Lining Up At The Drug Store

Who'd have thought that getting a prescription filled would be such an angst-provoking experience? Here, the biggest chain drug store is Duane Reade, and they've an automated phone-in refill service. Actually, I think it's supposed to call you a week before your prescription runs out, ask you to verify a few things, and then puts your refill order in the computer system; you can pick up the prescription a few days later. Usually, this doesn't happen, and I call the refill phone number, verify a few things, and then pick up my refill a few days later.

The wait at Duane Reade is almost always 5min per person in line ahead of you. This doesn't matter if all they're doing is buying a tube of toothpaste; it will still take at least 5 minutes for the cashier to ring it in, for the customer to find his/her wallet, get out cash or credit card, and finalize the transaction. So, I have been trying to synchronize my refills so I can pick them up all at the same time. Why wait 30 minutes twice when I only have to wait 30 minutes once, right?

Well, last time I tried this, it was a fiasco!

I went to pick up my 3 prescriptions on a Friday. (Yes, I've got too many medications!) When I waited my requisite 30min in line, the cashier took several minutes to find my presciption. And even though I told her my name (twice) and said I had three prescriptions to pick up, she only brought back one. So I repeated that I had three in total, to which I got a nasty glare, as if to say, "Why didn't you say so earlier?!" Anyway, she came back eventually with all three prescriptions.

(Aside: waiting at the pharmacy takes even longer. This is because all the filled prescriptions which are ready for pick-up sit in little sandwich baggies hanging densely on hangers. The patient's name is written in tiny font on the package, inside the bag, so it's very difficult for the cashiers to find the proper prescription. i don't understand why a more efficient system hasn't been implemented, though my guess is that this efficiency planning isn't in anyone's job description explicitly, so it doesn't get done.)

Unfortunately, one of my prescriptions has been refilled too early, and my insurance won't pay for it, since they only pay once per prescription per month. (Welcome to the land of higher taxes, yet more bills to pay!) So I wasn't allowed that third prescription. I was told to come back in a few days, when my insurance company would pay for it. (Incidentally, my insurance only pays part of the cost - i still have to pay a small cost for every presciprtion.)

So I return in a week (the following Thursday), wait my requisite 30min again. At the counter, i tell the cashier my name (twice). She spends 5 minutes looking, standing around doing nothing, looking again. She can't find my prescription, and asks me when I called for a refill. I tell her that I tried to pick it up a week earlier, but since my insurance won't pay for it, they wouldn't give it to me. Her reply was, "No." Huh?! So I repeat that I saw the refill, but the person working there wouldn't let me have it, so it must be around. Again, she says, "No."

At this point, I wish I weren't so adverse to confrontation, because I should have responded with, "Yes! I saw it with my own eyes!" But instead, I just let her say she added it to "the computer" and it should be ready in an hour. GRRRR! Of course I could just go to the end of the line and wait, and it might be ready by then. But I wasn't prepared to wait any longer that day. I was able to pick up my prescription (finally) on the third try, though that wait was almost 45 minutes! I was also ready to have a confrontation if need be. But, while I was getting my prescription this third time, I overheard a woman saying it was *her* third time trying to fill a prescription as well!

Anyway, my point is that things are shockingly inefficient here. For a city that embraces the adage "time is money", it amazes me how long New Yorkers are willing to wait for stuff.