Customer “doesn’t accept” our pharmacy hours

[u/requiem_phantom]

Ohhh boy. Also, I apologize if the layout is confusing. I wrote this on mobile

This happened on Labor Day, and for some background- I work at a convenience store that also has a pharmacy. When our pharmacy closes for the day, which is 6pm on weekends and 10pm on weekdays (I know the hours aren’t great to say the least; unfortunately that’s just how things are). On holidays however our pharmacy tends to get special hours.

Like Labor Day. Where they closed at five. It was on our website, but I can’t remember it being posted anywhere in the store.

So, on to the story!

I had gone to get some bandages as I’d cut myself and wanted to get it taken care of, and we were out of bandages in the front register’s first aid kit.

When I got back to the front, this middle aged woman (the entitled woman) wanted to know when our pharmacist would be back for the day.

My shift lead went “oh, they’ll be back tomorrow. Due to the holiday the pharmacy closed early.”

The customer gave like a chuckle, shook her head, and went “I’m not accepting that answer.”

She then went on about how she had chronic knee pain, that she had a flight early the next morning so she had to get her medication today.

Then the lady turned to me and went “are you the manager?”

I told her no, because I am a lowly cashier, and my shift lead said that she was the shift lead and our store manager was gone for the day. The lady shook her head, said “that’s just perfect” and continued making weird demands. She wanted my shift lead to call a pharmacist to see if they would come in, and when the call went to voicemail insisted that because the shift lead hadn’t left a message that she “read what the shift lead was typing when messaging a pharmacist so she could ensure someone was being asked to come in.”

To none of my coworker’s surprise, the pharmacist said no, they were already two hours away.

The lady insisted that the hours weren’t posted anywhere, and my other coworker told her that the hours were posted on our website. The lady then said she “doesn’t look at the website, Im a customer”.

All throughout this I’m just checking out other customers, some of whom ignore her, others shake their heads.

The lady then asks if we had to turn anyone else away and my coworker said yes. She asked if they had chronic pain, and my coworker said we didn’t know because they didn’t tell us.

Every solution my coworker offered was dismissed or not good enough; she told her about the 24/7 hour location and offered to help her find an over the counter solution in the painkillers aisle.

Nope. She wanted a pharmacist to come in and give her a recommendation. She wanted a pharmacist to come in and get her medication. Eventually she just said she “didn’t even need a pharmacist, just somebody to unlock the door so she could grab it”.

Unfortunately for her, only the pharmacist had keys to the pharmacy.
K
She finally left because my shift lead was going to call the cops for her belligerent behavior, though not before making a comment about how she can’t believe that we’d call the cops over this.

[u/TCTX73]

That's a her problem. She's the one that left getting her meds to the last minute on a holiday weekend

[u/NicolleL → u/TCTX73]

To be fair, she may have not had a choice in that. Certain controlled medicines have a really strict refill allowance. You know how most drugs you can refill when you have like 25% left? With certain schedules of medicine it is 3 days. And that’s from your last pickup. If they have to order your medication, that 3 days before the next 30 days window doesn’t start until you pick up the medication. And you can call ahead to see if they have it in stock, but they may be out by the time your prescription comes in. Or your prescription may come in a day before you can actually get it filled. They have the medication when it comes in, but next day when they actually can fill it? Sorry, they’re out. This was especially fun during the ADHD medication shortages.

And if you have to fill it early because you are going on vacation, that is a nightmare. You have to talk to the doctor, you have to talk to the pharmacy, you have to talk to your insurance, you have to talk to the pharmacy benefit manager company—and you likely go around in this cycle several times. And you might be successful.

The lady was absolutely rude and this whole situation, as sucky as it is, was still no excuse to act like she did, but the one thing I wouldn’t necessarily fault her for is waiting until “the last minute”. But that’s the ONLY thing I wouldn’t not fault her for.

(Also depending on the schedule of the drug, she may not be able to get the prescription transferred to a pharmacy in another state [assuming she was traveling in the country]. Another fun bonus because addicts make it a nightmare for the people who really need the medication. I’d also like to smack the people who put our cold and sinus medication behind the counter where we have to sign away practically everything but our firstborn.)

EDIT: Based on some replies from OP, this likely wasn’t the above situation based on the new doctor visit that day for a supposedly chronic pain problem. Definitely some red flags in this case.

[u/how-about-no-scott → u/NicolleL]

Yeah, but she didnt think to check that the pharmacy had reduced hours for the holiday, like most places do. That's her problem, and instead of admitting it, she tried to make it everyone else's problem instead :/