Return of the Evil Pharmacist

Since I'm in a ranting mood tonight, I also wanted to post an update on the Evil Pharmacist (read initial post here).

I resolved my issues by contacting corporate, who contacted the store, who were not able to confirm or deny that anything looked fishy with the computer records given that everyone has different insurance. They "handled the issue with the pharmacist at the store level" and apologized for her rudeness, and sent me store vouchers to use.

I still transferred my prescriptions to a different branch (same store, because we get gas discount points on those pricey meds).

Last week I went to pick up my prescriptions. Surprise--guess who had transferred stores, and now works at my new location. And guess who could not get the insurance to work for my inhaler, but encouraged me to get a coupon from online and "keep my receipt".

EVIL PHARMACIST IS STALKING ME.

You know how you have those moments in life, where you could swear someone is scripting it, because this kind of bull only happens on television?

Alula

Evil Pharmacist

So for those of you who haven't heard this yet, I will do a recap.

There is an evil pharmacist at my pharmacy. Every time I get her, there is undoubtedly a "problem" with my insurance. Now, the problem is as follows: she goes to run my insurance, and it comes back saying I owe the full amount on whatever prescription. For my birth control, full price is more than $60/month, when insurance knocks it down to a co-pay of $25. Now, I feel I should note this woman is in fact a real pharmacist, she's at least 50 and has been there since I started filling my prescriptions 2 years ago, and she gets really rude really fast and speaks perfect English. This is not an issue where she is lacking training, experience, wisdom, or appropriate communication.

The first time this happens I brushed it off. I thought, "Eh, well...it's probably a computer error." I took the evil pharmacist's advice and kept my receipt, went home and called insurance to see what was up. They said I only owed $25, even though I had paid $60. I kept this to myself as money was tight at the time (Mr. Borealis was between jobs). When I went back the evil pharmacist said her computer said $60, so if I couldn't provide proof then I couldn't get a refund. She didn't want to talk to insurance.

From then on I avoided that pharmacist because she was rude. However, last fall I was 2 days late on the refill and finally caved. I thought it would run smooth and surely whatever issue or lacking training in entering insurance info had been remedied since our last encounter. Not so. That time she told me my insurance was expired. I said no, it was not. She looked at my card and said it was through the state, and having worked there for twelve years or something, they renewed every October so I needed a new card for my insurance to apply. That didn't sound right to me, so I called Mr. B and sure enough, our insurance was current and renewed in July. Evil pharmacist said her computer said my insurance was expired. I checked to be sure the correct date was on the card, pointed it out, and evil pharmacist said I needed a new card but to keep my receipt. I went home, Mr. B agreed it was weird, he called the insurance company who also agreed it shouldn't have happened, and we requested new cards just in case. I went back in for a refund, this time with my paper proof, and the evil pharmacist said that she could not issue a refund because it was more than 10 days old. I'm thinking, "$%^#%!" I again keep this secret from Mr. B.

Here's the kicker: the next month I go in to pick up my birth control with my fresh insurance card (no information changed--just a new piece of plastic) and have it in hand when I get to the counter to pick up. The evil pharmacist walks in and takes my order, relieving the pharmacist who I had walked up to. I tell her my last name, she gets my birth control, and says "That'll be $25." without even looking at my card. My jaw drops. I say, "You made me go through the ordeal of getting a new card because you told me my insurance was expired--then you refused to refund me when the error wasn't with insurance. It went through this time?" She shrugs and repeats that it's $25. I pay and grind my teeth all the way out to the car. I vow that I will sooner get pregnant before dealing with this inept woman again.

Today, I'm working hard on end of semester projects. I send Mr. B out to get my birth control. Well, guess who he got at the counter? And guess how much my birth control was, because the computer said so, even though Mr. B told all these previous stories and had them check their record to confirm we usually pay $25? Evil pharmacist made him pay $60 anyways, and as always "keep the receipt."

So he came home and told me what happened. And guess who just got blasted by name and store location to the corporate email address?

Vindication will be mine. I kept my receipts.

Alula

Taking the topic

If I were to guess, I'd say that the suggested topic is one that we should all post on right? Right.

Today at work I am supposed to be scanning my outs. I walk around the shelves with a scanny gun and scan the labels of everything that's out of stock. This is incredibly boring. I get part way through, and lo and behold, the wall of birth control is a mess! Packs didn't get taken out of boxes, boxes are stacked outside of their baskets, there are several empty baskets of things we don't stock anymore... So I organize it. It's pretty now. That was my freak organizational moment for the month. I also found a full afternoon's worth of tasks to keep me from sending back my expired drugs.

I've also gotten a whole lot done, mostly reading and knitting, while avoiding doing laundry. The "there's something in the dryer" excuse never gets old. For the record I do my laundry. I could probably do it more frequently, but it gets done. Normally at about 2am. The folding is the part I really hate.

Are you sure it's not a full moon?

Today was weird conversation day. Every single conversation I had today was bizzare. I know three of you have worked with dog poop on a regular basis and see it as a normal work topic, but when you tell your pharmacy tech about your dog pooping where he's not suspossed to, that is a weird conversation. Also, when your doctor says no, you are not allowed to argue. I don't care how loud you get.

I got bit by the project bug something awful. Every spring and every fall, I just urges to make something. I've started writing random stories. I now know why they are called plot bunnies. They mutiply in the fibbinoci sequence. I spent a Saturday afternoon charting out a cable pattern for a class. The knitting and cooking bugs seem to bite in the fall though.

I also have no idea where the geeky guys are around here. They guys associated with my co-workers (other than the pharmacists) are either construction workers or truck drivers.

Also, everything between my ribcage and my legs is protesting my existance. Ow.

I know I know...

I have been quite absent in my blogging lately. This may be because I pick up hobbies like some people pick up shiny sea shells. The other day I tried to learn to spin. At the end of the evening I concluded that I was going to leave the yarn making to the professionals.

So here's the quick and dirty overview of what has been going on in my life. (This would be done by hand puppets, but it would be too much work to draw and scan everything. :P)

- The next two weeks are going to be the only ones in which I enjoy living in the south all year. Because I has a spring! But everything has not been coated in a fine yellow dust. Do y'all know what is actually in pollen? Tree sperm.

- I am still not done with my purple sweater from July. Alright I knit another sweater, 2 pairs of fingerless gloves, a hat, and a scarf, and put together two patterns since then as well. But still. Makes me feel layzee.

- Cooking disaster #347: Black eyed peas and installing WoW. They don't go together.

- I have worked with the general public for well over 2 years, and I am still amazed on a daily basis, at how stupid people can be. Drop off a prescription at drop off window, pick it up at pick up window, how hard can that be? Also, having to re-train your co-workers every other week on how not to special order things we are getting shipped to us from corporate, that would be a nice Easter present. Also, I want less paperwork for Christmas.

- I finally found a used bookstore. It's organization system is piles. I think I'm in love. <3

- I don't remember if I ever told you what I got on my PCAT. I got a 92. I know you don't know what that means. But it's a percentile score.

- I am really really really looking foward to seeing all y'all in April!

- I need to start remembering work stories to share.

Do I get brownie points if I use all the labels in one post? How about just brownies? Next post (of mine) will be my uber-awesome brownie recipe. Maybe with mint modifications.

Until next time,
DoHP

Cough Syrup of the Beast

Today I was at work, like I am most days. The phone rings like it does bajillions of times every day. My co-worker picks up the phone. I don't pay any attention to the conversation, as I'm working on a prescription for someone else. The only thing I notice is that she transfers the call to the front store after saying that she didn't know if we had the product as she can't find it in our computer.

A couple minutes later, the phone rings again. I answer it this time and there's a lady on the other end asking A) why she got transfered to the front store when every other pharmacy (I guess she has called all of them) can answer her question, and B) do we have a cough syrup called 6-6-6?

Who knew Hell made cough syrup?

Complete your own adventure: Mystery of the Pharmacy call

The phone rings, it's picked up. You hear:
"Big Chain Pharmacy, this is Death of Houseplants, how can I help you?"

How do you respond?
"Is the male pharmacist there?"
-"No sir, he's not, he'll be in tomorrow, would you like to talk to today's pharmacist?"
-"No it's fine, I'll ask you, do you have the his and hers lube?"
"I have a worker's comp there. I only have one pill left and my shoulder still hurts from when that &@%#^ beat me up at work"
-"*sounds of mental break down on other end of the line*"
"I need a refill"
- Pause
-Pause
-Pause
-"Okay, what's your name"
- "Q"
- "Okay, what's your last name"
-"*Last name*"
- "What do you need the refill on?"
-"I'll just give you the number"
- *Sounds of tech beating head on counter* (numbers are easier)
"I haven't pooped in 3 days, can you tell me something to take?"
-"Let me grab my pharmacist"
"When can I fill my Lortabs/Somas/Vicodens/Xanaxes/Tramadols?"
-"You got them filled last week"
"Hey this is cool girl from the store down the street, do you have a drug in stock?"
-"I don't know if the drug you want but I have one in stock, actually I have lots of drugs in stock, I don't happen to have Metformin today, but I'm pretty well stocked on everything else"

...Weren't run on batteries!

Yesterday was my two year anniversary with my batteries. Not the same batteries I started with but the concept of batteries.

I think I've found a certain special kind of insanity. I named my latest knitting project. Steve.

And a warning for Q. Make sure that Mr. Q's insurance has you in the system as female. Because otherwise it will reject with the "Drug not covered for gender specified" error and somebody will have to call the insurance to get it fixed, normally while you're waiting in the store for your birth control. Also the one guy that I work with in the pharmacy had something crawl up his butt today (and I don't mean like one of those giant bugs we get around here), and he really reminds me of my old boss Pissy Hippy.

Your local cranky tech
~DoHP

Insanity!

Today, I was eating lunch and reading the newspaper. This is fairly normal. But I decided to read the health section. I probably should read it more often, as I know any recipes that are in there will eventually show up on the dinner table. My mom is on a health kick. All the bread in the house is whole wheat, which I normally don't mind, but this isn't the whole wheat that has a bit of a crunch to it, it's just really dense and tastes like bleh, and doesn't toast right. And I came down stairs this morning and saw, sitting on the stove (because apparently we have no where else to put things) a plate with raisins on it. That were soaking in wine. Because it is a folk remedy for some joint condition or another. And my sister is not allowed to drink anything without added calcium. (But she is using this as an excuse to eat lots of extra cheese, so my sister is smart.) All the noodles are whole wheat too, and we don't buy normal size bags of regular flour anymore. Forget that baking is a subtle chemistry, it must be made with whole wheat flour, and turn into a hockey puck.

But what really ticked me off in the newspaper was a small Q&A about having a high deductible when it comes to prescription drugs and what someone can do to save money at the pharmacy. The drugs were Flovent inhaler, Nasonex, Avodart, Nexium, and Ambien (I'm guessing CR). Now plain Ambien comes in a generic that is a lot cheaper (and you still take just once a night), Nexium is the active isomer of Prilosec (which happens to be OTC, and generic!), there are about 3 different types of generic inhalers this guy could have tried before the Flovent, and it mentions nothing about trying the generic for Flonase before going straight to the Nasonex. Now the answer mentions nothing about talking to his pharmacist about getting switched to generics, or talking to his doctor about the costs and getting switched to generics in the same class. The answer was: send off for an information brochure about using a Canadian Pharmacy. It just ticked me off. Because that's the option of last resort. Really.

But the pasta salad recipe looked pretty good.

May You Live In Interesting Times

What is a curse to those who want to settle down and live nice calm lives is a blessing to those who blog. Most people would think that the Thursday evening shift in a suburban pharmacy would be one of those things that the boring people would like. This was not so.

I've been there only 6 months, but I'm getting used to playing phone tag with the insurance companies, but am still surprised when they call back. We were billing one guy's prescription wrong and the insurance called us to tell us how to do it right. I'm amazed I didn't actually faint. The insurance companies don't do any of their own legwork, they make the pharmacy staff, or you, or your doctor do it instead.

Most of the children that come in the pharmacy are pretty well behaved. Their mom's won't bring them into the store if they aren't. Ah the great drive-thru. But today there were two little monsters that came in with their mom. One was 4 one was 2. They tore apart the display in front of the registers. The two year old got a hold of a tube of hand lotion. And squirted it all over one of the chairs in the waiting area. It did look like someone had a little too much fun over there. The girl was reprimanded by her mom, but it fell to me to clean it up a little later. It was funny when about 5 minutes later when a rather stuck up lady gave the chair that "What?! Eww" look. And stood quite far away. It took several minutes of through scrubbing but the lotion is gone, and in it's place a "Wet Chair" sign.

It's now the time of year for Girl Scout cookies. Ever since I was just a wee little Lilly I looked forward to them. I even sold the silly things for 6 years. The last few days there have been Girl Scouts in front of my store. And I've missed them for the last few days. I was going to make sure I caught them today. It got really quite in happy little pharmacy land around a quarter till 9. I figured it was time for water and some store brand cookies to migrate back to the pharmacy (paid for of course). But on the way to the front where they keep the water I ran into a girl scout. I quickly got my water and store brand cookies (they were for my pharmacist) and ran outside to get cookies before the girls left. I turn the corner of the building and see a cop car flashing blue. And a tow truck. And a little car looking pathetic. We have this boulder (a rather small boulder by Boulder standards) right near the entrance to our parking lot. This little car had taken the corner too tight and gotten itself high-centered on said boulder. The tow truck was there to pull it off. Apparently this happens often (by this town's standards) and the rock still sits there.

I think I like the interesting. I want to keep it.
~Lilly

I get Garfield

For the longest time I never understood why Garfield hated Mondays. I personally never liked Tuesdays, and Thursdays were pretty bad too. On Monday, I was normally refreshed from the weekend, and ready to get on with the week, even more so when it was a week of learning. This is all until recently, when I started working in a pharmacy. (We've had a letter go out on one of our signs so at night, my store is a harmacy.)

Ladies, do not go to the pharmacy on a Monday. I'm begging you. Unless you like pure untamed chaos. Then just go hang out there. Or if you want to play a prank on the staff, pull out some copy paper and ask how long it will take to wait on 12 prescriptions, and watch the person at the window faint.

On a Monday a pharmacy is dealing with a whole weekend's worth of problems along with a rather busy day's. All the dr's offices, the wholesalers, and a bunch of insurance companies are closed over the weekend. So nothing gets taken care of until Monday.

The crazies also tend to come in on Mondays as well. Thankfully no one has handed me a bag of lice yet. But I've caught the crazy, since I want to go to pharmacy school.

Since both of you have posted crafty things, I think it's my turn. For my entry I have:

A hat that looks like a pineapple.