I am back...Why?

I am shocked!! I just noticed the date of my last blog posting. It is clearly evident that it has been so long since I vented, that I have lost the last two people in the world that were even remotely interested in my health care insights. And...quite frankly, I think they were close family members, just peeking in once in a while to see if my rants were turned down to a rolling boil. Hey, I am not angry a druggist, I'm just at an age where I don't suffer fools lightly and I might be a tad grumpy about the state of affairs behind the pharmacy counter, but at the end of the day, I would very much like to see a smarter pharmacy patient. All parties would benefit and I am betting my next paycheck, it would lead to big savings on the health care dollar. With frustration running high of late, today's writing is personally therapeutic and I suppose a little self-serving Hey...I can live with that! Maybe, I can slowly woo those few readers back with a few tips. I have seen the quality of writing from outspoken pharmacists on tons of topics; some whimsical, some tragic, and some very thought provoking. Given the right chance, I just might be able to find my little niche in the world of pharmacists that can both count to thirty and also comment on the issue at hand withouht leaving a dangling participle. There is nothing wrong in wrappping up a "pet-peeve" in a small box of "edginess", is there? I want to get the readers attention, but I don't desire to be obnoxious about the whole affair. So.... True to my mantra of the 3 "Bs," I shall Be Brief, Be Brilliant, and Be Gone. I ask a simple question to all of us pharmacy partons who just might have been guilty of the following breaches of etiquette. I want to simply ask..."Why?" -Why do we wait until Friday evening to request a prescription refill with NO refills, knowing full well we are "leaving town for the weekend?" or better still, "in a couple of hours?" -Why do we think the pharmacy dictates the price our insurance company is charging us for our prescriptions? -Why do we think that a pharmacist will fill our prescription faster if we stand at the pick-up window, pounding out Morse Code with our debit card? -Why do we and the pharmacist count 30 days differently when it comes to Hydrocodone/APAP prescriptions that must last 1 month between refills? -Why do we think that our physician requires an insurance card at time of service, but is unnecessary at our local drug store? -Why do we think that pharmacists learned an extra skill set in pharmacy school as a grocery checker? -Why is that we feel okay about calling our pharmacist and requesting to refill "all the usual prescriptions I usually get every month?" -Why do we think that in the pharmacy, 20 minutes actually means 5 minutes in prescription processing time? -Why do we think that a pharmacist can easily fill our prescription 5 minutes before the closing hour, because we are sure he doesn't want to get home after spending 10 straight hours on his feet? -Why do we feel the necessity on arriving at the prescription drop-off window to immediately stick our head inwards and yell at the top of our voice, "Yoo-Who!" as if those 2 seconds of wait time on our part was extremely unreasonable? -Why do we think our local pharmacist is obligated to solve our mail-order pharmacy problems and many others that he or she might not be qualified to do so? (I do believe that is a dangling partiple situation!) Okay...I think I have made myself clear and not too insulting. Next time you fill that prescription, feel a little for that overworked guy in the white labcoat...and remember, Take as Directed! blake