Merry Christmas!! But will it really be a merry one?

Alas Christmas is approaching and for a good deal of pharmacists working around NZ I think that means encountering rudeness, impatience and the lot.

Below are the types of people that I'll be expecting to serve for the next few weeks (with the sudden spike in numbers helped by the holiday season):

The Old, Fragile and Disenfranchised (OFD) - The type that comes in and claims you didn't put the Seretide in with the ten other medications that she received even though you specifically counted everything in front of her while you were bagging it up yesterday. After hearing her insisting that she did have a look around, you reluctantly release a 2nd repeat early just so she can be on her merry way so you can get back to counting that 270tab Eltroxin which by now you have forgotten whether you've counted 150 or 200. I probably get more of these patients than the average pharmacies (you have no idea how many Fosamax Plus I dispense) and you can't help but wonder that when they ask for your advice on constipation whether they are *actually* constipated or just forgot they had a bowel motion this morning.


The Last-Minute Beggar - We all know this type too well. God forbid, they will just show up next Friday or Saturday night (xmas eve!) expecting to collect a "repeat" on his ultra urgent insulin even though you specifically told him last time there were no more repeats remaining. Ultra urgent because he's going to be eating a bit more during christmas and not because he ran out of it two weeks ago and didn't think too much of it because hey! he knows his body better than anyone. He demands that you lend him some to carry him through.

The Drug Seeker - The ones that gets the non-suspecting neighbour to purchase some panadein plus because you have declined sale to the said seeker many times before. The seeker will come in later and say that  she knows you've been telling the other pharmacies not to sell to her and that she does not like such treatment and she will be complaining to the HDC!!

The Hard-Work - May it be the ones that consulted you for 20min on what vitamins/herbs/remedies they should take and then just end up not buying or the ones that tries to get you to join a network marketing scheme that could earn you $100,000/day or the ones that says to you he created soy-free soy sauce and that his franchise might be bigger than MacDonald's.

Whatever the type you encounter this coming holiday season, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.