Pharmacy Periodical 2
A few emails later...
Most of the later emails from Head Office said we apologise for the delay in responding to you... we have clearly fallen short of our standards and for that we cannot apologise enough... the report has now been completed and someone else will assess it before replying to you. We have impressed upon our staff the importance of making phone calls when a call has been promised. And they laid the blame for erratic expiry dates firmly at the feet of their suppliers.
And then they started ending with "I hope this has now been resolved to your satisfaction." To which the answer was: nearly but not quite. You haven't commented on the fact that stock isn't rotated, or that I was promised a phone call which I still haven't had after five (now six) weeks. Nobody has mentioned the outstanding packet of pills. Presumably I am still expected to make a fourth avoidable jouney to pick it up myself, rather than get it delivered? what price goodwill?
The "someone else" who'd been charged with assessing the report phoned me up - brave lad. Heart in mouth no doubt. I have to confess that I can't remember what he said. Perhaps he wanted to talk to me to check that I wasn't a total nutter waging a personal war against pharmacists.
He also wrote to me, offering - as a gesture of goodwill - £15 in retail vouchers, or vouchers to be used in their shops. I told him I'd be happy to accept £15 to spend anywhere, but thought the goodwill would be slightly diluted if it could only be spent in their branches.
An hour later, I got the call I was promised on 7th September. It was a member of staff at the local branch, and it wasn't someone I knew. No, she only started a week ago. Sounds normal - give the new girl the scary jobs! She wanted to arrange a delivery date and we agreed on Friday afternoon.
Friday's post brought two vouchers, £5 and £10, both for use in any branch of their pharmacy. I don't particularly want to go back. Perhaps I can give them away. No, they have my name printed on them, and they need to be presented with ID.
The doorbell at two o'clock brought a man clutching a little bag containing one packet of pills. I've checked them - they're the right ones and they have a year of shelf-life left.
A few weeks ago, I arranged for a local chemist - an individual family-run shop - to collect my prescriptions from the surgery, and to deliver them. They don't restrict deliveries to certain classes of patients - they deliver to anyone who wants it - they like to keep their customers happy. I hope it works!
After six months of not getting more than four hours' sleep a night, imagine my joy yesterday morning when I woke up after three hours but managed to doze off again for another four. Unfortunately I was awake for two hours in the middle.
This morning I slept for three, woke up for three, slept for another three. It's better than struggling through the day on three or four hours but I would very much like to reduce the gap a bit. OK, a lot. Till six months ago, I was sleeping for seven or eight at a stretch. Happy days. The change happened overnight. Wish I knew why. And what to do about it.
Most of the later emails from Head Office said we apologise for the delay in responding to you... we have clearly fallen short of our standards and for that we cannot apologise enough... the report has now been completed and someone else will assess it before replying to you. We have impressed upon our staff the importance of making phone calls when a call has been promised. And they laid the blame for erratic expiry dates firmly at the feet of their suppliers.
And then they started ending with "I hope this has now been resolved to your satisfaction." To which the answer was: nearly but not quite. You haven't commented on the fact that stock isn't rotated, or that I was promised a phone call which I still haven't had after five (now six) weeks. Nobody has mentioned the outstanding packet of pills. Presumably I am still expected to make a fourth avoidable jouney to pick it up myself, rather than get it delivered? what price goodwill?
The "someone else" who'd been charged with assessing the report phoned me up - brave lad. Heart in mouth no doubt. I have to confess that I can't remember what he said. Perhaps he wanted to talk to me to check that I wasn't a total nutter waging a personal war against pharmacists.
He also wrote to me, offering - as a gesture of goodwill - £15 in retail vouchers, or vouchers to be used in their shops. I told him I'd be happy to accept £15 to spend anywhere, but thought the goodwill would be slightly diluted if it could only be spent in their branches.
An hour later, I got the call I was promised on 7th September. It was a member of staff at the local branch, and it wasn't someone I knew. No, she only started a week ago. Sounds normal - give the new girl the scary jobs! She wanted to arrange a delivery date and we agreed on Friday afternoon.
Friday's post brought two vouchers, £5 and £10, both for use in any branch of their pharmacy. I don't particularly want to go back. Perhaps I can give them away. No, they have my name printed on them, and they need to be presented with ID.
The doorbell at two o'clock brought a man clutching a little bag containing one packet of pills. I've checked them - they're the right ones and they have a year of shelf-life left.
A few weeks ago, I arranged for a local chemist - an individual family-run shop - to collect my prescriptions from the surgery, and to deliver them. They don't restrict deliveries to certain classes of patients - they deliver to anyone who wants it - they like to keep their customers happy. I hope it works!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After six months of not getting more than four hours' sleep a night, imagine my joy yesterday morning when I woke up after three hours but managed to doze off again for another four. Unfortunately I was awake for two hours in the middle.
This morning I slept for three, woke up for three, slept for another three. It's better than struggling through the day on three or four hours but I would very much like to reduce the gap a bit. OK, a lot. Till six months ago, I was sleeping for seven or eight at a stretch. Happy days. The change happened overnight. Wish I knew why. And what to do about it.
13 Comments:
It is so frustrating when things about ourselves change and we have no clue what happened.
Sleeping in small bits of time is so unrefreshing. I know when it happens to me, I feel like I am in a fog the entire time I am awake.
I hope the local chemist remains determined to keep customers. Keeping customers seems to be going the way of common sense....away.
I also hope you sleep better with each passing night.
By Deunan, Oct 27 09 10:10 AM
I sincerely hope the family chemist works better. Big companies are all lipservice customer service it seems to me. I agree, sleeping in bits and pieces is sometimes worse than not sleeping at all. I hope everything improves quickly.
By rayven80, Oct 27 09 11:13 AM
I know you aren't a fan of 'sleep aids' so I won't mention them...;)
Maybe it's time for a new bed? They seem to have a lot to choose from these days. I wish you good rest, however you find it!
By veronikkamarrz, Oct 27 09 12:24 PM
Lesley we are a right pair my sleep patterns are no better then yours, was i bed last night at 10:15 dropped off i think about 10.30 woke for no reason at 12.20am and dier not drop off to sleep again. We should get together to see if we can help each other get a better nights sleep and then we could both get 8 hrs which would be a dream come true
By Professer, Oct 28 09 6:06 AM
Sleep, so sweet if you can do it, I too cant sleep more than three or four hours at a time. Carol does a straight eight with no problem I am awash with jeolousy
By garrysouders, Oct 28 09 7:07 AM
Thanks, everyone. I am optimistic about the local family chemist, simply because I can't see them treating their customers with the same churlish contempt as the chains. The reply I got from the chain was the minimum I could have hoped for, and I have a suspicion that I wouldn't have heard from them again if I hadn't kept on at them - any email they wrote to me was only a good as my last polite reminder.
I can't remember how you know that, VM, but you're right, and the bed was new in - er - about 1992, so you could be right about that too!
Garry, until six months ago, I too used to do a straight seven or eight, and my jealousy now is boundless.
Gary - if that isn't the best offer I've had all year! Woohoo! When do we start?
By lesley153, Oct 28 09 8:34 AM
Amn still waiting Lesley for us to Start :)
By Professer, Oct 31 09 5:53 AM
Last night was OK - four hours of heavy sleep, followed by a couple of hours being dozy, and then three more hours dozing off again. Gary, we must be doing something right!
By lesley153, Oct 31 09 8:54 AM
Lesley, I'm in your boat, as well. It's so frustrating, isn't it? Sometimes it helps to just go with your body's rhythms and get up until you feel sleepy again, because if you lie there and try to make yourself go back to sleep the resulting tension pushes sleep even further away.
Please keep us posted on the chemist! It sounds like the local one may be a much better match for you.
By bionic4ever, Oct 31 09 11:57 PM
Beth, it's miserable. I suspect that most of FT's grown-up, longer-term members are insomniacs. And you're right - lying in bed thinking Grrr! I need sleep! isn't going to make sleep come.
I told the new chemist why I'd finally had enough of the old one. She invited me to tell her what it was because, if the old ones had made the same mistake every time, perhaps hers might too. All I had to do was tell her the name of the medication, and she knew what I was going to say.
The last one was early September so the next one will be in about a month. Hope it works.
By lesley153, Nov 01 09 6:33 AM
Well done Lesley, I'm so glad that you are supported a smaller, independent Pharmacy. Many of the problems you have encountered I had to contend with when I worked for a multiple and some of those contributed to the reasons that I left for the independent I work for now (as you know from my lengthy notes!)
Sleep, hmmm. Tough one this. I tend to be so knackered everyday that I sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow and don't wake up. This is not my natural state though, as a student and teenager I used to lie awake for hours with my mind whirring through events, possiblilities, worries.
By nasty_liar, Nov 01 09 6:09 PM
*groan*
'you are supported'??
I should submit blogs, posts, replies with a disclaimer: 'Please correct/provide/delete spelling/grammar/punctuation where required'
By nasty_liar, Nov 01 09 6:10 PM
Thanks - me too! I decided to go back to the chain because I had been using supermarket pharmacies, and they are going to kill off the chemists, just as supermarket milk, at unregulated prices, has all but killed the home dairy industry.
I did most of my brain-whirring while I was still in single figures. For most of my life, I too have been knackered head hit pillow zonk. Still am. Just need to work on staying asleep for a bit longer.
And don't fret about typos. Most of the time, there's only one thing it could be, and our brains compensate for them. I rarely notice typos until the person who made them steams back to correct them.
By lesley153, Nov 01 09 8:41 PM