My Most Excellent Pharmacist

Many of you have heard me talk about my excellent health care physicians.  And some of you have heard me talk about how awesome my former pharmacist Jeffrey was.  Jeffrey had hired Joshua several years ago, and now that Jeffrey has left, Joshua is now the pharm manager and he has followed in Jeffrey's most excellent footsteps as far as customer service skills.  It probably won't come as any great surprise that Joshua and I have gotten to know each other pretty well over the years, given the number of health issues that I have.

After yesterday's doctor visit, I headed straight to CVS to pick up my prescriptions.  My doctor's office send prescriptions electronically to cooperating pharmacies, so I knew that (in theory, at least) there was a chance that the scripts could be ready by the time I walked there.  I got there, picked out a few supplies I needed and headed to the pharmacy.  The pharm tech looked for my things (yes, ALL of the pharm staff know me by name), but didn't find anything.  I told her that it was just called in (I still use the "old school" term), so it was fine if it wasn't ready yet.  She checked and couldn't find it.  She checked with Joshua, and he didn't have it.  But I heard him say, "When I'm off the phone, I'll check the voice mail."

I sat with my BlackBerry (I didn't feel like pulling out my book) and Joshua came over and said, "Min?  What exactly is it that I'm supposed to have for you?"  I told him the two scripts, and I said, "But it's not phone; it should be fax."  He said, "Gotcha."  Not more than ten seconds later, he came back with a piece of paper, and whispered, "Just give me a few minutes to get this done for you."

Then I remembered that the NP had said that the cough syrup was "really nasty tasting."  So I got up.  "Hey, Joshua?"  "Yeah?"  "I was told that the syrup tastes awful."  "Really?  Uh... okaaaaay."  "Oh, really?  It's not that bad?"  "Nope.  Not really."  "Oh, okay.  'Cause I was just going to ask you to do some magic to it to make it NOT taste as bad."  "How about you eat some candy after you take it?"  "Works for me!  Thanks!"

About ten minutes after that, I had my meds in hand and was being rung up.  I had another question for him about one of my other meds that I'm supposed to take "with dinner," but since all this started, I haven't really been eating, so he gave me some advice on that, too.

Overall, he's pretty awesome.  No matter how busy he is, he takes the time to answer questions, ask how you're doing, make sure you understand your med changes, etc.  He listened to my concerns about his tie selection (seriously - that tie was NOT appropriate for post-Labour Day wear), and he gave me advice for what to watch when I was couch-bound for three weeks in row ("The Office" - U.S. version).  Also, when the receipt pops out the random survey for you to take, he'll give you free candy.  But it's not a bribe.  It's just an advance.  You know, for your time for filling out the survey.  :)