Rostov pharmacist vents about pill requests and chatty clients

The protagonist of the story is a pharmacist from Rostov with 25 years of experience. She enjoys helping people, but many perceive the pharmacist as a doctor or psychologist, which is exhausting. She shared what irritates her in our new column ‘Frustrations’.

I was an assistant epidemiologist at the sanitary-epidemiological station. Salaries were often delayed there. I retrained as a pharmacist and started working in that field. I enjoy helping people, but it annoys me that I«m forced to work as a psychologist, not a pharmacist. People come to tell you about all their problems, relatives, and ailments.

Often people come to talk about politics. For instance, today an old man came in and discussed pensions: saying that in the north they pay more, and he worked for so many years, and Medvedev canceled that. In short, I had to listen to it for a long time. Many are outraged that there are no free medicines and that they have to buy them themselves.

It annoys me when people ask for blue, green pills — round, big, or starting with the letter “C”. If by chance these pills are found, it turns out they«re not for that letter at all. It annoys me that people, having read advertisements on the internet, try to self-medicate and find analogs online. Pharmacy customers don»t know that the found “analogs” by active ingredient may not be suitable and the indications could be completely different.

It irritates me when I ask for a prescription, and they say: ‘Why do I need a prescription? I«m a doctor myself’. That happens often too. Many also carry themselves with excessive pride.

It annoys me when people try to show their ailments. It goes as far as lifting their shirts and showing what«s under their chest. The phrase ‘I can»t get to a doctor, you have to make an appointment, and the appointment is who knows when’ is often heard. Or they say something like ‘well, you know better, just give me something’.

I«m annoyed by people who yell in line: ‘Faster, why aren»t you moving?!’ They might even swear. I«m also very annoyed by ill-mannered children who run around, knock over glasses, race about, open cabinets, and break everything. And the parents simply don»t care.

Once, a mother and her daughter came in. The mother stood at the checkout for a long time, fussing, until the girl sat down and urinated on the floor. I had to clean it up. The mother was standing there examining either hematogen or some kind of bar—studying the composition long and carefully. And she was standing there complaining that there was nothing with natural ingredients. She was looking for some ‘E’ additives.

I worked at a resort in the summer. On the embankment, it was a total nightmare: everyone came in drunk, cheerful: whole families, with mattresses, floats—they knocked everything down. Children ran around the pharmacy, opening cabinets. And once again, such a group came in: all drunk, covered in sand, in swimsuits and trunks—it was quite an unpleasant experience. They had to come in for citramon as a whole crowd, a big family.

Very often, I hear the phrase ‘Give me something’. Something for blood pressure, for example. Or people come and ask for medications that only specialists can prescribe. Very often, it«s urology: men come with ‘give me something’, even though they need to get examined first. Or they approach with problems in ophthalmology: ‘Give me some drops, just so I can see’. It often happens that people stop me on the street and ask what they should take.

Drug addicts, by the way, rarely come in now, alcoholics—too. But when I worked at a night pharmacy in central Rostov about 20 years ago, there were many such clients. I had a small child at the time. And once, a drug addict came in, also with a small child, wanting to buy drugs. I felt uneasy for a long time afterward and wanted to quit that job.

But overall, it«s a good job; at least you sit in warmth.