Unfiltered Story #100602

(This takes place in a pharmacy. Patient calls in, asking if we have a certain controlled substance in stock. We don’t, and the following ensues)
Patient: “What do you mean, you don’t have it? I’ve been getting it here for years.”
(I look up the patient’s profile. They haven’t filled it since January- it’s now July)
Me: “I’m sorry sir, it looks like we don’t have it. But if you could bring in your new prescription, we could enter it into our system and order the medication in for you. The order would take about two days.”
Patient: “Two days? What do you mean? I need it now! Today!!”
Me: “Unfortunately that’s how long it would take to get this medication in.”
Patient: “Do you want me to be in pain until then?? Why don’t you have it in stock? I get it here all the time, so it should always be in stock!”
Me: “It looks like you last picked this up in January, and we’ve not had any prescriptions since then. It’s not a common medication, so it’s not something we have on automatic order if no one’s getting it.”
Patient: “BUT I GET IT!! I’VE GOTTEN THIS MEDICATION HERE FOR YEARS! WHY DON’T YOU HAVE IT? ORDER IT FOR ME RIGHT NOW!”
Me: “Unfortunately we cannot order in a controlled substance without already having the physical prescription, so I can’t order this until you bring in the prescription. We haven’t had any prescriptions for it recently, so we haven’t ordered it.”
Patient: “WHAT??? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?? I ALWAYS GET IT SO IT SHOULD ALWAYS BE IN STOCK!”
(This circular conversation went on for the next twenty minutes, and I had to hang up on him because he started cursing at me. Turns out he did bring in the prescription after my shift ended, and the pharmacist made sure to tell him not to treat his employees like that again!)