #

I have only ever yelled at a pharmacist when he yelled at me first. For calling him. I wasn’t trying to call him. I was trying to leave a prescription on his voicemail line, but he hadn’t set it up right, so it rang through to the pharmacy instead. And he yelled at me for wasting his time by making him answer the phone.

And even so, I only yelled at him AFTER I hung up, so he didn’t even have to listen to it.

Except for him, I have consistently found pharmacists (including you, when you sent me a list of very good advice for a beginning prescriber when I was just getting started) to be knowledgeable and bend-over-backwards helpful, not to mention incredibly patient.

They’ve caught errors I’ve made, and double-checked with me on things that weren’t errors but could have been (yep, I really *did* mean Ativan 10 mg PO qHS, I have the prescription bottle in my hand and also called the PCP to make absolutely sure), and helped me figure out how to get oral meds into NPO patients and how much of one thing to substitute for another when our formulary didn’t have what I needed. And they never laugh at me, even when it would be completely justified, like when I wanted to know the bioavailability of venlafaxine when taken intranasally. (I was trying to work out a cross-taper schedule for the patient who had resorted to snorting it when she got trapped between the intolerable GI side effects and discontinuation syndrome and her PCP insisted she had to keep taking it.)

So keep on being cynical, because it makes you funny, but also remember there are still people out there who DO appreciate you, and DON’T take you for granted.

And thanks for the advice. I still go back and review it from time to time. 🙂

Comment by dxp on 2013-09-10 23:59:31 -0700 #

Read Ben Goldacre’s ‘Bad Pharma’. Says it all.

Comment by Aly on 2013-09-11 01:32:23 -0700 #

It’s good to have you back. I’ve missed your rantings!

Comment by SLeal on 2013-09-11 05:09:30 -0700 #

iPhones are expensive.

Comment by ginger on 2013-09-11 05:56:10 -0700 #

If you don’t get the analogy, you clearly have never worked retail pharmacy!

It is the perfect comparison! I love it.
Unfortunately, crack heads will be crack heads and they don’t care about anything or anyone that stands between them and their next fix.

Comment by Peggy Sisson on 2013-09-11 06:08:30 -0700 #

I am so happy. I was wondering where ya were. Missed ya!

Comment by Melissa on 2013-09-11 06:15:37 -0700 #

Hail to the king, baby.

Comment by Dr. Sarcasm on 2013-09-11 06:19:29 -0700 #

Hello Angry Pharmacist – not that I enjoyed the meat of your post, but I do enjoy knowing that this occurs across all professions and none of us are alone… we over at Vets Behaving Badly know exactly how you feel. People suck ass. You could have substituted “vet” for “cell phone company” and the story would be the same. It’s exhausting to be yelled at day after day and it wears you down. Pleasure to see you back, keep writing and venting and maybe some day some asshole will read something you wrote and be a little nicer to someone else that day. OK probably not, but it’s worth a shot. 🙂

Comment by BigBear on 2013-09-11 08:26:22 -0700 #

Last week-end I had need of some oral morphine for dyspneic dying patient.
Local pharmacist, once he realized I was talking about using legal narcotic Rx, was
quite helpful. Patient died in much less distress than without the medication. I really appreciated his help and went back to the store to thank him. We, prescribers, aren’t all ungrateful.

Comment by heatherE on 2013-09-11 08:27:42 -0700 #

So glad to hear from you, your sarcasm has been greatly missed!

Comment by WILL YOU MARRY ME ANGRY PHARMACIST? on 2013-09-11 13:30:20 -0700 #

OMG, will you marry me? I love you so much. Because of you A.P., I am now able to deal better with my own pharmacist, and I owe it all to you, not WALMART! OMG, when you said that, OMG, my brother in law called and was getting his meds at Walgreens and he said to the pharmacist “how much?” and the pharmacist says, “fifty bucks,” and the brother in law said, “OMG, I can get it cheaper at WALMART!” I remember you saying it. By the way I also told all my pharmacists about your blog and even quoted you on many occasions and I told them that from reading your blog that I have learned so much about the inner workings of the pharmacist, also learning to spell the damn word. LOL! Thanks Angry P., I love you and wish I could marry you. I am really getting along much better with my own drugstore aces much better and am having NO PROBS with getting my pain meds or other meds. I think it is because I told them about you site and even said to look you up an dread it. They must have, because their whole attitude has CHANGED, even the manager’s. This manager actually CALLS ME personally and I’m amazed!!!! You are so right in all you say in your blog. Glad to see you back and happy to know you read my post, because it is the LAST one in this blog of folks, I think! You’ll spot it, it has me written alllll over it. Anyhow, keep it up and looking forward to more angry rants from my favorite pharmacist kingpin, man, I wish you worked at my pharmacy, but there’s probably 1 of you in every one of those places. XXXXXX ))))))) THANKS!

Comment by WILL YOU MARRY ME ANGRY PHARMACIST? on 2013-09-11 13:45:51 -0700 #

I just typed a whole thing to you A.P. Will you marry me, LOL, Love your posts. I have learned so much more about my own pharmacists from reading your blog and even told them to check you out. I told them all about you, it’s no biggie, but I do find that they do treat me better now that I know what they know, and the protocol! Thanks, marry me! LOL XXXXX

Comment by FELT LIKE A LOOSE TOOTH WITHOUT YOU! on 2013-09-11 13:55:33 -0700 #

I tell every pharmacist I meet or deal with about your blog and I tell them exactly what to put in Google to get to you. I’m sure many of them have read them. I deal directly now with the manager of my pharmacy and this person actually calls me, and has done it a few times since I spoke about your blog in our conversation. Not that this blog made this person call me on my meds, but it’s what is contained in your blog that might have struck a positive chord in the pharmacist I deal with. I’m so excited you are back and really love your posts. They have truly helped me deal with the trials and tribulations of this maze of “can I get, can I have,” NOW industry!!!!! Thanks.

Comment by StudentRx on 2013-09-11 17:09:36 -0700 #

Welcome back!

Comment by mel on 2013-09-11 18:01:53 -0700 #

I have been in retail for 40 years and what you say is true, but for a small minority. I find in our community great appreciation and respect.

Comment by Pete on 2013-09-11 19:29:43 -0700 #

Good to have you back! So many of my co-workers thought I was the one writing these! We have missed you so !

Comment by ChickenMcDruggit on 2013-09-11 20:13:04 -0700 #

HAHA, I literally just used that Credit Card comparison with my staff this week, seriously, its like walking up to the checkout at Target and expecting the cashier to call Visa, or Mastercard or AmEx (cause of course you don’t know which it is) to get YOUR number! Love you angry!

Comment by Robert McCarron on 2013-09-11 21:16:02 -0700 #

Missed your wit and candor………. BIG WELCOME BACK !!!

Comment by THE HIGHLANDER! on 2013-09-12 11:54:31 -0700 #

OMG YOU NEED TO SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU SMALL DICK BITCH!

Comment by STUCK AT PHARMACY FOR 3 HOURS BUT… on 2013-09-12 18:10:44 -0700 #

Totally kept my cool at the pharmacy because of your blog. Thanks Angry P. You are the greatest. If not for your blog, I would have lost my cool, and so would some of the other customers I told to cool it, and they did. Keep me laughing, and keep the info coming.

Comment by RxRetailTherapy on 2013-09-12 19:43:16 -0700 #

This is one of the best, most truthful things I’ve read in a long time about the pharmacy setting!! I’m a manager at an independent retail pharmacy and I could not stop laughing my ass off at this!!! The cell phone analogy is PERFECT because it’s EXACTLY what we go through on a daily basis! Like another poster commented, “if you don’t understand the analogy, you’ve never worked retail pharmacy!” Thank you so much for making all of us in the retail pharmacy business know we aren’t the only ones who go through the same situations EVERY DAMN DAY! You rock, Angry Pharmacist!

Comment by jack on 2013-09-12 21:54:05 -0700 #

Hey there angry-nice to see you back-need some righteous indignation!!
Need also to comment on why the expansion of TOTALLY UNNEEDED new pharmacy
programs has been allowed to occur by various state department of educations
The academic pharmacy profs do not seem to give a damn about the profession
and just seem to want to fill seats in their respective institutions
(my alma mater ESPECIALY INCLUDED!!) All chains want is a “endless”
supply of new naïve grads to fill scripts while the academics juts seem to want to add more and more years to the curriculum-new talk of 7 YEAR programs? Why not make it 8-and pay more and more tuition!!!!!All the while many other professions like engineering and even Medicine are still 4 years.
Why is this being permitted to happen? It can permit employers to limit pay and benefits and foster lousy and even dangerous working conditions.
Look forward to your thoughts on this sorry condition would like to see what
you all can say about this!!!

Comment by lena on 2013-09-12 22:05:58 -0700 #

You’re my new hero!

Comment by Ihatemyjob on 2013-09-14 17:26:48 -0700 #

Just assume all customers are assholes until they prove otherwise, that’s my motto. Welcome back indeed. When customer’s insurance cards don”t work, I just print the screen that says “invalid id number” and hand it to them (since they wouldn’t believe me if I just TOLD them that). When they ask if I can just call the insurance company, I say, “No, but here’s the number if you want to call them.” Any customer over the age of 4 should be able to accomplish the task. Yep, I’m just a bad-ass too I guess.

Comment by Techie on 2013-09-15 03:44:57 -0700 #

Glad to see you back! I missed your rants. At least there was a hope to get $200.00. What pisses me of is to go through all this for ASA or other OTC bs. All because this 21 yo. can’t keep track of all her 5 kids ins cards.

Comment by Tally on 2013-09-15 07:49:54 -0700 #

Hey, I don’t need just ANY I-phone, I need the I-Phone 5ssssssssssssssss!!!!!

The ones with the 5c on it doesn’t work for me.
And the ones with 4 on them don’t sell very well anymore.

Sound familiar???

Glad to have ya back, man.

Comment by Don’t wait another year to comment! on 2013-09-15 10:39:45 -0700 #

We need you to come here more often and leave more valuable info in your angry pharma way. LOL, you are our ruler dear King A. P. LOL, love your posts, can you post more. Tell us the real deal of what they think when someone tries to get you guys to give them their meds early with no new prescription. This girl that lives down the street from me went to a rite aid and actually talked them into giving her a few Norco tabs. I was amazed. How and why would they do it? And if it was me, It would be a BIG NO NO NO WAY!~

Comment by RxDawg on 2013-09-16 14:31:56 -0700 #

Welcome back AP! I’ve missed yer rants.

Comment by RxDawg on 2013-09-16 14:33:54 -0700 #

The analogy is simple economics. One is selling goods, being paid for by a third party. The insurance to credit card company comparison is kinda stretched…but I looked passed it and enjoyed the rant!

Comment by Albert on 2013-09-17 02:02:01 -0700 #

Haha that was too well written, happy to see something so recent! Definetly will show this to a pharmacist friend.

Comment by Geri on 2013-09-18 01:23:56 -0700 #

I love you, thank you for helping me manage my anger towards work!!

Comment by PA OH RPH on 2013-09-18 08:22:54 -0700 #

Too true, TAP. Anyone in the profession will agree. If they don’t, they’ve never set foot inside a pharmacy.

Glad to have you back, man.

Comment by Grayarea on 2013-09-23 19:29:03 -0700 #

1 It all depends on the situation.
2 Prevention vs punishment.
3 why is this happening? Read my name

Comment by wiserph on 2013-09-24 09:55:39 -0700 #

Hey Highlander!
Get busy and go out and get a job!

Comment by youcancallmeal on 2013-09-24 12:24:54 -0700 #

All is right in the world again T.A.P. is back!

If any non pharmacist still doesn’t understand what we go through, then they seriously don’t deserve the free meds that we work so hard to get for them. This is a beautiful analogy that should have made crystal clear what a typical day in retail pharmacy is like. What the non pharmacists out there may not understand is, this is a simplified analogy. There are still lots more things that could happen, like the prescription could be falsified, or the doctor could have you on the phone for 30 or more minutes ranting about why the insurance is questioning his expert choice of therapy. There are a million and one hoops that we have to jump through just so you get your meds. Are we unappreciated, I say so, do I give a flying fuck anymore, I think not. Welcome to the desensitized world we live in!

Its good to have you back T.A.P. Damn good!

Comment by KnowsWhenToQuit on 2013-09-24 19:09:25 -0700 #

Oh wow, the whole “free cell phones, burden of society” thing, eh? I worked as a tech at a pharmacy once, it was a formative experience that put me on the MD/PhD track. I thought it would look cool on my med school application, but what it did was make me realize what an exhausting, repetitive bore patient care can be. And that was in a cute little town full of rich people! I never had to deal with society’s burdens — rather, I catered to the whims of the founders of this and that’s exploitation industry and their disgusting families. I love your blog because unlike you (you poor bastard), I will be working in a dank, humid insectarium ALL BY MYSELF for the rest of my years. Please continue the onslaught of bitching, it gives me hope when I have none.
Huzzah,
Knows when to quit*

Comment by Do you have the blue watsons on 2013-09-24 22:47:45 -0700 #

Thought maybe you went to target and lost your edge. Glad to see a post, although you forgot about how the phone he just got from you 2 weeks ago is now lost, but VISA or MC or was it AMEX??? Anyway they said he needs a replacement just call whoever you need to cause expecting an important call in about 5 minutes. Said ENTITLED get a free case also….

Comment by Mrs. H on 2013-09-25 16:33:53 -0700 #

Oh my God. I just found your site and I could NOT be happier. I am a tech in retail and I love shit like this. Thanks so much for this. Can’t wait to tell all my co-techs and rph about it.

Comment by Rebecca Mac on 2013-09-28 07:13:03 -0700 #

Since you’ve been back, had anyone gotten bare with you? 😉

Comment by LD placebo effect on 2013-09-28 16:35:19 -0700 #

Am not sure where insight comes from to conclude Big Pharma is the bottom of all and everything that is wrong with the system. Big Pharma has been around quite a while longer than the ‘problem’.

Comment by Drugmonkey on 2013-09-29 16:44:29 -0700 #

“Let me pause the exercise right here. Would you, as a customer who goes ANYWHERE make the store clerk/cashier/etc CALL YOUR CREDIT CARD COMPANY for your credit card number?”

You my friend….have obviously never worked in an affluent neighborhood. i have seen just this type of thing happen. More than once.

Comment by HateRetailRX on 2013-10-05 12:53:49 -0700 #

So glad you are back. Just had another irritating interaction with a “customer” and came across your blog again. I missed reading this blog- it gives me an odd sense of affirmation and peace. This blog was perfect timing following a conversation with a customer who asked me to transfer her mother’s rx for a god forsaken $25 coupon. No she isn’t sure where the rx is but she thinks it is Wegmans. No, she doesn’t have their phone number, doesn’t know the rx number and can only tell me it is for “antibiotic” when I ask what the name of the medication is at least….Oh and she doesn’t have her insurance card so when I call Wegmans to steal their rx, can I ask for that information as well. I shit you not. So I lie and say I don’t have google to look up new Wegman’s phone number and when she gets me the information I need, I will transfer the rx. Then I promptly googled something about “hating pharmacy and what else I can do with my useless degree” and read your gem of a post. Glad you are back.

Comment by janerph on 2013-10-08 06:04:33 -0700 #

From my corner of work sucks and I hate my job, I say I love your comments!

Comment by PHARMAMANIAC on 2013-10-08 15:20:51 -0700 #

Amazin’ – these stories are right out of my Rx Tech life. Keep them coming.

Comment by Haha on 2013-10-09 13:08:08 -0700 #

This blog is funny and pretty pathetic. “My job’s so hard! I get payed six figures to do what doctors and insurance companies tell me to do! RESPECT ME!!!” Not smart enough to become a doctor?
Yeah, there are some idiots in this world. Who needs pharmacists? Only the idiots. Do you know what’d be nice – if we could just buy whatever medications we wanted, that way the people you allow to make your life a living hell could just kill themselves off. You’d probably kill yourself with them, after you realized that life without bitching 24/7 for you is actually more miserable than being the “angry pharmacist.” You’re a joke. Fuck yourself.

P.S. – anyone who’s ever worked in customer service could make a blog with all their petty complaints. You’re not special mr. big pharmacist.

Comment by RetailRxWillEatYourSoul on 2013-10-10 02:09:04 -0700 #

I just looked into this blog for the first time and I gotta say, I can’t wait to read more. It’s nice to know that someone else understands. What Happened to Humanity? Why isn’t anyone teaching their children to mind there manners anymore, and that you don’t scream profanities to perfect strangers?! Don’t these people ever feel guilty for behaving like a philistine toward people that are just trying to do the best they can?
Side note: if anyone reading these blogs has ever lashed out to a pharmacist or technician (who is most likely so shell shocked from people like you that they are afraid to even tell you that you owe 5 dollars on a medication [retail product like any other that costs money]) then you should be ashamed of yourself and probably should be sterilized.
Anyway, thanks for putting together this blog! I think it will be very cathartic for me, as I’m sure it has been for many of your subscribers. Keep fighting the good fight 😉

Comment by DCM on 2013-10-12 03:34:56 -0700 #

I love your blog! I’m a young college-aged guy working in an independent pharmacy in Tennessee. No one truly understands the bullcrap pharmacists, technicians, and other pharmacy employees have to put up with so reading your blog has served as a great outlet. I’m not a pharmacist or technician, I work behind the pharmacy counter. Day in and day out I am treated like I am a piece of crap by druggies and simple idiots. I can take those occasionally…The customers who most often make me want to walk out the door are the hundreds of old people who hate the world and for some reason think they’ll receive better service if they treat me like I am a stupid-ass that doesn’t know about anything other than how to push buttons on the register. Those customers are the most irritating because unlike the drug addicts, I can’t just do the minimum and get them out of the store. We’re an independent Pharmacy and have thrived for over 50 years on customer service. We can live without a druggie. We don’t want to lose grandma who gets all her Rx’s from us every month, even if she’s a bitch.

Today I had a customer call on the phone, I answered and said “——- Pharmacy. How may I help you?”. The customer then asked “Is this a pharmacist?” (as if the pharmacists have time to answer the phone every time it rings). I replied no and he said he needed to speak with the pharmacist. I looked at the phone receiver and saw that every phone in the pharmacy was off the hook (We have a regular daily dispensing volume of around 900 prescriptions, we’re always busy.) and asked the customer if he had a question, or needed a refill… He told me he needed a refill. I said “Oh okay, well I can take care of that for you, can I have your last name and D.O.B.? To which he said “I don’t want to give it to you I want someone in the back who is more knowledgeable”. I replied, “Okay, Sir, I will have to put you on hold until there’s a pharmacist or tech available. They’re all assisting other customers at the moment.”

Not 60 seconds later the phone rings again, I pick it up and it’s the same guy who then proceeds to tell me “I TOLD YOU already, I need to speak with a PHARMACIST and I don’t want to sit on hold all damn day!” I told the asshole “I’m sorry about the wait the pharmacy is very busy at the moment. You can just give the refill information to me and you don’t have to wait.” He then told me he didn’t want to because he knew I would mess something up…Now I am pissed. I couldn’t keep it in. “Sir, you are not more important than any other customer and I’m not an idiot. I am more than capable of taking a refill from you. That is why I WORK HERE. If I didn’t know what I am doing they would have fired me 3 years ago!”

Why I try so hard for $8 an hour….I don’t know.

Comment by deb on 2013-10-13 06:45:43 -0700 #

awesome! only thing you missed was the phone is not being made any more or is backordered because they only ship 6 iphones, but they NEED it!

Comment by GotchaPerco on 2013-10-13 21:11:24 -0700 #

I’m so happy you’re back! I’ve actually seen people asking a cashier to call their credit card company to get their credit card number. I almost punched that bastard in the crouch. Oh well, who are we talking while we have people complaining about how expensive BRAND NAME Adderall they specifically asked for, followed by the long stare as if trying to convince you to give them a special VIP today-or-nothing discount, somehow.

Comment by DoctorT on 2013-10-15 00:37:27 -0700 #

You should change your name to the Whiniest Pharmacist. Good grief.
I’m sure that every customer already knows everything about the insurance nightmares that you constantly whine and cry about, but they’re just playing stupid to mess with you.
And the hypocrisy of admitting that you abuse alcohol, while crying about your crackhead customers, is also slightly amusing. Of course, I’m sure it’s just about the early refills though, right? You wouldn’t ever judge anyone. You’re creepy and I think you should change your profession.

God Bless you. You need it.

Comment by jack on 2013-10-19 09:34:58 -0700 #

hi there angry-just wanted to touch base again-wanted to see if you have any comments about the pharmacy profession-are any of the pharmacy schools and
boards are doing anything about the work situations at the chains and the
schools worrying about ever increasing pharmacy program (7 ,8 maybe 9 years?) To work in Walgreens etc.? Would really like to have a column from you about this-and every one else-please comment and get Angry to do a shout out -maybe serious talk about formation of a national pharmacists union(I’m in
a “health care” union on the East coast -not too bad at least it/s some sort of organization-but need something with teeth-even in “right to work ”
states it’s still legal to form unions-just need younger pharmacists who have been “corporatized” to form unions-for pharmacists-We have more power than you think. When pharmacists had a problem here on the east coast with a
“major chain” -where a good number of the pharmacist ‘s are unionized=had an issue with management (going back a few years) and did go on strike,Stores opened , no pharmacists no scripts (thank God scabs were practically non existent) -and -guess what- customers were not buying a whole lot of other stuff either-profits started taking a nose dive-and most customers were supportive of pharmacists as was seen on the picket line-that’s right-the rph
guys were getting in the bosses face!!! The public saw and responded.You have to do all the legal
stuff ahead of time,etc,etc,and may have to tough it out pay wise-but-it can reap good benefits-again-no pharmacists ,no scripts
and profits tank!!!!And so do a lot of other of their sales-in the case I was talking about, after a few days-the pharmacists did get their work site issues resolved in their favor-and went back to work. Need to just get the young kids on our side and form a good national pharmacy union-We have to learn to stand tall again as a profession-and not be afraid to unionize and possibly strike-it has worked in the past .The non pharmacist managers can’t do the scripts-and that’s what get’s a lot of the customers in he store in the first okay After awhile-the revenue loss is too much and these
chain stores loose money.(our best leverage-to get improved working conditions-we don’t work in sweat shops)Let’s “shout it out” as MLK would do in the 60″s.The more of us unionized-the more leverage we have especially if combined with good labor movement law-just to let us practice the profession we love (or at least did at one time).Angry, can you put together an appropriate response for the waiting troops? Would love a great TAP

TYPE OF RESSPONSE-cogent but full blast.
Jack -comrade in arms!!!)

Comment by Harmacist on 2013-10-22 10:56:28 -0700 #

New to this bi don’t know how. I’ve thought said these things one million billion times in my head. And less than ten times out loud.

Thank you, Angry.

Comment by DaniBee099 on 2013-10-22 14:55:45 -0700 #

HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!! LOVE EVERY WORD OF THIS!!!!!!!!!!

Comment by DaniBee099 on 2013-10-22 14:57:16 -0700 #

You need it more.

Comment by pre-pharm tech on 2013-10-24 16:38:47 -0700 #

OMG. I <3 you.

Comment by Steven on 2013-10-25 22:00:05 -0700 #

YOU’RE BACK!!!!! A 100000% compliment to your last article “how to kill not kill your patients” IS “how to not to kill your pharmacists?” PLEASE UPDATE MORE OFTEN!!! My sides receive such a workout no daily exercise is necessary!! MUCH RANDOM LOVE!

Comment by KD on 2013-10-28 06:01:49 -0700 #

welcome back! I’ve missed your truth-ranting posts 😀

Comment by CrackheadChris1 on 2013-10-30 06:54:21 -0700 #

This is exactly what I say to myself every time I read these post !!! This person is just a hypocrite !!!….I found it & still do very amusing how this author has referred to alcohol abuse as his relief from who he considers “crack heads” & “druggies” without verification just his all knowing judgement & then goes on to state his own abuse of mind altering addictive substances !!! …. the very definition of a fraud and or hypocrite

Comment by FloridaDrugLord on 2013-10-30 07:48:42 -0700 #

Had to get out of the retail game for this exact reason. Much love to my retail bros, I don’t know how you do it. I have dedicated my life to getting the right to bill for pharmacist services, maybe (just maybe) we will start gaining the respect of the doctorate degree that sits on the wall behind us. Glad your back boss!

Comment by FloridaDrugLord on 2013-10-30 07:50:50 -0700 #

your’re*

Comment by PHill on 2013-11-02 06:41:33 -0700 #

If it was only 4 times daily, I would be happier than a pig in shit. And, in all honesty, it is usually the Pharm Techs who are manning the cash register and get the experience the whole “I’m my MassHealth doc wrote the script so MassHealth HAS to cover it!” rant. (followed by the “I don’t have the $3 co-pay” while setting their IPhone 5s on the counter) Or swear at you in a foreign language for a good 45 seconds…

From that small aide, everyone at our CHC Pharmacy is glad you are back.

Comment by bellepharmd on 2013-11-03 13:44:01 -0800 #

LOL…this is why i LOVE you…you speak my mind! pls post more often. #truefan

Comment by Silky1 on 2013-11-04 16:41:17 -0800 #

Well well what have we here? The low down on insurance companies or the low down on insurance company clients or are they patients?

Comment by chubs on 2013-11-18 20:11:59 -0800 #

Yeah we need to be more like Mexico, just waltz in and buy drugs/poisons right off the shelves. Fuck it, any idiot can play doctor. Ingesting drugs/poisons is about a complicated as picking out cereal

Comment by chubs on 2013-11-18 20:17:44 -0800 #

$100 you wouldn’t last a month in a busy retail pharmacy

Comment by Ryan on 2013-11-22 04:34:36 -0800 #

Just wanted your take on whether its worth it for my wife to stick it out in Pharmacy school…and at the end- we have a $250K Bill and she only makes $100K-$120K per year and has to deal with people as you describe so eloquently on this site? You sound disgruntled as hell…and I don’t blame you- it seems like a pretty shitty job now that I read the reality of the profession through your posts. What’s your take? At the end of the day; is the misery of 20 hours per day studying and still only barely pulling a B, being away from your family (husband and 4 kids) for at least 2 1/2 years to complete the didactic portion of the program, and then end up in a profession that your shit on- on a daily basis and although your every bit a doctor, you’re never called Doctor- you more or less are viewed as some punk-ass glorified drug-dealer…Please, give me your honest opinion because the 1st sem is drawing to a close and there is still time to drop before owing the entire $68K for the first year! NEED YOUR OPINION ASAP! Thank you, Concerned Prospective PharmD Spouse

Comment by STICK IT OUT IT’A WORTH IT STAY IN :PHARMACY SCHOOL! on 2013-11-23 23:17:41 -0800 #

YES, stick it out and stay in Pharmacy school, don’t give in. I have seen the tech students at work and see progress and see the ones that will make the bucks and work for the patient and pharmacy, sales and brands. I have been treated wonderfully by the tech students and am all for it. Good luck, I hope you become as nice as the manager where I get my meds now. What a refreshing thing.

Comment by sam on 2013-11-24 00:49:07 -0800 #

It is not worth it. Get out unless you have worked in the profession and know you LOVE it. Plus, it is extremely competitive for hospital jobs. Additionally, the pay, while at first good, is stagnant very quickly. Pharmacists in our area constantly job hop to get bumps in their salary.

Comment by Nick on 2014-01-08 12:45:12 -0800 #

This is retail pharmacy in it’s purity. Smiling while you die inside, helping assholes that don’t want it (since they only want their fuckin’ Norco, since you’re not filling it early enough from them). Hope you like bourbon, I know I do.

Nick

P.S. I’m a tech, applying to schools now.

Comment by Jesse on 2014-02-12 06:49:04 -0800 #

Thank you for even knowing about discontinuation syndrome.

Getting off Effexor took me an entire year. I didn’t know the proper term then… I just called it “brain shivers” and my doctor looked at me like I was nuts. Even years later, when I did learn the term and brought it up again, he insisted there is no such thing.

Cymbalta wasn’t working either and I had the same problems discontinuing it.

Now I just take Zoloft. I guess it sort of works. Every once in awhile I question why I even take it (I confuse antisocial/homebody with depression), try to taper myself and boom, brain shivers.

I never see that mentioned in the depressing depression commercials.

Comment by Jesse on 2014-02-12 07:19:17 -0800 #

You actually believe that the author of this blog is not being sarcastic and/or is not self-aware?

You’re easily fooled. I can’t imagine how many patients fool you into scripts.

Comment by Shelly on 2014-10-06 13:09:33 -0700 #

Dear Angry Pharmacist, why don’t you fill valid prescriptions and let the rest fall to the patient? If a prescription isn’t valid, don’t fill it. I don’t understand why many pharmacists get so personal in trying to determine if a patient is possibly getting away with something. Who cares? Fill it if it’s valid, make a profit, let the addict deal with the fallout. Unless you are being held responsible in a legal sense, you should just move on and count the money. I live in New Orleans, and I sometimes see patients sucking up to pharmacists in an attempt to get an eary refill. I don’t think they’d get anywhere by being mean. I work with the public, yes, some are downright rude. I know it’s not personal, so I don’t take it personally. These rude people don’t even know me. There but for the grace of God go thee. I think you’d be healthier and happier if you didn’t spend so much time making sure patients didn’t “get away” with something. It’s just not in your job description. It’s between them and their doctor. Good luck to you.

Comment by michael torres on 2014-12-04 13:43:20 -0800 #

Nobody gives a shit about your boring job and the slightly annoying minutia you are forced to put up with to a salary completely disproportionately high compared with the amount of work you actually do and education you obtained. I always wondered if the shitty morons at my pharmacy were as stupid as they seemed. Thanks for confirming it.

Sincerely,
Michael Torres

Comment by Gail on 2014-12-23 07:39:27 -0800 #

What do you do for money, Chuckles?

Comment by DrButcherMD on 2014-12-28 17:58:04 -0800 #

Taking pills from the large jar and counting them into smaller jars seems pretty freaking boring to me. If your so disgruntled about your job and are so “angry”, QUIT! Now, STFU!

Comment by Elee on 2015-01-05 23:20:53 -0800 #

Maybe they have a job. Maybe you should think about who you’re supporting.

Comment by Mortar and Pestle on 2015-01-06 01:09:57 -0800 #

I am a pharmacist, employed by a hospital in the New York metropolitan area and occasionally filling in for a grocery store pharmacist.
As a pharmacist, you’ve really got no ground to stand on as far as criticizing diagnoses go… professionally, at least. When I see a customer at the grocery store who has nothing but hc for years, and comes in with a new script, I fill it and don’t think twice because it’s a waste of energy. I prefer to spend my time, with reference to the job, in pondering the economics of our industry and the horrors of patented medicine.

Comment by Beans on 2019-04-04 19:01:49 -0700 #

Maybe work in a lab instead of retail if you hate working with the public so fucking much that it’s shortening your life.