there's nothing quite like being screamed at on the phone by an old man upset that his medication was not delivered/you do not understand him/he is confused about life. add to it a very heavy russian accent and things get even more interesting. one of our customers is a russian imigrant who has an ok grasp of the english language. the instant the man gets upset, i.e. every time he calls us, he loses words and just starts yelling. i've come to understand that once he knows the person answering the phone and realizes that you will in fact try to help him he will 80% of the time let you help him. the other 20% he will shout at the top of his lungs. and so i answer the phone and this occurs:
"where is my medication?! i did not get it."
sir, which medication are you looking for?
(apparently that was the question to end all questions. this set him off and he never really came back down to earth.
"what medication???! you are asking ME what medication? I. DO. NOT. KNOW!"
i'm sorry sir i'm trying to find out how i can help you.
"I called earlier. I tell you to call the doctor. You do not call the doctor. WHY NOT? I get prescription. I lose prescription. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS. I CALL YOU. YOU CALL THE DOCTOR. YOU CALL THE DOCTOR NOW! YOU CALL THE DOCTOR AGAIN. YOU CALL ONE MILLION TIMES. YOU CALL THE DOCTOR NOW YOU CALL THE DOCTOR NOW YOU CALL THE DOCTOR NOW........
meanwhile i'm holding the phone away from my ear shouting "sir! listen to me! sir!
my coworkers can all hear him screaming from across the room. one of them is shouting at me. put him on hold put him on hold NOW! so basically i just shouted "i'm putting you on hold!" and slammed the phone down. my coworker got on the phone and politely but firmly told him that in no uncertain circumstances was he going to call and scream at us like that. He is in fact the one that lost the prescription therefore HE needs to call the doctor. NOT us.
It shouldn't really suprise me by now that the vast majority of our customers have no freaking clue what medications they take. I don't care if you are 107, you should probably know what medication you are taking and why you are taking it. Knowing your doctors phone number independentaly from having to call me up and ask for it would also be a wise idea. I talked to a customer today who up and moved to Georgia and only after her doctor called her old phone number back home and spoke with her daughter about the fact that her recent bloodwork showed that her health issues were really out of whack did it occur to the woman that she probably should have taken her medications WITH HER. the woman moved to Georgia and did not take her medications along. oh and p.s. not only is she asthmatic, she is also diabetic. two health issues you probably shouldn't mess with. these things shouldn't amaze me. and yet they do.
my coworkers were telling stories from before i started working there. here's my favorite: a customer moves into a new apartment. he finds a bottle of pills in the kitchen that belong to the previous tenant. he calls the pharmacy and asks if it is ok to take them.
"where is my medication?! i did not get it."
sir, which medication are you looking for?
(apparently that was the question to end all questions. this set him off and he never really came back down to earth.
"what medication???! you are asking ME what medication? I. DO. NOT. KNOW!"
i'm sorry sir i'm trying to find out how i can help you.
"I called earlier. I tell you to call the doctor. You do not call the doctor. WHY NOT? I get prescription. I lose prescription. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS. I CALL YOU. YOU CALL THE DOCTOR. YOU CALL THE DOCTOR NOW! YOU CALL THE DOCTOR AGAIN. YOU CALL ONE MILLION TIMES. YOU CALL THE DOCTOR NOW YOU CALL THE DOCTOR NOW YOU CALL THE DOCTOR NOW........
meanwhile i'm holding the phone away from my ear shouting "sir! listen to me! sir!
my coworkers can all hear him screaming from across the room. one of them is shouting at me. put him on hold put him on hold NOW! so basically i just shouted "i'm putting you on hold!" and slammed the phone down. my coworker got on the phone and politely but firmly told him that in no uncertain circumstances was he going to call and scream at us like that. He is in fact the one that lost the prescription therefore HE needs to call the doctor. NOT us.
It shouldn't really suprise me by now that the vast majority of our customers have no freaking clue what medications they take. I don't care if you are 107, you should probably know what medication you are taking and why you are taking it. Knowing your doctors phone number independentaly from having to call me up and ask for it would also be a wise idea. I talked to a customer today who up and moved to Georgia and only after her doctor called her old phone number back home and spoke with her daughter about the fact that her recent bloodwork showed that her health issues were really out of whack did it occur to the woman that she probably should have taken her medications WITH HER. the woman moved to Georgia and did not take her medications along. oh and p.s. not only is she asthmatic, she is also diabetic. two health issues you probably shouldn't mess with. these things shouldn't amaze me. and yet they do.
my coworkers were telling stories from before i started working there. here's my favorite: a customer moves into a new apartment. he finds a bottle of pills in the kitchen that belong to the previous tenant. he calls the pharmacy and asks if it is ok to take them.
4 comments:
That's really sad, though. You have to figure, the people who don't know what's going on probably don't have reletives who are keeping up to date on what's going on with them. And, knowing the sorry state of the medical INDUSTRY (because it's no longer truly a service, save those individuals who make it one), chances are, their doctors are not making things very clear to them.
Hugs, girl. You are on the front lines of giving grace and blessing those whom our society has effectively thrown away. Not an easy task.
true. that is a good reminder to have a little more grace with people. (though I usually do have grace on the phone, it's after i get off of the phone that i'm not very nice). i need someone to keep me in line at work and treat people better. here's melissa feeling convicted....
The answer to taking those pills is obviously YES! Here's hoping they're uppers. And not lethals.
LOL!! love the stories...
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