Cvs Pharmacy

This review is for the pharmacy counter, which is the worst I have ever dealt with — and I’ve traveled to a few third-​world countries and dealt with pharmacies there.
The staff at the pharmacy counter are the least willing to help of any CVS I have been to in the past. I live within walking distance and have had a culmination of bad experiences, but today was really just the straw that broke the camel’s back. The pharmacy had called me two days ago to let me know that my prescription refill was ready for pick up. «Finally,» I thought, «I’ve sorted out my troubles with this place and things are going to run smoothly.» When I arrived, there was somebody ahead of me being rung up, and then the pharmacy attendant disappeared for over 4 minutes, even though she saw me waiting there. She was going in and out of the rows working on something and then finally told me she’d be right with me and continued working on something for almost another minute.
I gave her my name and she told me they didn’t have it ready.
Okay. Well why did they call me two days ago to tell me it was ready? I know that the voicemail I recieved was from this woman, as she has a very distinctive voice.
«What is it for, anyway?»
Now I don’t know about you, but not only was this a rude way to phrase a question, but I also really didn’t want to yell across the pharmacy counter and broadcast to the rest of the shoppers nearby what medication I was picking up. Despite this, I told her what I needed and she asked
«Well, do you really need it?»
EXCUSE ME?! Why the hell do you think I put in my order and came to pick it up? Are pharmacy orders just some frivolous thing that people do for fun? What kind of question is that?! YES. YES, I NEED MY PRESCRIPTION. She didn’t even say anything like «I’m sorry, but I can get it filled for you right now» or even attempt to say anything. She was waiting on me to offer some solution. I got so fed up that I told her not to worry a out it and walked out of the store. She did not seem to mind at all, did not try to help me or fix anything, and was just happy that she didn’t have to do anything.
I used to enjoy going to the pharmacy but I have already gone ahead and start up mail order delivery through my health insurance provider. Again, this is the 4^th time I have dealt with rude Rx staff here and I have given up dealing with their bad attitudes and incompetence. Avoid this pharmacy if you can.

Well, I can’t rightly give them one star, especially because they’ve improved compared to how they were a year or so ago, but this is still the least helpful pharmacy I’ve ever been to.
My latest in a long line of disappointments was running around the store with the pharmacist trying to find a lotion that they stock behind the pharmacy counter (doctors often recommend it – it doesn’t *require* a prescription), but that they refused to sell to me without a prescription, unless we could find it out on the shelves.
Eventually I called 891 Main Street — they also had it behind the counter only, and were happy to sell it to me. And they did.
I live within walking distance of 415 Main Street and routinely drive to 891 for my prescriptions. Today’s story was precisely why.

This review is for the pharmacy counter:
Slow and horrible service. To start off, there was a bunch of employees milling about but there was only one person at the counter helping a very long line of customers. While I waited, people were complaining about how long they had been waiting and how slow the service always was. So, when I finally got my turn (after waiting for at least 15 minutes), the woman at the counter told me that they weren’t sure they had one of the items from my prescription (I should also add that she mispronounced the name of the med and I’m pretty sure she said she didn’t know what it was– seriously?!). Now, this prescription had been electronically sent by the doctor several hours prior to my going in so I expected everything to be ready. Why was she so unsure, I wondered? Shouldn’t she have known whether or not they had the item prior to my showing up? And, shouldn’t she have had an alternative for me instead of asking if I «really needed it»? (I don’t know about you, but when I get prescription meds, it’s usually because I need them). Anyway, she had to «go check». She came back and said that yeah, they did have it and did I want it? Umm, no, I just thought I’d check to see if they had it to satisfy my curiosity… Seriously, what is wrong with these people? So then I had to wait. Which is completely what I was trying to avoid — isn’t that the point of having your doc send in the prescription? So you can just go in and pick it up? While I was waiting, I was chatting with a woman who was also waiting for her prescription to be ready. No, wait, that’s not quite right. She was waiting because the pharmacy had to call her doctor to see what «Take as needed» meant. They refused to give this customer her prescription (that was ready) because the directions weren’t clear enough. This woman was telling me how all the other times she’d gotten this same drug, it had the same instructions (i.e. take as needed). This was nothing new but this particular pharmacist didn’t think it was clear enough. So, my newfound friend had been waiting for 45 minutes while they got in touch with her doc. I’m shocked by the incompetence of these people. I need to find a better drug store in the area because I’m sure not going back to this place. If they can’t even pronounce the name of the med (which wasn’t a difficult one to pronounce), then how can I trust them to give me the right med?