My wife and I were driving from our home in Houston, Texas to Oklahoma City; my wife had business there. It’s roughly a seven-hour trip by car, and we realized around Dallas (roughly the halfway point) that we’d both left stuff behind in Houston — including my prescription medications. I had two major chain pharmacies’ apps on my phone, so I checked both of them to see which one had a twenty-four-hour pharmacy; by the time we made it to OKC, it’d be well after most normal pharmacies would be closed.

I found a [Pharmacy], went in, explained the issue to the pharmacist, and told him the literal number of pills I needed just to get me through the next three days. He tried to get a hold of my mail-order pharmacy to approve it, but at that time of night, their office was closed. He ended up telling me:

Pharmacist: “Here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m gonna give you the exact number of pills you need to get through the next three days. Tomorrow morning, I’m gonna email the mail-order pharmacy and tell them what happened. The next time you get your actual refill, they’re gonna short you the number of pills I just gave you, but you’re gonna pay the same amount you always pay since that’s easier than me trying to figure out how to charge you for this very small number of pills. Fair?”

I agreed it was, so that’s what he did.

The next time I emailed the mail-order place for an official refill, when they sent me my refills, they also sent a note explaining that they’d shorted the pills by the amount the OKC pharmacy had given me. No harm, no foul, everyone was on the same page, my pills did get paid for properly, and all was well.

It is flu season, so we are asking elderly-looking customers who come in to get their prescription medication if they’d like to book a flu shot.

Customer: “Oh! No! No more vaccines for me!”

Me: “What do you mean?”

Customer: “I know how the government works, you see! They almost got me with that C19 vaccine!”

Yes, she said ‘C19.’ I enquire against my better judgement:

Me: “What do you mean by ‘got you’?”

Customer: “That C19 vaccine had that chemical that killed only Republicans! It’s so the government can turn the red states blue. But we won’t let them! No flu for me!” 

Honestly, after a few more flu seasons like this they’re going to all turn those states blue all by themselves!

My husband and I find a box of abandoned kittens on the road outside our home in a rural part of town. There are six of the little critters with no mama around, and their mewling indicates they’re hungry. They’re VERY young, eyes not yet open.

We bring them inside, get them warm and cleaned up, and start Googling furiously about what we need to do. It’s the middle of the night, and when I say we’re rural, I MEAN rural — whatever monster abandoned the box where they did obviously didn’t think they would ever be found — so we can’t just drive down to the local vet.

Google tells us that, in a pinch, we need to get a specific type of milk and we can feed them using a plastic syringe. Off to the nearest twenty-four-hour convenience store I go — thirty miles away.

I find the milk, but I can’t find the syringes, even though Google told me this place had a pharmacy. I ask at the counter.

Cashier: “Oh, the pharmacy doesn’t open until nine.”

Me: “So there’s nothing you can do?”

Cashier: “I mean, not really. You kinda need a prescription.”

Suddenly, I realize how I look. I’ve pulled up in the middle of the night desperate to get my hands on some syringes.

Me: “Oh! Wait! They’re not for me! It’s for the kittens!”

Cashier: “The… kittens?”

I ask if the place has Wi-Fi, and I get access. Then, I video-call my husband and show the cashier the mewing kittens.

Me: “These little guys need to be fed ASAP, or I don’t know what else to do. Google tells me they’re too young to lick up milk on their own and they need a syringe.”

Before I can finish the sentence, the cashier throws a ten-pack of plastic syringes at me.

Cashier: “Go! Gooo! Get those babies fed!”

I tried to pay, but she screamed, “GOOOO!” again, and I didn’t need to be told twice. We got those kittens fed and watched them all night. The next day, we were off to the town to see the vet.

Our farm now has four farm cats. The other two are fine; they were just adopted by the cashier after we drove back to let her know they were okay!

This story is part of the Best-Feel-Good-Stories Of-2023 roundup!

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I work in a pharmacy contained inside a larger grocery store. A woman comes to our counter with a cart containing some groceries, and two young boys are with her, obviously twins. She hands me a prescription for some medicine.

Me: “Are you on any insurance plans or Medicaid?”

Parent: “Sorry… my English… bad. Medicine… for them.”

She points at her boys; now that I am looking, they do look quite poorly. They translate for her.

Boy #1: “Mom doesn’t have any insurance. The clinic saw us for free but they couldn’t give us the medicine so they sent us here.”

Me: “I see. Does your mom know that this medicine will cost over a hundred dollars?”

The boy translates to the mother, who looks shocked and then a little broken as she looks at her groceries and then at her boys. She says something to them, and again, they translate.

Boy #2: “It’s okay, we can put this back. Mom says she’ll buy the medicine.”

I glance at her cart and see what looks like only essentials: store brand bread, eggs, cereal, some canned goods. The whole cart probably comes to less than thirty dollars.

Me: “We have some ways we might be able to bring that cost down if—”

Boy #1: “Mom doesn’t have papers. She’s… seeking asylum.”

The fact that the young boy knew what I was about to ask and had that well-rehearsed answer ready to go told me all I needed to know.

I get the prescription ready, but instead of charging her for it at our counter, I print a label intended to be scanned at the checkout. This isn’t normal practise, but we can do this if we’re unable to take payment at the pharmacy. I hand the medication with the label to the boy.

Me: “Take this to the checkout counter and you can pay there.”

The boys both nod and they explain to their mother. As soon as they’re gone, I furiously call the checkout manager. As soon as she picks up, I explain what just happened.

Me: “My hands are tied on this end — I can’t discount the medication — but surely you have some coupons or gift cards on your side? Is there something you can do?”

Checkout Manager: “How much was the medication?”

Me: “$112.”

Checkout Manager: “Leave it with me.”

Fifteen minutes later, the checkout manager comes over to find me. I ask what happened.

Checkout Manager: “Such sweet boys! I think they struggled to translate for their mom what a ‘ten-thousandth customer of the month’ prize was, but explaining the $150 coupons of store credit was a lot easier!”

A few minutes later, we both saw the mother and her two boys shopping again, picking up the essentials they had diligently returned to the shelves earlier.

I am in the drive-thru at a pharmacy chain to pick up a refilled prescription after work. This typically takes less than five minutes. There’s one car ahead of me and one behind me. I realize after about ten minutes of scrolling through my phone that nothing seems to be happening.

I roll down my window and hear the customer in the car in front of me.

Customer: “No, no. It’s not [price]. It should be [lower price].”

Pharmacy Tech: “Give me one moment; I’ll check your insurance again.”

Whatever. I roll up my window and resume my scrolling. Several minutes later, the car still hasn’t moved and there are now three cars behind me. I roll down my window again.

Customer: “I’m not paying that!”

Pharmacy Tech: “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but your insurance—”

Customer: “No! Go check again!”

Pharmacy Tech: “Ma’am, like I said, it’s an insurance issue—”

Customer: “Check again. I’ll wait. My insurance has always—”

Forgetting that my window is rolled all the way down, I let out an exasperated yell.

Me: “Will you just go inside?! I’ve been waiting for twenty minutes!“

The car in front of me goes silent.

Customer: “I… I think I’ll come inside and speak to the pharmacist.”

She speeds off. I pull up and give the pharmacy tech my information. They send my prescription out in record time.

Pharmacy Tech: “…and you’re all set!”

Me: “Don’t I owe you [normal copay amount]?”

Pharmacy Tech: “No, you don’t. Have a fantastic day, Ms. [My Name]!”