I was asked to pick up a prescription on the way home last night. No problem. As I pulled into the drive-thru of our local pharmacy, the inside lane (Lane 1, I'm told) had a car in it so I pulled into the outside lane. I spent a good 15 minutes in Lane 2 while the clerk had a long conversation with the drive-up customer ahead of me in the Lane 1. My window was down while I waited my turn and I could hear the whole thing. Asked that customer for her address two different times, asked for and received much more information about allergies, doctor's name and phone number, insurance, payment, etc. This pharmacy must be hard on their clerks' necks. Their computer keyboard is on the counter at waist level but the monitor is mounted up above eye level. The neck gets a workout even if you're a pretty good typist. It would wear me out. I digress. After that lengthy conversation, the customer was told that it would be about 45 minutes before her prescription was ready. She was just dropping off a prescription? At that moment, I was pretty perturbed that that conversation and that bit of business was conducted in the drive-thru. Should have been done on the phone or inside rather than letting the drive-thru back up.
My turn comes up and I'm told I need to get in Lane 1, now 4 cars deep, or come inside because the pickup is too big to fit in the tube for Lane 2. I was not quite exasperated yet. I get inside to the counter and there's a problem with the "Express Pay". Our health insurance company provides a credit card for prescriptions and other medical/health expenses. That information was supposed to be on file with the pharmacy but somehow, this time, it wasn't. After I made a phone call to get that information, the clerk had to open the bag, relabel and rescan the prescription, close the bag, and ring it up again. What should have been a 2-5 minute drive-thru experience turned into a 40-minute drive-thru and in-store experience. Not fast or convenient and I was a tad exasperated but I considered myself fortunate when I saw the lines outside as I was leaving. Good thing I wasn't needing and picking up blood pressure medicine but I'd wager at least some of the cars now wrapped around the building were.
- Don't You Get It 5:17 Mark Knopfler Golden Heart
- It's Money That Matters 4:08 Randy Newman Land of Dreams
- Good Times Roll 3:45 The Cars The Cars
- Clock Strikes Ten 3:03 Cheap Trick Original Album Classics
- Alabama 4:02 Neil Young Harvest
Today's QOTD is about Hurricane Ida preparedness. Ida brought CrabAppleLane some cooler, drier air. That's about it.
Quote of the Day
This time of year, our summer season is over, so there aren't a lot of tourists in town. The folks we're dealing with mostly are permanent residents and our permanent residents know what to do.
Police Chief Arthur Bourne, Gulf Shores, Alabama
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: "End CJ Ah You (ankle) was limited in practice."
Great name. -Rob
All that for a prescription, eh? I haven't had a prescription filled in eight years and that one was done for me by the staff at the outpatient surgery department so I was rolled out the door with it.I know I really need to get back into the health care system and taking care of myself now that I'm getting up there, but I really dread it.
For one that had already been dropped off or called in ... and was ready when I got there.
To be fair, it's not always this bad. Some days, I can drive up and I'm out in a few minutes. Some banks have a three transaction rule for their drive-thru so time-consuming transactions won't back up the lines. Drug stores should implement a similar policy. Pickups only, express pay only, whatever.
Ugh! I can SOOOOO sympathize with this post on SOOOO many levels!
You've probably been to that drug store, Lana. :)