Irritation

I would very much like to know what exactly pharmacists do that requires 5 years of training. This ignorance on my part is a bit shameful, seeing as the founder of one of the national US chains of pharmacies went to the Consort’s university, and their pharmacy program is considered very good.

I completely understand the craft and knowledge and time that were required back in the day, when a doctor’s prescription had to be compounded by hand by the pharmacist, who mixed powders and liquids into medicaments for the patient.

But in today’s world, where large pharmaceutical companies manufacture and package the medicines we are prescribed by doctors (after lunch visits and special gifts delivered by pharma reps), so that at most, a pharmacist seems to be a pill counter and bottle labeler, or, perhaps, a take-the-blister-pack-off-the-shelf person, I wonder WHY, after seeing my doctor fax the prescription to the pharmacy of my choice, and giving that pharmacy 30 minutes (a bit more than the “15 to 20 minutes” they always tell you it’ll take when you bring them a prescription to fill) to get the darn blister packs off the shelf, when I arrived, the pharmacist was doing a cosmetics exchange (isn’t that what your darn cosmetics counter is for???), and told me that yes, she saw the fax come in but she hadn’t had time to fill the scrip yet, so it would be…

…FIFTEEN TO TWENTY MINUTES until my prescription was ready?

YES, I made my displeasure known. Although I didn’t, as I wanted to, suggest that I go behind the counter and get my own darned medicine seeing as filling prescriptions for people who weren’t there was so much more important than filling the scrip of the person standing right there.

But I believe my cranky response is more than forgivable.

You see, my prescription was for Diflucan.