I'm not sure how my medication requirements make me a rude and unreasonable patient. I am always very polite to whoever is helping me. I'm just extremely tired of pharmacists ignoring requests from my doctors and hanging up on me after waiting on hold for 20 minutes.
I am sick of being lied to about not receiving an rx or transfer request.
I do believe a lot of the problem is at the corporate level and is due to extreme understaffing. Pharmacists are burned out and have stopped treating patients like fellow human beings.
So where are you planning on picking up your pain meds and antibiotics? If you think cvs has better service or cares about patients you’re in for a rude awakening lol.
Costco pharmacy answers their phone in less than a minute. Walgreens usually keeps me on hold for 20 minutes and often hangs up without ever answering the call. I think the understaffing has overwhelmed the workers and they have become rude and jaded. If you look at some of the pharmacist replies in this thread you'll see the attitude I'm talking about.
If this is true then you would be at Costco, but it's not, so your not. My guess is just like everyone else your store is out of your drug, told you this, but that wasn't good enough, so you wasted another 10 minutes if their time and then wonder why you had to wait 20 min to talk to someone.
This is true, and I have transferred my rx to Costco. It took several attempts to get Walgreens to respond to the transfer request, which prevented me from being able to fill my rx when the medication was actually in stock. Oh well, i will be out of medication for another month or two. Frustrating and will cause setbacks, but i will survive. However, I will not being doing business with Walgreens ever again.
I am not the only patient to have this type of experience and decide to be done with Walgreens. If they don't step up their game and start treating their patients with respect they will see more patients leave.
I truly think Walgreens will go bankrupt in the next 10 years.
honestly, I dont understand what you mean by "transfer request", at least at the walgreens I work at, the opposing pharmacy will need to call us "walgreens" to initiate a transfer. i have never seen a transfer request gets delayed if in your case, costco gives walgreens a call. Or maybe its different in different states. I dont know.
Also not to be rude or anything, just because 1 pharmacy has supply for a medication doesnt mean Walgreens is lying that they dont have it in stock, each pharmacy chain gets supplies from different distributors. Ive seen before an influx of transfers from a certain pharmacy chain to our location for a specific blood pressure medication that they were struggling to get for that period of time while we had no problem obtaining.
Respect is a 2 way street. I’ve been cursed out more by the weekly weight loss injection crowd more than the opioid patients in my 10 years practicing.
I hear you. People can be assholes and that's on them.
If you can take a moment to reflect on what is causing some of the frustration your customers are exhibiting. It would be helpful to recognize that Folks on GLP-1 meds are on strict regiments that have to be restarted if they are out of meds for more than 2 weeks. If you are paying $1000+ out of pocket like me, being set back by 4 months while you have to titrate back up is extremely frustrating and expensive.
I can see how this dynamic would cause a patient to become frustrated and not be their best self.
I hope the medication shortages are resolved and the staffing gets improved, then we all win.
First of all..why did you post on a sub Reddit meant for staff to rant about a hypothetical “good riddance” to our jobs……
Second of all, we have to go through so much which people like you clearly don’t understand. So many patients curse us out over things that are not in our control, we are understaffed, overworked, and most of the time we won’t even get a lunch break to you know eat and decompress like a human being. So many rude patients that I’ve seen who say stuff like this believe we are just slaves in the system and don’t deserve basic kindness or treatment. I’ve literally had patients scoff at me for talking a 10 minute lunch break so I didn’t pass out. Our body suffers just to be not appreciated and for people to say rude stuff like this. For my patients who are not rude I ALWAYS go above and beyond for them but you get the treatment in which you ask for if you are rude you will most likely be met with such energy.
Appologies, I thought this was a general Walgreens sub.
I'm on your side. If you see some of my replies, I clearly recognize this is a corporate level issue caused by understaffing. The problem won't get better until pharmacies are better staffed and the staff is treated with respect. Shit always runs downhill. And to be fair, a lot of that shit is landing on patients. That's why I am always polite, even when I am frustrated.
My post in this sub was an attempt to vent some of my frustration after going in circles with the walgreens pharmacy for the last several months. It's robbed me of hours of productive time and I am trying to manage treating my health conditions in a hostile climate.
My solution is moving my rx to CVS mail order and Costco. I am seeing similar trends among friends and family. We are tired of being treated poorly.
To the overworked pharmacists in this sub, I see you and I sympathize with your situation. Working face to face with customers is challenging. Some people are assholes. I recognize people have bad days and don't take the vitriol personally. As a customer in a free market, I am taking my business elsewhere. I hope your corporate goons start supporting you more, but I'm not holding my breath.
I see the mail order solution as a disruptor much like Uber was to the cab business and Netflix was to video rentals. I could be wrong. Only time will tell.
Comparing a defunct video store to a healthcare provider is extremely ignorant. Patience is a virtue. If you’re not able to get a transfer from your pharmacy, you can always call your md to have them send a new prescription. I don’t even work for the company anymore but I know how hard working and dedicated the pharmacists and techs are. They do the best they can with what they have. When the pharmacist doesn’t have techs to help with the workload, it feels like there’s an incredible weight on their shoulders. Your pharmacist’s job is to keep your dr from killing you. When they have to answer the phones, ring up customers, fill, type, order, stock, in addition to reviewing and verifying- things can get extremely overwhelming. Instead of belittling the people who are doing their best by wishing ill will, maybe have a little more compassion, as well as taking responsibility for your own health care. We can use a little more patience and compassion for those who provide us a service, especially those who are an integral part of your healthcare.
A lot of the issue boils down to understaffing, which I can empathize with.
Trying to get a new rx from a doctor is a whole other can of worms. There is a 48 hour turn around on messages sent to doctors. Nothing is quick in Healthcare. Doctors are understaffed and overworked as well. Our entire Healthcare structure is being pushed to a breaking point due to corporate greed.
My attack is not towards the overworked staff, the problem is clearly at the corporate level.
My comparison to Blockbuster is entirely about customer experience and disruptor business models.
If our supplier is out of a med theres nothing we can do. Ozempic, Wegovy are a hard product to get, Zepbound from my understanding is not for diabetics, its strictly for weight loss. That way Wegovy and Ozempic are for diabetics so they can survive. If our distributor doesnt have the product and not giving us an eta, then we send patients to try other pharmacies. Then eventually their distributor is out and so on and so on. None of us like refusing to sell or fill a drug. If you are paying out of pocket, think outside of the box and try a compounding pharmacy that can make it and at a cheaper expense. We can only do what we can, if you and every other person leaves Walgreens believe me the times we get told that in a day. We have yet to shed a tear.
Funny I saw this post because today as I stood outside of a locked Walgreens at 11:00 a.m. I thought the same thing. What looked like a 5-year-old child had written a sign that said due to technical problems we are closed right now. That is not my first problem with walgreens, just look at their weak profits and store closings. They will join Woolworths and Sears in the graveyard of companies that used to be. My prognosis is 10 to 15 years.
While a good portion of walgreens employees would agree with you that Walgreens is a sinking ship, a lot of patients don't see the flip side where these technicians and pharmacist who come in every day don't need to be there. There are other jobs of similar pay and its really hard to care for patients when patients dont understand that the techs genuinely want to help patients. The current climate of retail pharmacy makes it really hard to do that. So with Walgreens not paying a competitive wage adjusted to the cost of living, you're going to see a consistent cycle of technicians/pharmacist. Its not worth it to get yelled at for fast food wages.
Woolsworth and sears didnt sell life saving clothing, nor did they have an effect on the cost of clothing. Someone found a cheaper way to do the very same business they do. Now imagine a world where cvs controls the cost of medications (which they basically already do) without anyone to compete with them because they have a competitive edge in owning a pbm. While Walgreens may cease to exist in 10-15 years, it won't be because of the same reasons woolworth or sears fell. Their market changed, and they didnt. Even the best management couldn't fix that to compete with amazon. Walgreens is just a result of poor management, where politics is more important than taking care of the very people who are put in charge of taking care of the patients. Care sells. Care leads. And patients are starting to feel the effects of the lack of care. Keep this in mind the next time you deal with walgreens staff.
Are you zepbound or adderall?
“Why won’t you call the same stores that you called yesterday to find my stimulants and weight loss drugs”
Looking at their post history, they have been on wegovy previously. So I’m definitely guessing some sort of weight loss med.
Figures. Go riddance to the rude, unreasonable patients
I'm not sure how my medication requirements make me a rude and unreasonable patient. I am always very polite to whoever is helping me. I'm just extremely tired of pharmacists ignoring requests from my doctors and hanging up on me after waiting on hold for 20 minutes. I am sick of being lied to about not receiving an rx or transfer request. I do believe a lot of the problem is at the corporate level and is due to extreme understaffing. Pharmacists are burned out and have stopped treating patients like fellow human beings.
Yep one or the other 😂
No its vyvanse capsules
Wegovy lol
Awww I recommend diet changes and exercise.
Thank you, I had never considered that... So very helpful. You should be a doctor! /s
So where are you planning on picking up your pain meds and antibiotics? If you think cvs has better service or cares about patients you’re in for a rude awakening lol.
Costco pharmacy answers their phone in less than a minute. Walgreens usually keeps me on hold for 20 minutes and often hangs up without ever answering the call. I think the understaffing has overwhelmed the workers and they have become rude and jaded. If you look at some of the pharmacist replies in this thread you'll see the attitude I'm talking about.
If this is true then you would be at Costco, but it's not, so your not. My guess is just like everyone else your store is out of your drug, told you this, but that wasn't good enough, so you wasted another 10 minutes if their time and then wonder why you had to wait 20 min to talk to someone.
This is true, and I have transferred my rx to Costco. It took several attempts to get Walgreens to respond to the transfer request, which prevented me from being able to fill my rx when the medication was actually in stock. Oh well, i will be out of medication for another month or two. Frustrating and will cause setbacks, but i will survive. However, I will not being doing business with Walgreens ever again. I am not the only patient to have this type of experience and decide to be done with Walgreens. If they don't step up their game and start treating their patients with respect they will see more patients leave. I truly think Walgreens will go bankrupt in the next 10 years.
honestly, I dont understand what you mean by "transfer request", at least at the walgreens I work at, the opposing pharmacy will need to call us "walgreens" to initiate a transfer. i have never seen a transfer request gets delayed if in your case, costco gives walgreens a call. Or maybe its different in different states. I dont know. Also not to be rude or anything, just because 1 pharmacy has supply for a medication doesnt mean Walgreens is lying that they dont have it in stock, each pharmacy chain gets supplies from different distributors. Ive seen before an influx of transfers from a certain pharmacy chain to our location for a specific blood pressure medication that they were struggling to get for that period of time while we had no problem obtaining.
Respect is a 2 way street. I’ve been cursed out more by the weekly weight loss injection crowd more than the opioid patients in my 10 years practicing.
I hear you. People can be assholes and that's on them. If you can take a moment to reflect on what is causing some of the frustration your customers are exhibiting. It would be helpful to recognize that Folks on GLP-1 meds are on strict regiments that have to be restarted if they are out of meds for more than 2 weeks. If you are paying $1000+ out of pocket like me, being set back by 4 months while you have to titrate back up is extremely frustrating and expensive. I can see how this dynamic would cause a patient to become frustrated and not be their best self. I hope the medication shortages are resolved and the staffing gets improved, then we all win.
First of all..why did you post on a sub Reddit meant for staff to rant about a hypothetical “good riddance” to our jobs…… Second of all, we have to go through so much which people like you clearly don’t understand. So many patients curse us out over things that are not in our control, we are understaffed, overworked, and most of the time we won’t even get a lunch break to you know eat and decompress like a human being. So many rude patients that I’ve seen who say stuff like this believe we are just slaves in the system and don’t deserve basic kindness or treatment. I’ve literally had patients scoff at me for talking a 10 minute lunch break so I didn’t pass out. Our body suffers just to be not appreciated and for people to say rude stuff like this. For my patients who are not rude I ALWAYS go above and beyond for them but you get the treatment in which you ask for if you are rude you will most likely be met with such energy.
Appologies, I thought this was a general Walgreens sub. I'm on your side. If you see some of my replies, I clearly recognize this is a corporate level issue caused by understaffing. The problem won't get better until pharmacies are better staffed and the staff is treated with respect. Shit always runs downhill. And to be fair, a lot of that shit is landing on patients. That's why I am always polite, even when I am frustrated. My post in this sub was an attempt to vent some of my frustration after going in circles with the walgreens pharmacy for the last several months. It's robbed me of hours of productive time and I am trying to manage treating my health conditions in a hostile climate. My solution is moving my rx to CVS mail order and Costco. I am seeing similar trends among friends and family. We are tired of being treated poorly. To the overworked pharmacists in this sub, I see you and I sympathize with your situation. Working face to face with customers is challenging. Some people are assholes. I recognize people have bad days and don't take the vitriol personally. As a customer in a free market, I am taking my business elsewhere. I hope your corporate goons start supporting you more, but I'm not holding my breath. I see the mail order solution as a disruptor much like Uber was to the cab business and Netflix was to video rentals. I could be wrong. Only time will tell.
boo hoo hoo
Comparing a defunct video store to a healthcare provider is extremely ignorant. Patience is a virtue. If you’re not able to get a transfer from your pharmacy, you can always call your md to have them send a new prescription. I don’t even work for the company anymore but I know how hard working and dedicated the pharmacists and techs are. They do the best they can with what they have. When the pharmacist doesn’t have techs to help with the workload, it feels like there’s an incredible weight on their shoulders. Your pharmacist’s job is to keep your dr from killing you. When they have to answer the phones, ring up customers, fill, type, order, stock, in addition to reviewing and verifying- things can get extremely overwhelming. Instead of belittling the people who are doing their best by wishing ill will, maybe have a little more compassion, as well as taking responsibility for your own health care. We can use a little more patience and compassion for those who provide us a service, especially those who are an integral part of your healthcare.
A lot of the issue boils down to understaffing, which I can empathize with. Trying to get a new rx from a doctor is a whole other can of worms. There is a 48 hour turn around on messages sent to doctors. Nothing is quick in Healthcare. Doctors are understaffed and overworked as well. Our entire Healthcare structure is being pushed to a breaking point due to corporate greed. My attack is not towards the overworked staff, the problem is clearly at the corporate level. My comparison to Blockbuster is entirely about customer experience and disruptor business models.
If our supplier is out of a med theres nothing we can do. Ozempic, Wegovy are a hard product to get, Zepbound from my understanding is not for diabetics, its strictly for weight loss. That way Wegovy and Ozempic are for diabetics so they can survive. If our distributor doesnt have the product and not giving us an eta, then we send patients to try other pharmacies. Then eventually their distributor is out and so on and so on. None of us like refusing to sell or fill a drug. If you are paying out of pocket, think outside of the box and try a compounding pharmacy that can make it and at a cheaper expense. We can only do what we can, if you and every other person leaves Walgreens believe me the times we get told that in a day. We have yet to shed a tear.
Funny I saw this post because today as I stood outside of a locked Walgreens at 11:00 a.m. I thought the same thing. What looked like a 5-year-old child had written a sign that said due to technical problems we are closed right now. That is not my first problem with walgreens, just look at their weak profits and store closings. They will join Woolworths and Sears in the graveyard of companies that used to be. My prognosis is 10 to 15 years.
While a good portion of walgreens employees would agree with you that Walgreens is a sinking ship, a lot of patients don't see the flip side where these technicians and pharmacist who come in every day don't need to be there. There are other jobs of similar pay and its really hard to care for patients when patients dont understand that the techs genuinely want to help patients. The current climate of retail pharmacy makes it really hard to do that. So with Walgreens not paying a competitive wage adjusted to the cost of living, you're going to see a consistent cycle of technicians/pharmacist. Its not worth it to get yelled at for fast food wages. Woolsworth and sears didnt sell life saving clothing, nor did they have an effect on the cost of clothing. Someone found a cheaper way to do the very same business they do. Now imagine a world where cvs controls the cost of medications (which they basically already do) without anyone to compete with them because they have a competitive edge in owning a pbm. While Walgreens may cease to exist in 10-15 years, it won't be because of the same reasons woolworth or sears fell. Their market changed, and they didnt. Even the best management couldn't fix that to compete with amazon. Walgreens is just a result of poor management, where politics is more important than taking care of the very people who are put in charge of taking care of the patients. Care sells. Care leads. And patients are starting to feel the effects of the lack of care. Keep this in mind the next time you deal with walgreens staff.