Reply
Fri 20 Dec, 2002 09:41 pm
Being a pharmacist is often a thankless job.
You are dealing with people who:
1. Are sick already
2. Are spending $$ on medicine
after just getting ripped off
by the MD
3. They don't feel well
4. They do tend to be a bit snappy
5. While the price of bread rises 50 cents
in a year- their $120 medication should
forever stay the same price.
Now, every now and then one of our customers
would decide to vent his/her rage on one of the
clerks ... you know, the after school kids who
get paid mimimum wage, or the daytime ladies
who get paid less than $9 an hour. I figured
since I made the most money, it was my job
to handle the REAL troublemakers.
There is a trick to this ....it took me a while
to catch on, but since I grew up with a
psychotic, alcoholic mother ...I already had
a pretty limitless tolerance for innappropriate
behavior. Here is what I would do,
I say " What is there that I can do for YOU,
that will make you happy"
gripe,snarl, complain, yell holler, make noise
I say "What is there that I can do for YOU,
that will make you happy?
Ad infinitum
until finally
I stand alone
saying
"What is there that I can do for you,
that will make YOU happy?"
it never fails, they run out of steam
eventually. I loaned this one out to
my daughter who works in womens
clothing, UGH!! She says it's a true
blessing. Sooner or later they run out
of things to say, and they do not
really know what they want. But
it does make them happy to know
that someone will listen to their
snarling, growling, miserable
complaints. I figure, it is a public
health service. 
i would generally just fake a tonic/clonic seizure
Sometimes, you can stop them with "Just what are you asking me to do?" Usually they have no idea. I said stop them - not make them happy.
Lazy and laughing out loud.
I do see your point Roger, I suppose it is
in part, just a matter of different strokes
for different folks, however - in my family
life, (as a young female) I was trained to
"please". This is the common role model
assigned to the female of the species,
in this, our masculine run world today.
So... it does seem quite natural that
where YOU may ask, "What do you
want!!!!"; where I would naturally defer
and ask, "What is it that I can do - to
make you happy?" Either way you put the
question - I'm sure would have similar results,
since most people seem to have no idea of
what they want or why. For most of us who
are involved in work, in the service of the
public, some skills must be acquired in order
to survive the verbal onslaughts, crusty
complaints, horrid nagging and bickering over
mere pennies in a price, and a public that does
seem, at times, to be completely devoid of any
kind of manners whatsoever, else the job would
do you in, or you would end up quitting.
*As for me, the kids had a deadbeat dad and
with 3 young girls to support alone, I chose
this profession based SOLELY with one thing in
mind, Pharmacy was, and perhaps still is, the
highest paying profession directly after graduation
from college. So, whether I loved it or not, made
little difference to me. I simply had to learn to
adjust to my chosen profession, in spite of the
obvious fact that my personality & type were
the farthest possible from the kind of person
who would LIKE this kind of job. IF I had been
a child free woman of means, I am certain that
ANY job best fit for a RECLUSE would have been
my primary choice, first and foremost.
another great idea there,
dyslexia. You have the
knack for it, GO ON
OUT THERE AND GET 'EM!
I often begin with, "You're absolutely right," offer options as to what is within my power to do for the customer, and end with, "So which of these would you like?"
A GREAT remedy to my own psyche during the holiday season when everyone is stressed and nothing makes them happy: I sing in my head, "You're gettin' nuttin' for Christmas......" It puts a smile on my face even if it affects nothing else around me.
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