To All Pharmacy Patients:

I am the Misunderstood Pharmacy Technician behind the counter where you are trying to get your medications.

I am misunderstood in being regarded as rude or harsh, when I am simply doing my job, which is essentially to help you and make sure your medication is safe and accurate.

Your choice to yell at me and be verbally abusive is futile. I, too, get my medications here, and I am the lowest (wo)man on the totem pole (literally).

I wish we could switch shoes for just a day, perhaps on the 7th consecutive day where I have worked a 10-hour shift on my feet with no chance to sit. Yes, my shoes were comfortable five days ago, and are usually comfortable for the first 9 hours of the day, but during the 7th day, no number of insoles or magic can help.

I wish you understood that I know what it’s like to have a sick kid; I have one at home too, and need to leave work on time to tend to them and my family.

I wish you understood that I know you just left the hospital which is right across the street, but they don’t send the prescriptions individually, but instead often send them in bunches on the hour. It’s more time-efficient for them, which actually trickles down to be more time-efficient for you, as they can see you sooner. This means I may not already have it in the five minutes it took you to get here from their location, and no, I cannot call to see if it’s been sent.

I wish you understood I have nothing to do with pricing, nor does anyone at my location. I do not create relationships with vendors, agreements with wholesalers, mass purchases, or manufacturers selected. I wish you understood that I do not know what is on your formulary, as there are literally thousands of plans offered in the country, and I wish you understood that some of that responsibility lies on your shoulders.

I wish you understood we fill 750 prescriptions daily, with just one pharmacist and two techs. I wish you truly understood the concept of red tape, or tape of any color, for that matter. If you’ve ever had long or semi-long hair, or have a child with such, and gotten any sort of tape involved, picture a piece of tape, maybe 2-3 inches long, which is especially sticky. After it gets stuck in one piece of hair, the more you try to get it out, number of hair strands that get involved increases exponentially. At some point, the tape is now controlling a big wad of hair and won’t get off your fingers either, similar to a child’s booger. This same tape is the regulations by which I am bound.

I wish you understood I am bound by limitations/regulations of all kinds: plan limitations, narcotics limitations, days’ supply limitations, age limitations, Medicare B/D fuzzy line limitations, manufacturer limitations by Medicaid, corporate limitations, state limitations from my license, and limitations by both the DEA and FDA.

I wish you understood, or tried to, that I just spent 21 minutes on the phone with your insurance company trying to get this fixed and am getting an answer, albeit an answer you may not like.

I wish you understood that asking me the same question four times does not change the answer.

I wish you understood that when we “close” for a 30-minute break for lunch, we are really not taking a break, but are catching up on things we haven’t had time to do during the morning without interruptions. It’s not a way to ignore you; we’re simply catching up so we can finish your case.

I wish you understood that when I am not speaking while typing in information and reading my screen, it is not because I’m ignoring you, but instead am gathering information and putting things together.

I wish you understood that when I’m asking for more information, it’s for safety. Yes, it matters to the insurance whether your apartment is 2C or 2. Yes, it matters if your area code is 317 or 316. Yes, it matters what the EXACT date/year of birth is. Yes, it matters what the gender assigned at birth is. All of this information matters to the insurance company who is processing your claim and trying to get it paid. I have no partiality to any of this, and my view is not changed by whether we are neighbors or first-grade enemies; this is info we must collect.

I wish you understood that I personally have no bias on which purpose you have for the medication, but government programs do. Medicare B and D are different in the way they treat diabetes supplies and medications. I wish you understood that what your doctor told you in his office has no change in what I do at my location. Medicare DOES NEED to know how often you test your blood sugar daily; those questions are not just for my curiosity.

Test strips/diabetes…that creates a whole new level of misunderstanding. If my shoes are not feeling uncomfortable to you yet, they will be soon. I wish you understood that your personal diabetes specifics do not affect me in any way. I understand you are pre-diabetic, Type 1 Diabetic, Type 2 Diabetic, or are genetically pre-disposed to Diabetes. HOWEVER, I wish YOU understood that your dilemma is no better/worse than the person next to you in line. All of these new medications that began to be successful (off-label) at weight loss and have exploded in demand are in some ways a nemesis to us. We have nothing to do with manufacturing, supply/demand, and raw ingredients, and no I cannot call four different stores (same chain or others) to see if they have that product because we don’t have it in stock today. I wish you understood that being on backorder does not mean it will be here on a specific day, but means it has been ordered and we have no more info than that, and cannot just contact the manufacturer. I wish you understood that I am not the triage leader. “I am a true diabetic” is a terrible thing to say, as I don’t control who gets the medication, nor does that change the demand. It’s infuriating to assume so.

As my shoes are getting tighter and warmer to you, I wish you understoodthat I do not dictate which brand of biologic your doctor prescribes, and I cannot just “find out” which ones are available. Reasonably, that’s like me telling you that I need a pair of teal socks and asking you to find out who (any company, any store, any location) has what size, and then asking if you have any other aqua-blue colors.

I wish you understood there are infinite opportunities for errors in medications and prescriptions, from the pharmacy, the doctor, and the patient. We spend a lot of time, and specifically and a lot of time in the aforementioned ball of red tape trying to prevent such. If a script’s instructions are not clear as whether to use twice daily or thrice daily (which I have seen), yes I need to spend some extra time of yours AND mine to call to make sure your child does not get too much.

I wish you understood there are specific blocks set up to PROTECT YOU, the PATIENT. If your file says somewhere that you have a sulfa allergy, but are prescribed medication even remotely in that class, our system flags it and we need to call, because we are dispensing medication to HELP you, not harm you.

Ultimately, I wish you understood the many things that go on behind the scenes of your amber vial getting in a bag to you. Now, let’s switch our shoes back. I will remember your frustrations of time delays and other perceived obstacles as you will hopefully remember mine. I’m hanging my dirty, tired shoes on the door handle for tonight.

Sent with genuine concern for your health and safety of you and your family,

The Pharmacy Technician at your Local Retail Pharmacy

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Stacie Myers