Furious with pharmacist

[Pleeby]

Queuing to collect my prescription. One lady already waiting and a school mum behind me.

Pharmacist comes out and calls my name, I said yes that’s me she then calls “are you waiting for your sertraline”. No discretion at all.

I said to her “I’m sorry did you just call my actual prescription out in front of everyone” she just kind of shrugged and said yeah sorry is that what you’re waiting for though?

What the actual fuck? This must be a breach of some kind of confidentially?

Hike
Why is the responsibility of pharmacy users to make other arrangements, rather than pharmacy staff to refrain from calling someone's medication across the shop?

Why is the responsibility of pharmacy users to make other arrangements, rather than pharmacy staff to refrain from calling someone's medication across the shop?

It isn’t, it’s just being realistic. If you wait for prescription collection in a busy pharmacy like Boots there’s a high probability somebody you know might overhear what you’re collecting? You can’t control the behaviour of all pharmacists and their assistants... but you can decide where to pick up your prescription or have it delivered instead.

It isn’t, it’s just being realistic. If you wait for prescription collection in a busy pharmacy like Boots there’s a high probability somebody you know might overhear what you’re collecting? You can’t control the behaviour of all pharmacists and their assistants... but you can decide where to pick up your prescription or have it delivered instead.
So again, people have to change their actions instead of being able to expect a professional service.
Why is it just being realistic to assume that someone will shout your prescription out?

Having lived in various places and used large chain and small independent pharmacies, nobody has ever called out mine or DC's medication out. It's news to me that I should anticipate the local Boots to have lower professional standards and refrain from using them if I want a professional service.

You can’t control the behaviour of all pharmacists and their assistants... but you can decide where to pick up your prescription or have it delivered instead. Great new advertising campaign for Boots! 😂

Can you imagine the campaign:
Boots: we advise you don't use our pharmacy unless you want the world to know you're on mental health medication.
Boots: priding ourselves on sharing news of your haemorrhoids with the local community
Boots: sharing is caring, if you don't like sharing and are feeling sensitive, go somewhere else

Thankfully no Boots I've been has been so unprofessional and the pharmacy staff have been great.

YANBU.
My pharmacy has recently started asking me what the prescription is for at the same time as asking me to confirm my address. My repeat prescription is for something innocuous, but a) there's a principle of confidentiality/privacy and b) what if one day I get another one that isn't so innocuous?
I asked about it as it's new, and they said they'd had a lot of people taking the wrong thing home. But if that's the case then surely it's a pharmacy mistake? I can't imagine why so many people end up with the wrong thing otherwise.

I wonder where else would the same apply.

You can't expect staff to follow regulations and policies, so you'd better go somewhere else.

AccidentallyOnPurpose
If you're not prepared for a teacher to approach your child in the playground and say "I'll see you lesson 3 about the bullying you reported, was it Tommy or Clara you mentioned?" in earshot of other students then you might find home education or online schooling is an option. Obviously, the teacher is just doing their job, making sure the child knows bullying is taken seriously and ensuring they identify the right child as a bully. Everyone expects that teachers will talk to students about bullying and at breakable it's unlikely anyone would have been listening in.

At breaktime

@AccidentallyOnPurpose

I wonder where else would the same apply.

You can't expect staff to follow regulations and policies, so you'd better go somewhere else.

I know - that simply is not acceptable is it!

@LolaSmiles

AccidentallyOnPurpose If you're not prepared for a teacher to approach your child in the playground and say "I'll see you lesson 3 about the bullying you reported, was it Tommy or Clara you mentioned?" in earshot of other students then you might find home education or online schooling is an option. Obviously, the teacher is just doing their job, making sure the child knows bullying is taken seriously and ensuring they identify the right child as a bully. Everyone expects that teachers will talk to students about bullying and at breakable it's unlikely anyone would have been listening in.

What?!

It is utterly unacceptable to have that conversation in front of any other student!

@Butwasitherdriveway Lola was being sarcastic.

This happened to me in my doctors office once!
I was picking up my repeat for sertraline and the receptionist said, very loudly: “Sertraline the antidepressant?”
I wanted to say, “No, sertraline the party drug- what do you think?!”

Cheeky mare.
YANBU OP. I was never ashamed of being on antidepressants but I’m a very private person and wouldn’t want anyone hollering out my medication no matter what it was.

I once went to a pharmacy for ointment for sweat rash. The person who served me asked loudly ‘is it between your legs?’
I mean, really. Luckily it wasn’t else I’d have died of embarrassment.

Butwasitherdriveway
I was being sarcastic.

AccidentallyOnPurpose was pondering over where else a PP's logic of "if you aren't prepare to to accept professional standards being ignored then you should go somewhere else rather than expect professional conduct" could be applied.
The hypothetical situation a wrote about school was to illustrate how unreasonable a PP's attitude was.

@LolaSmiles

Butwasitherdriveway I was being sarcastic. AccidentallyOnPurpose was pondering over where else a PP's logic of "if you aren't prepare to to accept professional standards being ignored then you should go somewhere else rather than expect professional conduct" could be applied. The hypothetical situation a wrote about school was to illustrate how unreasonable a PP's attitude was.

Ahh apologies!

With you now.

It did confuse me as I'd thought your previous posts re the pharmacy were excellent!

We had the opposite when dh was getting rid of his sharps bin. We were told to take to the chemist and they would get rid of it. So in he went and said he was getting rid of sharps and the pharmacist looked at him like he was shite on her shoe and said "in there like normal"

The place she was showing him was for drug addicts to safely dispose of their needles. So he said "I don't think this will fit" showed her the bin and explained it was from his insulin needles. Her attitude done a complete 180!

When I go in for my prescription right now they just ask my address and postcode, but the pharmacist asked yesterday if I was okay with the prescription and if I managed okay. That's the first I've been asked. She never mentioned name of it though.

Butwasitherdriveway

@LolaSmiles

Butwasitherdriveway

Have an afternoon gin as my way of apology

I'd be fuming!

YANBU!

Butwasitherdriveway
Don't mind if I do.

@Bumblebee1980a

I would be fuming.

I'm not sure what it is but I'm thinking it's some sort of anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medication.

The school mum is most likely to not have heard though but that's not the point obviously.

Maybe you should call and complain.

It’s an anti depressant.

Dh is a teacher. He’s on sertraline. He sure as hell wouldn’t want that fact shouting across Boots where anyone could overhear.

@LolaSmiles

Butwasitherdriveway Don't mind if I do.

It's probably the afternoon gin that stops driveway being able to read posts properly

Pharmacist calls me name. Asks me to confirm date of birth and postcode. Tells me the number of items.

And no one knows what I get. Just like magic!

The pharmacist was massively out of order, initially by saying the drug name but far more for her reaction. A complaint was NEEDED as a quite word clearly didn't work. Well done OP and good luck.