customer interaction

[fabulous]

hi everyone,
i qualified last july and as well as locuming do 3 regular days at the same store. been at that store about 3 months now. the manager called me in the other day and said i need to have more 'customer interaction'.
i have to do the checking in front of the customers but am expected to serve waiting customers, take in scripts and answer queries as well as checking the backlog of pcs so it is very busy.
i find that if i leave my checking halfway through to even say to a customer 'i will be with you in a minute' distracting. i do my best to help serve in between checking. even taking in scripts and dispensing them or getting stock ready. also the manager showed me a written complaint from a customer because when she came in with an eye infection i insisted she go back to the gp when she asked if theres anything else she can do as she already used chloramp. from the gp and i didnt serve her straight away even though i had several checks to do during a busy period.
i feel really angry about this coz even one of the dispensers said to the manager that she made a dispensing error coz she had to serve a customer while i was checking and she is always making mistakes even on the days when i am not working there. what if i had made a checking error if i had stopped to serve the customer that she rushed over to serve. I feel as though the dispensers there resent how much pharmacists are paid and expext us to do majority of the work such as serving the customers and labelling/dispensing pcs scripts coz they are 'so busy'. i cant help but think that they want me to do the work so they can slack.
do you guys think that the manager is asking too much of me? coz i have had enough of the place.

[lamzee]

Sounds like a badly designed shop! Checking in front of customers looks dreadful because they don't see that it is necessary, and just want their stuff bagged to go. How are you supposed to open 3 packs each of 10 item scripts in front of a customer, in a way that doesn't irritate them! They would be standing there going "that will do--I'll just take them like that".

Checking is vital and important, but it isn't customer friendly and needs to be done in the back.

[Sir_Dispensalot]

based on what you've told us, it sounds like your manager is being an arse.

First thing to do is prioritise your checking. Are you checking ALL scripts out in front of the patients or just the ones you call up to the counter? If it's the former then i suggest you to a slight re-jig of things and check your callbacks, deliverys etc at the end of the dispensing bench, thus giving waiting customers the hint that you're busy and less able to be interrupted.

Sit down with this arse and ask them what they think the best way to do things is. Then ask them if they think that interruptions when checking a prescription could lead to an error. Then point out what can happen to a pharmacist when the CPS wants to throw its weight around. Also point out that you seem to be working for them as the most highly paid counter assistant they've ever had.

Has this arse been involved directly with the events which took place or did they hear them all 'second-hand' from a 'helpful' member of staff? Does one of the other pharmacy team members have an axe to grind and want to set the manager against you?

Also, where the bloody hell is the counter assistant? Why on earth do they have a non-employee of the company standing at the front of shop wasting a large amount of time doing essentially what almost anyone else could do?

With regards to the written complaint - they happen. Customers frequently feel that you should be able to stop time, heal all diseases, circumnavigate the globe, cook dinner for them, deliver half the contents of the shop and know the exact stock levels of every chemist within a 70 mile radius, regardless of chain, all whilst doing their prescription, in your lunch break (ha!). Try to focus on all the people happy with your service and advice than the one moany git with nothing better to do than whinge on paper.

Remember this - you are a professional, as a locum you're your own boss, and the only time you need to start taking crap from people is either when you've genuinely done something wrong or when you can't easily find work elsewhere. Happily, this won't happen for quite some time. Cancel your booking and head to pastures new.

If it's a chain (the one with an R in it jumps to mind) then i would also flag this up to an area manager as a serious issue - after all, it helps give them a bit of ammo if they already know said branch manager is a bit of an arse.


Is that a record for the use of the word 'arse' in a post?

i know i still hold the record for the most amount of times 'floppy cock' was used in a post

[Fleegle]

A truly mighty post from the Defender of Pills....FULLY agree.

We are not worthy!

Fleegle.

[fabulous]

well theres no room in this pharmacy to do checks in the back as it is tiny and has one desk away from customer view. i understand that i could clear that desk and use it for checks but on my first day there the dispensers said that the pharmacist should be at the front and that it is their company policy. so i felt obliged to work in the front.
they have 2 other regular pharmacists that appear to be happy with this and work at the front. the manager and area pharmacy manager also reiterated that i should be at the front checking and that it is important for their 'customer care measures' .
i have worked for this company before (begins with a b and rhymes with hoots) and have not really had this problem before. i think it is ridiculous, its not mackies where customers want to see and make sure you dont spit in their food and should expect to be served in seconds. personally i am a no nonsense person i will do my job in line with my professional and ethical responsibilities. i dont pamper and suck up to customers and managers. i dont think i am the sort of muppet this company requires. but i felt so stupid and alone when the other pharmacists and area pharmacy manager didnt support me and point out that i shouldnt have to leave my checking to serve customers. the manager says that i dont have to stop checking but should look at them and acknowledge them by saying 'i will be with you in a minute'. but even that is distracting. its about time that pharmacists stood their ground and customers realised that we are meticulously making sure that their safety comes first.

[fabulous]

oh and as for that customer complaint where the heck was the praise from the manager for me spotting that a lady had an infected insect bite and then dispensing the prescription for antibiotics, which she brought in later that day grateful that i had advised her correctly and the lady that wanted to buy sore throat pastilles asking if it was okay to take with methotrexate whom i promted to seek immediate medical attention and many more............

[Zoggite]

Fabulous,
Alan Nathan's letter on p.611 of this week's PJ (http://www.pjonline.com/files/rps-pj.../LETTERS_8.pdf) seems written with people like you in mind, and the paragraph on 'lack of support from employers' must sound very familiar to you...
Take heart, as you can see you're not alone in this situation...
Would I be correct in guessing that you are a young female pharmacist, and that your manager is a male non-pharmacist?
Don't beat yourself up about that customer complaints letter: you'll soon discover that you can't please all the people all the time!
And your manager was duty-bound to mention it to you, he's "only doing his job"... how would you have felt if you discovered months later, that he knew about this 'unhappy customer' but hadn't said anything?

[Fleegle]

You clearly feel very strongly about all this, and in my opinion, quite rightly so.

Unfortunately, over the years, pharmacy chains or 'multiples' have chosen to operate in such a financially-driven way that their chosen methods of achievement have alienated their most important asset..their employees.

I cannot offer a quick-fix, but I do have direct access to one of the decision-makers responsible for such cases of apparent mis-management.

I'll have a word with him at the next rugby match, because that's the way it works these days.

Meantime, keep the faith.

Fleeg.

[Jeff]

Fabulous,
Are you a self employed locum or a relief pharmacist employed by the company?

Can you continue to work there once the Responsible Pharmacist thing becomes law?

[johnep]

Funny, at the BTC I worked at, checking had to be done at the back because of customer confidentiality. Not every pt wants others to know they are collecting Viagara, antidepressants, antipsychotics, vaginal creams, morning after pill etc. PCT could well have an issue here.

This is something you should get a ruling on. If a script has to be checked in front of the customer, insulin perhaps, then should be done in consulting room.
johnep