During my freshman year in high school, my science teacher assigned us to interview people in the community about how they use science in their careers. Although I don’t remember most of the people I spoke with, I can tell you that I spent meaningful time with a local community pharmacist who changed my life.
What I saw was a man who loved his career and truly cared for his patients. In an instant, I knew that I wanted to become a pharmacist, and I never wavered from that goal throughout high school.
Knowing what you want to be when you grow up at age 14 is unusual, but it is very liberating. I simply had to work backwards to figure out how to achieve my goal of becoming a pharmacist.
After high school, I chose to attend Ohio Northern University (ONU) because it had a unique pharmacy program. Rather than attending college for 2 years and then applying to the pharmacy program, ONU students were admitted to the College of Pharmacy from day one.
Although it was expensive, being in pharmacy school from day one and avoiding the risk of rejection made it worthwhile for me.
In college, I spent a lot of time in the library. Although the classwork was difficult, I did well with one exception: organic chemistry.
I did fail organic chemistry—a notorious “weed out” course—but I successfully retook the class over the summer and graduated on time with the rest of my classmates. Failing a course is a difficult stumbling block, but I stood strong and persevered.
Today, I’m thankful for the wonderful pharmacy profession for so many reasons.
First, I’m thankful that community pharmacists are the health care professionals most accessible to the public. If my local pharmacist wasn’t accessible to me, then I likely would have taken a different career path.
Second, I’m proud of the work we pharmacists do, the diversity of our career options, and the relationships we share with our patients and fellow health care providers.
Pharmacy is a profession that makes a real difference in people’s lives. It certainly has made all the difference in mine.
Pharmacy | Windsor, Ontario, Canada | Right | February 24, 2012
(We have a free self-use blood pressure machine in our pharmacy.)
Customer: “When are you going to fix your blood pressure machine?”
Pharmacist: “Excuse me?”
Customer: “Your blood pressure machine is broken. Every time I come in here, it doesn’t work! You should really take care of it. Lots of old people need to check their blood pressure, you know!”
Me: “Are you sure? I just filled the paper roll the other day. It was working fine.”
Customer: “No, it’s not! I’ve been trying to use it for days. It’s not working. You should really take care of it!”
(I take a look at the machine and try to troubleshoot the problem. I sit in the seat, roll up my sleeve, put it in the cuff, and push the big green “Start” button. The cuff inflates normally.)
Customer: “You mean you’re suppose to push that button?!”
Fast Food, Gun Store, Pharmacy, Tech Support | Not Always Right Archives | Right | February 19, 2012
Introducing Weekend Roundups: each week, we’ll be featuring some of our favorite stories from the Not Always Right archives.
Don’t Mess With Employees! This week, we feature five stories that teach misbehaving customers the consequences of messing with employees.
1.In Real Hot Sauce Now:
A young teenage employee decides her dignity is worth more than £3.71 and dealing with a cowardly manager.
2.A Good Ol’ Fashioned A** Whoopin’:
A customer tries to rough up an employee, but ends up getting roughed up by the manager instead.
3.Hard Drugs And Harder Pharmacists:
Teenage robber, meet Doug. Doug is our new pharmacy tech. Doug is also built like a fridge.
4.Who’s Got The Power Now:
Tech support is happy to support your technology. Supporting your potty mouth, not so much.
5.Your Prank Got Spanked:
A prank caller picks the wrong, well-armed store to call.
Pharmacy | Ontario, Canada | Right | January 25, 2012
Patient: “Hi, my 6-month-old grandson has some congestion in his nose and a fever. I gave him some NyQuil yesterday and that seemed to help. Is there anything you would recommend?”
Me: “For the congestion, you can use these saline drops, they’re–”
Patient: “No! I don’t wanna use that medicated stuff.”
Me: “All right. Well, for the fever you can try this Tylenol. Do you know the wei–”
Patient: “No! I don’t want to use that! It has acetaminophen in it! That’s not safe for babies.”
Me: “Actually, acetaminophen is quite safe for infants.”
Patient: “You’re a pharmacist. You would say that!”
Me: “Well, the only other option is the Advil.”
Patient: “That has acetaminophen too!”
Me: “No, that has ibuprofen. Which is also saf–”
Patient: “No, it isn’t!”
Me: “Are you aware that NyQuil has acetaminophen in it?”
Patient: “You lie! NyQuil has NyQuil in it! Isn’t there anything more natural I can give?!”
(An elderly gentleman approaches me at the counter.)
Me: “How may I help you, sir?”
Customer: “My butt hurts! I need medicine!”
Me: “All right, do you have a prescription? Or, can you tell me what exactly is wrong so that I can recommend you something that doesn’t need one?”
Customer: “I don’t know what’s wrong. But my butt hurts!”
Me: “Please go see a doctor then, sir. Without knowing what causes your pain, there’s little I can do.”
Customer: “But I don’t want to wait at the doctor’s together with all the sick people! I’ll catch a disease or something!”
Me: “That’s understandable. Maybe you could go early in the morning when fewer people are there?”
Customer: “No! I don’t want to! I want you to tell me what’s wrong! Look at my butt!”
Me: “Sorry, sir, but we don’t do that–”
(The man doesn’t listen. In front of me and three other customers, he drops his pants and underwear, turns around and sticks out his butt in my direction.)
Me: “Sir, please pull up your pants again! I can’t tell what’s wrong and you will have to leave if you don’t stop that!”
Customer: “Nonsense! If you can’t tell what’s wrong from over there, come closer and get a better look!”
(My boss then comes to look at what’s going on and ends up kicking the guy out.)
Customer: *on the way out the door* “Why will no one look at my butt?!”
Pharmacy | Wyckoff, NJ, USA | Right | November 16, 2011
(A customer walks to my register with a Halloween decoration in tow. It’s a cheap cardboard statue of a cartoon-looking black cat covered in a shiny plastic material.)
Customer: “So, why is this 3D?”
Me: “Excuse me?”
(I peer at the tag. It says “3D Cat”.)
Me: “Oh, that’s because it’s 3D.”
Customer: “No, I mean why is it ‘D’? Is it because it’s shiny?”
(A multitude of thoughts are racing through my head at this point. I debate the prospect of explaining to her what 3D actually means. In the end, I decide it’s easier to just agree with her.)
Me: “Exactly! It’s really sparkly and that’s why it’s called a 3D cat. Would you like to purchase it?”
Pharmacy | New Zealand | Right | November 15, 2011
(I’m a pharmacist in a rural area. A shop assistant calls me out from the dispensary to talk to a customer, who is a slightly intoxicated middle aged woman.)
Customer: “This medicine made my partner sick! Violently sick!”
Me: “Let me see. Has he had any alcohol?”
Customer: “No.”
Me: “Are you sure? Not even a little?”
Customer: “He doesn’t drink. Maybe only a little, but he wasn’t drunk.”
Me: “It clearly says on the label that you must not drink any alcohol while being treated with this medicine.”
Customer: “But he didn’t drink much at all. A beer shouldn’t matter, should it?”
Me: “It contains enough alcohol to–”
Customer: “But, like, you can even drive if you only drink a beer!”
Me: “That has nothing to do with–”
Customer: “I think he’d better not take this medicine. It made him violently sick!”
Me: “I think he should–”
Customer: “Thanks, I’ll tell him what you said. This medicine is a poison!” *turns around and walks out*
Pharmacy | Lansing, MI, USA | Right | November 9, 2011
(I am standing in line at the pharmacy counter and a man rudely cuts in front of me, stating that he has been waiting in line, just in another part of the store. He assures me he’ll be quick, but I don’t buy his excuse. The following exchange occurs between him and the pharmacist.)
Customer: “I need to speak to a pharmacist immediately.”
Pharmacist: “Do you have a question about your medication?”
Customer: “Yes, it says on the bottle to take with water. I don’t drink water. Water makes you fat.”
Pharmacist: “Um, water is essential for your body, especially with those pills.”
Customer: “What about water retention? Will I just pee it out, then?”
Pharmacist: “Yeah, your body will eventually eliminate it. You should drink water, though. Your body needs plenty of water to work well, and you really don’t want to be dehydrated while on this drug.”
Customer: “Okay, I’ll try it. Oh, and one more question. What about alcohol? Can I still have my alcohol?”
Pharmacy | Goffstown, NH, USA | Right | October 24, 2011
(A customer has called to ask if we carry an over the counter soap in our store.)
Me: “Hello, ma’am? I just checked and we do carry [brand] soap. However, we are all out of stock right now, but we could order some for you and it would come in tomorrow.”
Customer: “You don’t carry [brand]?”
Me: “We do carry it. We just don’t have it in right now.”
Customer: “Well, why not?”
Me: “Because other customers have purchased it. But we can order some for tomorrow.”
Pharmacy | Illinois, USA | Right | September 27, 2011
(Our pharmacy phone system is down, so all pharmacy calls are going through the main line, which is answered by me. These calls include people trying to reach the automated prescription line.)
Me: “Thanks for calling [store], where we offer flu shots every day. This is [name]. How may I help you?”
Customer: “You’re not a machine.”
Me: “No. If you were trying to reach the automated line, the phones are down. I can connect you to the pharmacist.”
Customer: “I want the automated system. People are dumb!”
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