When Will Other Businesses get their act together and run like a pharmacy?
by Frantic PharmacistWhen you think about it, retail pharmacy is sort of a unique undertaking, and after a long day filled with customers' inattentiveness, strange requests, weird questions, lack of information, non-English speaking interactions, half-believable stories and total guesswork as to what THE HELL they really want I keep wondering what other retail businesses would do if faced with our average day.
For instance, I tried to imagine, the......
For instance, I tried to imagine, the......
TOP TEN THINGS OVERHEARD IN A FURNITURE STORE THAT RUNS LIKE A PHARMACY
1. "I need to get a dining room chair -- well, maybe more of a bar stool or a recliner.... I got one a while ago, it may have been blue or green, but it's some sort thing you sit on, anyway, made by company starting with 'S' or "W".....could you check your computer to see if I've ever bought anything like that before and can I get another one? Go ahead, read me the list and I'll see if anything rings a bell."
2. I talked to someone in your Chicago store who said they would figure out what it was and then call you and have you put it aside for me. I don't know who I talked to . Can you call them?
3. if I describe my dining room to you can you tell me what I might need or what's missing? -- and then how much it (whatever it is) will cost?
4. I have a discount coupon for some kind of chair or table but I didn't bring it with me. Can you look me up on your mailing list to prove that I did get one in the mail so you can give me the discount price? Or, can you call my wife/husband at home and they will read it to you? How long will that take?
5. My neighbor's' going to pay for it. You'll have to call him to get his credit card number.
6. I think I bought a sleeper sofa back in 1989 that was only $200. Why is it more now? It's always been $200.... or maybe it was a desk......anyways I know I bought it here.
7. I'm having company tonight -- can you give me a couple of chairs to get me through the weekend and I'll (maybe) come back next week and get the rest.
8. I need six of them, but once you get it loaded in my car and the paperwork is totally complete I'll probably change my mind and only decide to take three.
9. I lost that lamp I bought 2 days ago... is there some way I can get another one without paying for it again?
10. You know what? ---maybe it's actually a rug I'm looking for......
And remember, furniture can't kill you. I think the average furniture store employee would walk away from this pretty fast, but in pharmacy it's just another day.
2. I talked to someone in your Chicago store who said they would figure out what it was and then call you and have you put it aside for me. I don't know who I talked to . Can you call them?
3. if I describe my dining room to you can you tell me what I might need or what's missing? -- and then how much it (whatever it is) will cost?
4. I have a discount coupon for some kind of chair or table but I didn't bring it with me. Can you look me up on your mailing list to prove that I did get one in the mail so you can give me the discount price? Or, can you call my wife/husband at home and they will read it to you? How long will that take?
5. My neighbor's' going to pay for it. You'll have to call him to get his credit card number.
6. I think I bought a sleeper sofa back in 1989 that was only $200. Why is it more now? It's always been $200.... or maybe it was a desk......anyways I know I bought it here.
7. I'm having company tonight -- can you give me a couple of chairs to get me through the weekend and I'll (maybe) come back next week and get the rest.
8. I need six of them, but once you get it loaded in my car and the paperwork is totally complete I'll probably change my mind and only decide to take three.
9. I lost that lamp I bought 2 days ago... is there some way I can get another one without paying for it again?
10. You know what? ---maybe it's actually a rug I'm looking for......
And remember, furniture can't kill you. I think the average furniture store employee would walk away from this pretty fast, but in pharmacy it's just another day.
17 comments:
I don't know.... judging by the clientele I see ahead of me in line at the grocery store, I'd say that this is pretty typical behavior.
That's exactly what happens in any retail/service job.
So THIS is why the ladies at our pharmacy are always in such a bad mood. I always wondered...
oh no. I worked as a cashier and in various other retail jobs... this is pretty normal.
"I forgot what it was that I needed to go in what I'm cooking tonight? Can you find it for me?" yep.
This is such an accurate scenario! I especially enjoyed number 9. I hope it okay to post on my facebook group weirdest pharmacy questions.
having worked in retail pharmacy in australia AND hospital pharmacy , i can safely say Dr. Grumpy has nailed it to the bone, that chaotic, erratic behavior of "customers" buying or attempting to buy a "furniture" is so well reciprocated here in australia as it is in america, God bless the mass-dumbasshood
Another Angry Pharmacist from the Land Down-Below
Love it! So true!
Oh, puleeze. Every profession has to deal with its share of clueless patrons. She would find exactly the same problems in retail, computer technical support, restaurant service, etc. There was nothing particularly awesome about this particular bit of whining.
Well, um... furniture can kill you. I mean, think of people who get into one of those folding beds at night that then suddenly close. Or those high-flying desks that drop on you from the sky.
Just a slightly different viewpoint.
;)
Now you've got me thinking about how someone else might experience being an artist... or a wild-bird feeder. Um, not the kind that hangs from a birdtable. Oh, never mind!
Hope you're having a good day doctor grumpy! I bet sometimes you really have nice days and then don't know what to write about...
That sounds a lot like the bookstore where I used to work: "Do you have that book, you know, the one that came out last year?? I think it had a tree on the front..it was about that famous woman with brown hair...? Well can't you just look it up in your computer? I talked to somebody on the phone last week and they said you had it!"
This. A thousand times, this.
Being this stupid should hurt.
WV: sningle "I sningled when I read this"
The "average" furniture store employee isn't ALLOWED to walk away where I come from.
And yep, heard all of the above and more.
www.notalwaysright.com - there are really people like that out there :P
Perfect. Could alternatively be titled for a veterinary hospital instead of a pharmacy--then you'd have to add in phrases like, "Don't you love sleeper sofas? If you loved sleeper sofas you'd give me one for free--you must hate them you cruel evil furniture-store owner for wanting money for a sleeper sofa!" Ahem.
Frantic Farmacist is F'ing Funny!!
Excellent! *snickers* Thank you for sharing Frantic's article!
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