Had a horrible experience this evening with a pharmacist at the Savon pharmacy in Albertson's Reseda California. The pharmacist's name is Shelley. Horrible customer service. Waited around for 15 minutes while two pharmacists scrambled to fill one customer's prescriptions, when I could have been in and out in three. This is actually the third time this has happened to me. The worst part is that Shelley ended up calling me, "a mean and horrible person."
Not once did I get a "thank you for waiting," or a "I apologize for the delay." Over the course of our heated conversation she seemed to bounce around different excuses, including but not limited to: HIPPA laws, having only one register, having "issues" with a prescription, making a mistake, and the woman ahead of me having a lot of prescriptions. Never, of course, a lack of ability to efficiently deal with customers on her part. No, Shelley can do no wrong.
Really Shelley? You don't know me. You know nothing about me, except that I was angry at your incompetence. In fact, and you have no reason to believe me here, but I am telling you the truth when I say that I am actually the farthest thing from a horrible and mean person. Actually, I am more the type of person whose friends have to remind her not to let herself be taken advantage of. This may be the first time in my life I have ever been called "horrible and mean."
But that fact is beside the point and actually irrelevant. Even if I was the meanest and most horrible person in the world, I was not the person who was name-calling or personally insulting. It's really interesting that Shelley was calling me names, yet I am the mean and horrible person. So much so, that I am the first person in 27 years, to elicit this response. Shelley also asked me what I do for a living, but I responded to that she has no right to ask me that. Why was she even asking me that? Was it going to be to compare my job to hers? This interaction is not personal. I am a customer paying for a service from Shelley. It is Shelly's job to execute her duties effectively. I have also worked in customer service, and I certainly would have been fired at more than one job, if I told a patron or customer that they were a horrible, mean person.
I do feel sorry for Shelly that she cannot take responsibility for her actions or effectively manage customers. And I certainly don't understand this kind of behavior from someone who has been doing this for 27 years. After she did this, I did walk away, but then I went back to confront her again. It was completely inappropriate for her to call me names. It would be inappropriate for a kid to call another kid names on the playground at recess too. But unfortunately I'm actually dealing with a full-grown adult here. Upon being confronted a second time, Shelley doubled down on her comments - standing by her assertion that I am a "horrible and mean person.". She was so sure of herself in the situation, that she happily gave me the name of her manager, Lang, who I will definitely be calling tomorrow morning. I also discussed the issue with an assistant manager, and left my information for the manager.
Needless to say, I certainly will never be filling another prescription at Savon pharmacy or patronizing another Albertson's. I certainly will be reviewing this pharmacy and grocery store on every social media website I can think of, warning people that they might be called names while waiting for their pain medication in line. The funny thing is, name-calling actually doesn't hurt me or my feelings in any way. In fact I think, more than anything else, this incident is hilarious. This woman clearly lost her shit today. And did something completely inappropriate that could and should get her fired. It's no skin off my back to move my prescriptions to a pharmacy that will more efficiently help me. It's not a problem for me to buy food at one of the myriad other grocery stores from which I have the option to buy in Los Angeles. Oh, and they probably won't call me names there either. Good luck running your business like this. And good luck Shelley.
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