Dial One For Karen

(I am a customer filling a prescription for my daughter. A middle-aged woman comes up to the drop-off desk and waits for someone to come over to her.)

Customer: “I want to speak to the manager.”

Pharmacist: “I’m the pharmacist; we don’t have a manager back here.” 

Customer: “Well, I want you to change your phone system. Every time [Pharmacy] calls me, I have to call back and dial one and it won’t let me, so I don’t know what you’re calling for.”

Pharmacist: “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do; that’s an IT issue.”

Customer: “Well, this is the second time I’ve had to talk to someone. How am I supposed to know what you’re calling about and what I need to do?”

Pharmacist: “Well, ma’am, you can call [1-800 number] and speak to someone in IT, but this is how our system works. I’m sorry you miss the phone calls and that your phone doesn’t work, but there’s nothing I can do.”

Customer: “You need to fix it or I’m going to take my business somewhere else. I need these prescriptions and if I can’t get through, then I have to go somewhere else.”

(At that point, I had to chase after my child, but when I went back to pick up my daughter’s prescription twenty minutes later, she was still standing there arguing with the pharmacist. And the pharmacist kept his cool and composure the entire time. I would have lost my s*** after ten minutes.)