Gallagher, Drugs and the WM Pharmacy

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Over at Facebook (aka FB) we have been having a discussion about pharmacies, drug prescriptions, testing supplies, doctors, insurance companies and policies and more.  OK, I started out with a bit of a rant, but, as is frequent with one of my rants, it sorta took on a life of it's own.  We chatted and chatted and solved nothing, but, some of us did enough venting that we had to feel better - - I think.

In the midst of the ranting and comparing the ills of the medical and insurance businesses, I remembered one little issue that I had not mentioned that has been a bit of a thorn in my side.  Gallagher, AKA, Mr. G. and his own little pharmacy fiasco, which sadly, involves me.

See, our ole Mr. G has pre-heart and pre-renal failure. He has been on meds for a bit over 4 years.  Just before we departed on "The Trip" in November of 2010 my vet suggested that I could have his meds filled at Wal*M*** (you know the place).  She told me, I could actually get his drugs there cheaper than I could from her.  She wrote me a long standing, repeating prescription for 2 drugs and off I went to the local Wal*M*** to have them filled.

Now, these days, Wal*M*** actually encourages filling scripts for fur kids.  I don't believe that was the case when I walked into the local store 3 years ago.  They did not deny me the prescriptions, they filled them.

The trouble would become, how they put ole Mr. G into their computer system.  I am not quite sure why or how, but, he got put into the system as Gallagher, with my married surname and my birthday (yes, he is, according to Wal*MA***  a VERY old dog!  LOL)  These days, they put in fur kids with their names, Mr. G, the owners surname, and THEIR birthday, in this case it would have been 1999, not, well, my dinosaur birthday.

At this time I was not using Wal*M*** for my prescriptions, but, that was to change.

And, then the fun began.

(Below, Mr. G and the Easter Bunny, said Easter Bunny has NOT one thing to do with this story!)

They had both Mr. G., born on my birthday in the dark ages, and using my married surname AND moi, AKA, Carol, born on my birthday in the dark ages and using my married surname, in their computer system.  Yes indeedy, they had BOTH of us with the same birthday!

Let the fun, errr, the confusion begin - -

When I would go in for my scripts they could NOT find me on the computer system.  They might find Mr. G, or NOT.

Sometimes when I went in for Mr. G's scripts they would find MINE, or NOT.

Sometimes they could not find either of us.

Let me tell you, there have been a lot of confused clerks over the last 3 years.  I cannot tell you how many times I heard whispered words to the effect of, "I don't understand this, this makes no sense."

And, to make this even more bizarre (because believe me, after a while this went from frustrating to just plain silly and bizarre), was that they could not even find my local Wal*M*** on their data base.  Now, that is NOT a new Wal*M***, it has been there for some years.  I knew where it was, but, that "place" never shows up in their data base.  Really, you cannot find one of your own stores in YOUR data base??  Good grief!

I took to taking the prescription bottles in with me.  Handed them over to the clerk.  They still could not find me or the dog OR the store in the computer.  OH, and from what I can tell, your script number is not a searchable item in their data bases.  I find that even more bizarre.  Why not??  Seems simple enough to me, surname, given name, script number, input all three, and chazaaaamm, there is your script in their computer system.  But, alas, it just does not seem to work that way.  SIGH.

This has been going on for over 3 years.  Really!  Seriously!  Hysterically!

Lesson learned, never ever use YOUR birthday for anything other than your own records.  Doing so is just asking for months and months of confused clerks, shaking their heads, Man looking at me, me looking at Man and both of us shaking our heads too.

Lots and lots of head shaking, belly giggling going on - -

I fully expect next time I need a refill for Mr. G's drugs this will happen again.  It never stops - -

True story, it is too late at night for me to make up this stuff and as warped as my sense of humor is, I am not this creative.



* I'll say this, giving credit where credit is due, I have never met a clerk at the Wal*M*** pharmacy that was ill mannered or grumpy.  They have always been considerate, understanding, polite and eventually produced the right drug for the correct patient.  It's just their computer system  - -
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