I’ve not been this irate in a long long time. I am absolutely LIVID about this situation and I am so angry there is limited things I can do about it. I’ll give you the brief, abridged version. Good news – I GOT MY MEDICINE AT LEAST.

I called back to my pharmacy, trying to circumvent this situation from happening again. I am down to two days medicine after today, and it’s still showing out of stock. I am worried about going without medicine. I called with the intention to ask about the best way going forward to try to eliminate this problem. I called, and got someone on the line. I expressed, calmly., that I was very aggravated and I am trying to do my best to stay calm, but if I do get upset—please note it’s not at you, but it’s the situation and we can try to work through this. It’s ok to check me on my voice level. I started in about how my medicine is not in stock right now, and I know I won’t know anything until after three, as I was told.. but I’m trying my best to make sure I do things right on my end to fix this. Mind you – none of them realize the actual situation, they have deferred me so much, they don’t understand what the scenario is, that has been happening since 8/27.
She cuts me off “Let me stop you right there. We can’t control when medicine comes in. I’m sorry for this excuse, but COVID has changed everybody’s lives. We can’t predict it. You should be responsible for your medicine.”
I let her know, I didn’t really appreciate her pushing the issue back on me. She gets loud, and starts screaming like a juvenile “OH MY GOD, ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW? ARE YOU SERIOUS? OH MY GOD” – over me trying to talk calmly to her. I try to ask her, how far out should I schedule my appointments for meds to try to minimize risk of not having meds in stock. “I CANT TELL YOU WHEN TO SEE THE DOCTOR”.. “Ma’am..” – it went on, I HAD TO DESCALATE THE CONVERSATION. TWICE. I know I may not have been pleasant but I wasn’t not matching her level of hysteria. I asked to speak to the pharmacist, she refused to let me. I asked her to then calm down, and lets start over. And she made some snarky, backhanded comment. She then yells “WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT? WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?” I calmly, express my concern about not having meds in stock, and how I could best approach it, being proactive to prevent this issue, being responsible for my meds. She didn’t say anything. I said “Are you still there.” “Yes.” – “Did you hear my question?” – “NOPE. BUT YOUR MEDS WILL BE READY IN 30 MINUTES.”

… how convenient. The whole time she is laughing and mocking me, anything I say is wrapped in a ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?! or OH MY GOD

I went down to my pharmacy, and calmly., told the pharmacist that I was told my medicine would be ready in 30 minutes, and I would be in the store, and would like to talk to her. She puts my info in the system and clearly is confused about the situation. I explained I called and talked to someone, who was very unprofessional and acted awful to me. She retorted “Well I heard the conversation and you..” I stopped her “Were you listening in on the call?”—“No”, well then I’d rather know if my medicine is going to be ready in 30 minutes or not. Some other woman tried to chime in, and I loudly, but tried to not be belligerent, told her I was not addressing her, I was talking to the pharmacist. She looked around and told me it would be ready in 30 min. I went to the front and asked the names of the pharmacist and techs. She gave them to me. It’s important to note I could hear whoever I talked to on the phone talking to someone else laughing and joking about how wonderful their day is because of their call. I heard the pharmacist say “I know, DRAMAAA”. [this is in character for the few times I’ve seen this pharmacist.]. I can’t say it was about me, but anyway. I pick up my medicine. I explain, calmly my question to the pharmacist—who answers it appropriately. She then started with “I’m here to advocate for you and anyone on my staff, but there is a level of respect”. I said “There sure it – and you’re the professionals who did not uphold any level of professionalism or respect.”. I asked her “Do you know if the pharmacy lines are recorded?” – she retorted I DON’T KNOW THAT. I asked her if she would give me the name of the person I talked to , she looked puzzled, “Why?” – I said “I am going to filed a formal complaint and I would like to know who I spoke to.” – she said “No.” I reiterated – “So you’re refusing to tell me who I spoke to on the phone.” –“Yes, I’m the manager.” – “I’ll be sure to note the pharmacist/manager refused to tell me who I spoke with. Thank you.” – She kept on fighting, I walked away, with a line behind me. She was still saying stuff as I walked out the door, I could hear her. I’ve known her to talk about other clients to other clients. I was furious. I called the Customer Service people and filed a formal complaint. They reassured me that the whole situation was handled, from start to finish, improperly and while she can’t know for sure what evidence they have—she does know they at least have cameras in the store, which MAY have audio. If the Pharmacist could hear my call – hopefully the audio picked it up and it can prove my story. But the lady on the phone reassured me – that’s not what this is gonna be. There are impartial. The people investigating will do so within two days and I was assured they’d get back to me. She said “We don’t harbor behind behaviors like that. I can tell you that they should have helped you with finding somewhere with the meds, help finding a transfer, help transferring it back, and it’s against our policy to deny someone the name of someone working. If nothing else, there’s that. I believe you and I’m so sorry your situation diverged into something like that.”. I know feelings can change, but I do not want to have to address them again. I don’t want to have to see or know my medicine may be improperly handled because I complained. I know it’s a irrational thought, but I am afraid of retaliation on their part.

I won’t pretend I wasn’t upset—I made that clear from the get-go. Not one of them knew the situation in full, and still insisted it was my faut when all I was trying to do is make sure it didn’t happen again. THEY ARE THE PROFESSIONALS IN THIS SITUATION WHO SHOULD HAVE KEPT THE TONE AND PROFESSIONALISM OF THE INTERACTION. I KNOW MY ATTITUDE DIDN’T HELP BUT HER ATTITUDE IS WHAT FUELED AND KEPT IT GOING. I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE FOR HER PART IN THIS OR PRETEND THIS IS ON ME. I’M SORRY I RUBBED HER THE WRONG WAY, I WASN’T SCREAMING OMG ARE YOU SERIOUS AND ACTIVELY IGNORING ME AS I SPOKE TO HER.

The pharmacist knows she’s in the wrong, and I really do hope something is done here. The manager will be in at 5PM in the local store. I may try to call her and express my upset. Perhaps she has access to some records. Maybe I better just let those above her take care of it. If I didn’t think I had much of a choice I’d leave their pharmacy all together.
I’m so angry I can’t even see straight. No one deserves to go through that. My body is numb with anger.

But bright side—my medicine was ready in 30 minutes or less of lighting a fire under them. Wonder how they magically found some.