钱字当头不再糊涂

Patient's dose was 62.5mcg of medicine X. X comes in 50mcg and 25mcg tablets. Therefore, it is logical to take 1 of the 50mcg tablet plus half of the 25mcg tablet. The less number of tablets, the better, and the cheaper anyway. When the mother of the patient saw the tablets, she complained that it is very confusing for her as both tablets look the same, and wanted everything to be in 25mcg; that means the child has to swallow 2 and half tablets.

I tried explaining to her that the packaging of the 25mcg tablet is dark green in color while the 50mcg tablet is silver. Both are in strip form, with the color coding on the back of the strips therefore it is easy to learn which tablet is 25mcg and which is 50mcg. However, she insisted I change as she claimed she would mix up the 2 tablets. I mean, fine. As long as she gives the correct dose to her child I really could not be bothered.

When I told the parents the total cost of the medicine after making the change, they got a shock. According to dad, he said it was almost double what he usually paid for the medicine. Checked the records and promptly informed him that the increase in cost is due to the increase in number of tablets. Come on, common sense right. You obviously have to pay more if you take more tablets. Nobody's forcing you to take 2 and half tablets when the patient could have taken 1 and half tablets. When the parents realised it is cheaper to take the combination of tablets we packed earlier they requested for us to change back again.

By then I was already fuming. I mean, first you tell me it is confusing, then when you realise the price is cheaper it no longer becomes confusing. It certainly says a lot about these parents.

Why Should We Be Taking the Medicine!

Patient's caregiver was complaining that the syrup for epilepsy causes a burning sensation in the throat, but seriously speaking, this was the first time I ever heard a patient complained that particular medicine causing a burning sensation in the throat. There is no alcohol content, just medicine and syrup how can that cause a burning sensation?

The caregiver then said pharmacists should try all the medicine, which we were like "Duh!". Why should we try the medicine when we are not ill?! Stupid caregiver. We are not talking about tasting bandung or sunkist orange juice here, it is medicine. Are we suppose to try things like digoxin and go into a cardiac arrest when our heart is working fine? Some people, they talk as if they're only born with the cerebellum.

Ghosts of Pharmacy

If you ever lingered at the counter after getting the queue no., refusing to go away despite the staff telling you to take a seat, then you are the ghost I am refering to. These ghosts are a real nuisance. They continue lingering at the counter even though you are serving another patient. Some would just stand at the side listening to you counselling another patient's medicine. By doing that they have already infringed on the privacy of another person.

The worse type of ghosts are those who stand right in front of your counter although the next number is not theirs. Sometimes I wonder if they think they're ethreal and people can just walkthrough them, because when the correct patient arrives, they refuse to budge. At least until I black face (being 钟馗 helps) them, and curtly tell them to please move aside.

Ghosts without brains...

Pls Answer to the Question

Really felt like whacking this parent on the head. Here are the stupid things he said.

1. His queue no. is 65. When I called 64, he came forward and say, "Yah, my son's medicine." When I told him I am calling queue no. 64, he looked blankly at me. I then read out 64's name which happens to be a female name. Continued to give me the blank look. #$@!!*

2. I asked him for home address, he went, "What address?" Home address, home address. You know, the place you go back to rest and sleep?! Unless you're telling me you sleep under a different bridge everyday.

3. I asked if his son has any allergies to medicine, his answer was, "Yah this is my son." *faint*

4. When I told him paracetamol is for fever and is taken only when necessary, he asked, "So when to take?" Had to resort to Tarzan English: Fever, take. No fever, no take. I forgot to "Oh ee oh ee oh" after that.

I really worry for the kid. Can such a clueless parent even look after his kid?

Epitome of Stupid, Rude Singaporean

If you read the Sunday Times today, you would probably know what I am about to say. If you have not, go get a copy of the Sunday Times, turn to page 4 and read the story on "Customer forced out of restuarant after spat with chef".

Mrs Ang Ai Min is truly the classic example of the stupid, rude Singaporean customer. For starters, all restaurants or food establishments have the right to set their house rules. If you do not agree with the rules, as customers you have the right to just leave quietly and go to another restaurant. Not allowing outside drinks is a common and reasonable house rule. Even if Mrs Ang felt slighted at being told not to consume outside drinks in the restaurant she could still politely inform the restaurant staff her children did not consume the drinks they brought in. There was no need to make a molehill out of an anthill to the extend that even the chef was provoked to force her out of the restaurant.

Her behavior is sending the wrong message to Singaporeans and to the younger generation (who knows what kind of moral values she passes on to her students). In her own words, "I want people to know that such behavior is unacceptable. How can anyone lay his hands on another person, not to mention using brute force on a customer?" True, it is not acceptable for the chef to grab her arm and shove her out of the restaurant, but she is not a saint either. It is equally unacceptable for her to make a big ruckus in the restaurant and disturbing the dining experience of other customers, but she did not apologize for her behavior did she. I am apt to think that it is possibly due to teachers like Mrs Ang that we have youngster like the 2 mentioned in my "A Coffee Bean Story" post.

These 2 incidents serve to remind me that all the talks and campaigns to improve service standards in Singapore are nothing but crock. It is improving slavery industry not service industry. Service is not uni-directional. It involves interaction between 2 or more humans, and if it is an interaction it cannot be about one side giving more and more to the extend of giving in to an obnoxious party, which is the case with service industry in Singapore. Improvements need to be made on both ends in order to truly raise the service standards; boorish customers like the protagonist need to learn to respect others and be empathetic (what am I talking about here, a teacher needs to be taught basic human respect?!), and service providers learn to serve with a heart. In addition, I think it would be good to make it a standard practice to allow service providers the right not to serve rude customers. If UK can tolerate this practice why can't we?