Line cutters

[siamesecat2965]

A lot of the pharmacies around here have 3 windows - 1 says "drop off"  You go there to tell them what you initially need/want.  They tell you how long it will take - 15 minutes tomorrow, etc.  You can then leave to wander, shop, etc. If you take longer than the 15 minutes to come back - no problem.

Then there is the pick-up window.  The purpose of that is obvious.

There is also a consultation window for people who have a question, need to get a flu shot, etc.

This system seems like it might have helped somewhat in some of the situations described.

My pharmacy does have this, but it does a lot of business, and while they try and get people in and out quickly, sometimes there's still a line to pick up. Or drop off. No matter how efficient they are, you have to tell them your name, they have to go get it, then you have to pay, and in some cases, sign the book that you picked it up. Even at 2-3 minutes per customer, if you are 6th in line, that's close to 15 minutes waiting.

[siamesecat2965]

I had a situation once at the airport where someone wanted to cut in front of me, and the couple behind me. I was doing curbside checkin, and the guy had taken my boarding pass etc. over to the kiosk to print out the bag tags etc. and there was a couple behind me, waiting their turn. A woman came up, and said she was going to miss her flight, coudl she go in front of me. I was already in progress, so I told her that, so she asked the couple behind me, who declined.

I get stuff happens on the way, that's unavoidable, but I know I always leave well in advance so I don't have to rush, or am in danger of missing my flight. I don't know why she was cutting it so close, but I was secretly glad I was already being taken care of since I really didn't want to let her go ahead of me

[stargazer]

Actually, at least at the pharmacy I work in, a 15-20 minute wait is the norm.  Now, this is not waiting in line, this is after you have signed in.

Well I think there are two problems, and yeah the first is a 20 minute line at the pharmacy - you know that's not ok or normal, right?  It should be moving a lot faster then that, they need more employees or a better system or something. I would expect, absolutely without a second thought, that I could run in and get my Rx and be out in 5 minutes or so.

Actually, this is absolutely the norm at the Kaiser I go to.  They have every window open but there are just so many people wanting to pick up their Rx that it just takes that long.

Wow.  I have never "signed in" to a pharmacy so I don't even know what that means, nor have I ever waited in line/to be helped for more then 3-5 minutes max and that would be a very unusually long wait.  Sure its a wait to have them fill your Rx, but you can leave the store, or wander around the store during that time (or you call in your Rx or refill in advance so its ready when you arrive), its not a "wait in line" situation.  I would switch pharmacy's in either of these ^ situations, as they seem understaffed or poorly managed.

I don't know what "signing in" is either, but the lines of people are just that long.  And it doesn't seem to matter whether I go to the one here in town, or go to the next city over.  So I can't just switch pharmacies, but it's not a big deal at all. 

[MariaE]

Actually, at least at the pharmacy I work in, a 15-20 minute wait is the norm.  Now, this is not waiting in line, this is after you have signed in.

Well I think there are two problems, and yeah the first is a 20 minute line at the pharmacy - you know that's not ok or normal, right?  It should be moving a lot faster then that, they need more employees or a better system or something. I would expect, absolutely without a second thought, that I could run in and get my Rx and be out in 5 minutes or so.

Actually, this is absolutely the norm at the Kaiser I go to.  They have every window open but there are just so many people wanting to pick up their Rx that it just takes that long.

Wow.  I have never "signed in" to a pharmacy so I don't even know what that means, nor have I ever waited in line/to be helped for more then 3-5 minutes max and that would be a very unusually long wait.  Sure its a wait to have them fill your Rx, but you can leave the store, or wander around the store during that time (or you call in your Rx or refill in advance so its ready when you arrive), its not a "wait in line" situation.  I would switch pharmacy's in either of these ^ situations, as they seem understaffed or poorly managed.

Calling in a Rx isn't an option where I live. But usually filling the Rx isn't the problem - that seldom takes long at all - it's a mix of there simply just being a lot of people and that a lot of those people don't have prescriptions to pick up but need to ask the pharmacist for advice on something or the other.

10-15 minutes is the norm at my pharmacy, but I've had waits of up to half an hour. Fortunately Danish pharmacies have just gone online, so as of the start of this year I can order refills online and have them sent directly to my home

[MamaMootz]

A lot of the pharmacies around here have 3 windows - 1 says "drop off"  You go there to tell them what you initially need/want.  They tell you how long it will take - 15 minutes tomorrow, etc.  You can then leave to wander, shop, etc. If you take longer than the 15 minutes to come back - no problem.

Then there is the pick-up window.  The purpose of that is obvious.

There is also a consultation window for people who have a question, need to get a flu shot, etc.

This system seems like it might have helped somewhat in some of the situations described.

Sharnita, this pharmacy had the same set up. Unfortunately, no one was there to drop off or consult - EVERYONE was there at that time to pick up.

[katiescarlett]

Actually, at least at the pharmacy I work in, a 15-20 minute wait is the norm.  Now, this is not waiting in line, this is after you have signed in.

Well I think there are two problems, and yeah the first is a 20 minute line at the pharmacy - you know that's not ok or normal, right?  It should be moving a lot faster then that, they need more employees or a better system or something. I would expect, absolutely without a second thought, that I could run in and get my Rx and be out in 5 minutes or so.

Actually, this is absolutely the norm at the Kaiser I go to.  They have every window open but there are just so many people wanting to pick up their Rx that it just takes that long.

Wow.  I have never "signed in" to a pharmacy so I don't even know what that means, nor have I ever waited in line/to be helped for more then 3-5 minutes max and that would be a very unusually long wait.  Sure its a wait to have them fill your Rx, but you can leave the store, or wander around the store during that time (or you call in your Rx or refill in advance so its ready when you arrive), its not a "wait in line" situation.  I would switch pharmacy's in either of these ^ situations, as they seem understaffed or poorly managed.

I don't know what "signing in" is either, but the lines of people are just that long.  And it doesn't seem to matter whether I go to the one here in town, or go to the next city over.  So I can't just switch pharmacies, but it's not a big deal at all.

Sorry!     The pharmacy where I work is alot different from the ones ya'll are describing.  I work in an outpatient hospital pharmacy for an Indian tribe.  When I say sign in, what I mean is we have a front desk, and we have yellow forms we have the patients fill out.  It has their chart #, name, and whether they are picking up refills or new prescriptions on it.  The tech manning the front desk will then take that slip, look up their chart, and indicate where the meds should be on it.  For example, if you come in and your meds were filled the day before, but are new, I will write new, the date they were filled, and shelf on it, so the person getting the meds knows where to look.

If you have called in a refill the day before, it is actually only about a 5-10 minute wait at the very most, depending on how many people are in line.  As soon as the patient has filled at the form, we ask them to take a seat and then call them back up to the desk for their refills.  New prescriptions must go through the pharmacist's office to be counseled.  (our policy)  Where the biggest wait comes in is when we are waiting for the doctor to put the meds in.  15 minute wait for new meds is about the norm, we generally fill 2000+scripts a day.  We also mark on the form the time the person signed in, and try to go by who signed in first.

Sorry, this was long.  I just saw that it was confusing.  We are not retail, so we are a very different kind of facility.

[jeni]

It's a shame she wasn't made to wait, it just reinforces for her that she can be a bully and get away with it.

I really dislike line cutting, to the point where I embarrassed myself recently.  A clothing store had a big sale on, and I was waiting for what seemed like ages in the cashiers line - there were two attendants, though only one actually taking payments and they were incredibly slow, well this lady came and stood to the side and only very slightly behind me.  She didn't speak to anyone else and I said to her 'oh, the end of the line is over there' (it was quite long by this stage), she replied 'I'm here with my friend' (who was behind me).  Ooops, my big mouth.  I wasn't rude when I said it, but I still felt like a jerk.  I will be more careful next time   

I can't recall if she had her own purchases or not - and I do think just because your friend is in line, doesn't mean you get to join them at their spot in the queue with your own purchases - have seen this one happen a lot.

I do think it is different under different circumstances though, for example we were waiting (4 of us) to check in at an airport and my DH received a phone call that he had to take, so he left the queue and by the time he got back several people had joined the queue behind us and we all needed to check in together, but at least did the right thing and spoke to the people waiting to check they were ok with it.  Like the guy behind us said, 'sure, we're all going on the same plane, no worries'.