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Dear Walgreens,

I can appreciate the convenience of a drive-thru pharmacy. I use it myself sometimes. But quite often, when I'm popping in to pick up mother's little helper, I find that I also need other items - like lip balm, feminine hygiene products, or Neosporin. In fact, I can almost always think of something I need from Walgreens. So most times, I come inside.

But I do not understand why I have to wait so long to pick up a prescription that I called in hours ago. It seems that the pharmacy tech (a.k.a. the guy behind the counter who's not the pharmacist) is in charge of taking care of drive-thru customers, and the pharmacist is responsible for inside customers. This makes no sense to me, because the pharmacist is always down there somewhere that we can't really see but we know she's down there filling prescriptions.

So tonight, I waited at the counter through entire renditions of Bryan Adams' "Straight from the Heart," "Winning" by Santana and whatever hair band it was that sang "Can you take me higher" until the pharmacist finished filling someone else's prescription and came over to wait on me. I'm pretty sure every year of my high school career was duly represented. My high school years may have actually passed more quickly.

Which is just to say: I don't think you're system is working.

Speaking as a pharmacy employee...when there is only one tech on duty, policy dictates we are responsible for drive-thru, drop off prescriptions, pick up prescriptions and any other random customers who need help. I often find myself going from inside to drive-thru to inside to drive-thru when we are busy. The pharmacist is responsible for filling prescriptions, verifing RXs, and answering the phones.

Luckily, I generally work with great pharmacists who will help patients if they see I am overwhelmed or stuck with an insurance/doctor/misc issue. Keep in mind they are now no longer able to fill or verify any prescriptions while ringing you up...so the patients whose RXs are on the counter now have to wait longer.

We try to not to make any patients wait longer than they have to. I know not all employees are as focused on customer service as I am, but I personally do my best to help patients as quickly as I can.

:)

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