Despite all the dramatic moments on the Friday of 03/04, I was on-call at the A&E pharmacy on the following Saturday and Sunday, from 12a.m. to 8a.m. Completed the report for incident-reporting during my Saturday shift. Grrrrr...
Then on Sunday night, I was on-call with Mr. Z. He asked me about the incident, which I told him in detail since there were very few patients that night. He advised me with some words of wisdom based on his years of experience as a PPF. They all made very much sense to me. One of which that stroke me deeply was the importance of keeping all objects with sharp edge(s) under the counter, away from the sight of all patients, to avoid the possibility of them being suddenly grasped and used as a weapon against us. While saying so, he kept aside the scissors on the counter. He insisted that he was not being paranoid because anything could happen at an open-counter pharmacy, especially in the middle of the night, with the Jaga dozing off...
Honestly, I was a wee bit scared, probably due to the way he was putting it.. In fact, I must admit that was a bit paranoid. Around 130a.m., a Malay guy in T-shirt, pants, and slippers (quite big in size, not very tidy) came wandering about at the pharmacy, but he had no Rx and did not ask for any medication. I was all alone at that time. Mr. Z had gone to the satelite pharmacy upstair to handle some indents from the wards. The Malay guy then sat down quietly at the waiting area, sambil watching TV sambil eyeing my laptop from time to time. I didn't know what he was up to. So I just observed him at the corner of my eyes. Then suddenly he stood up and walked straight to my direction.
I was like "OMG, shit shit shit... What's he gonna do?" (All the scary stories Mr. Z told me started flashing through my mind)
Then he leaned forward at and looked over the counter (with me gripping my laptop dead tight with both my hands), trying to see what I was doing with my laptop. Then he asked, "Laptop baru eh?" In an attemp to defend my darling Dong Dong from being snatched, I answered, "Tak lah.. Sudah laaaaaaaaaama.." With his eyes locking on my laptop, he pursued, "Ni model Toshiba eh?" I answered, "Yeah..." *Go away go away lah! Why are u still here?!*
As I was freaking out, he introduced himself. Oooooh... Rupa-rupanya he was the HO on-call from the medical ward lah... Ah cheh!! He's a friend of my colleague. Came over just to have a short chat with another soul on-call since he was so damn bored. Darn! Wore until so chin-chai!! Not my fault my brain couldn't relate his appearance to his occupation loh.. Duh!! Hahaha.. sorry ya!! =P
I laughed at myself for my overreaction when he left. Decided not to let Mr. Z's stories freak me out and so I started to relax, watching V for Vendetta (u don't have to remind me of the fact that I'm outdated enough to live in the jungle) while waiting for the night to pass.
It was 4a.m. and I was close to dozing off when I heard footsteps approaching. Next thing I saw was a slightly plump woman in yellow-coloured tudung walking towards my direction. She was not in traditional Malay costume. Instead, she was wearing a blouse and a long skirt. I couldn't tell if she was a Malay for the lighting was dim and the tudung covered almost half of her face.
Then, she was right in front of me. The thick red-coloured lipgloss looked way too familiar... And the face! And the voice as she spoke,
"Xiao jie, wo gei gou yao dao jiao! Wo yao na yao gao!" while pushing her Rx and appointment book towards me.
Walao eh!! Confirmed 100% she was the PSY aunty who slapped me just 2 days ago loh!!
My immediate reaction was to slam my Dong Dong shut and push myself away from the counter, albeit in the most natural way I could manage so as not to provoke her once again. I could totally feel my adrenaline rush as my heart went "pip pok pip pok" in my chest. I was wondering if she'd recognize me and call me slut and slap me on the face yet another time, but it seemed like she didn't remember a single bit about my "affair with the ah ji ah cho doctor" and the shiok-ness of slapping my left cheek.
Luckily Mr. Z was with me. In fact, he was still upstair in the satelite pharmacy 5 minutes before the PSY aunty arrived loh. He came back just in time to save my @ss.. So I mouthed to Mr. Z quietly,
"She was the one who slapped me the other day!"
Mr. Z got it immediately and became fully alert as well. Honestly, he was damn MAN at that moment loh. He stood up to take over my place and told me to just stand behind him and be very careful. I obeyed like a frightened kitten. Honestly, I was a bit scared.
Mr. Z took the Rx from the PSY aunty and looked. T. Multivitamin 1/1 od X 1/52. Obviously the doctor simply prescribed something to satisfy her. And obviously, no dog was unlucky enough to have bitten her leg. Mr. Z quickly dispensed the 7 biji of MVT to her. When Mr. Z called out her name, she somemore corrected Mr. Z saying that she was DBC, not ABC. Walao eh, confirmed this aunty Schizo one loh! I saw her IC before. Unless both my eyes have got glaucoma, I am 102% sure that her name is ABC loh..
That aunty was not satisfied with the MVT. She kept leaning over the counter to point at the cream/ointment compartment, insisting that she was just bitten by the dog and that we must give her one of those. Mr. Z told her Doctor didn't prescribe anything of that sort to her and asked her to leave. She took her MVT and walked away for about 5 steps then turned around and returned to the counter again to start telling stories about her neighbour lah, her brother lah, her children lah, and the list goes on. This time, Mr. Z raised his voice, and told her sternly to leave NOW. She hesitated then continued rambling for awhile and finally left... What a huge relief to both me and Mr. Z. Phew...
Darn eerie loh!! I never expect seeing PSY patient at 4 o'clock in the morning loh!! Not to mention one who had just slapped me 2 days ago!! Did I like step on dog shit ah? Why so sueh one har? Oh well, from another point of view, I actually found it a good thing that I was the one on-call that day. Imagine what could happen if the one on-call were to be someone who were completely clueless of her aggressive behaviour... Open-counter is really quite dangerous lah.. Hmm.. I still wonder how that PSY aunty got to the hosp in the middle of the night... Did she like drive? Or walked all the way there? (> <")
Last Thursday, I thought I was going to kena again from a SPUB uncle from JB. Lets call him The Bodoh One (TBO for short) from this point onwards. So, TBO came with this Rx that includes Mensa Cream. Found out from FRP that we have no Mensa Cream and we usually substitute with LMS cream. I happened to be the lucky one to dispense TBO's medicine. The LMS cream was pre-packed into a cream container. I held up the LMS cream and told him politely, "Ini ubat sapu untuk tempat yang sakit ya.."
He interrupted, "EH!! Ini bukan lah!! Saya biasanya guna tiub biru punya! Pakai ni tak ada effect lah! Saya nak jenis tiub biru tu!"
Ok. The content in the blue tube was LMS cream also lor! That was last month's stock. We only had few batang left so we gave them all out before starting to supply the pre-packed LMS Cream in the small cream container loh. Seemed like he was one of the "lucky" one (unlucky for me though) to receive the blue tube LMS cream. Now that the blue tube type had finished, he thought I could melahirkan one for him meh? So I tried to talk him around, explaining to him that the contents are the same.
But this TBO, having the illusion that he himself is THE pharmacist in this situation, raised his voice and said " Awak jangan TIPU saya! Ni dua mana sama?! Saya tau! Saya nak jenis tiub biru tu! Awak jangan TIPU saya!!"
Walao eh! I paling benci patients say I lie to them one loh, WTF!! What for I lie to u?! U think by lying and providing u cheap medicine I can gain anything from the F-ing tax u paid to the gov ah? Damn it!!
Nvm, I tahan. Call it the placebo effect or whatever glamour sh*t terms u want. So I told him I'd check if there is any blue tube LMS cream left that I could replace his LMS cream in the small cream container with. So, I went into the filling area and asked out loud to everyone there," Patient nak LMS cream jenis tiub biru tu. Kita masih ada stok tak?" to which the FRPs and PPFs answered, "Kenapa? Tak ada lagi lah! Kasi tau dia itu LMS cream kita picit keluar daripada tiub biru punya. Kita dah tak ada jenis tiub biru itu lagi lah!"
And so I obeyed. To his disbelief, TBO got angry, "Tak mungkin lah! Away jangan TIPU saya!! Awak cakap tak ada kan? Tak apa. Saya pergi COMPLAIN KEPADA PENGARAH AWAK!!"
At this point, one of the PPF came out to the counter and repeated the same story. TBO was still not convinced and kept claiming that he'd go complain to the Pengarah if we didn't provide him what he wanted. So PPF said there might be some left and she'd go check the stock for TBO, thus leaving me and TBO at the counter.
About 2 mins later, PPF came out with one blue tube LMS cream in her hand!!! She then dispensed it to TBO!!!!!
OK. I must say, in this situation, I really couldn't agree with what the PPF had done. I know this saved us the trouble of answering a complain lodged by TBO, but come on, because of this I could be labelled a LIAR from now on, ok?! Hey, if u told me there is none left, that's exactly what u should have told the patient as well what! Be firm with ur stand!! If there were some stocks, u should have told me so and move ur lazy @ss to get one out for me earlier!!! Instead of getting it out only as TBO threatened to complain while I was trying hard to explain to him that I wasn't lying and there really wasn't any left!! Imagine how ur reaction embarassed me in front of him and other patients!! Why made me lie when I didn't have such intention?! Walao eh... To hell with "Jangan TIPU saya!" Damn it!!
Speaking of complain, 2 days ago there was this uncle who came to our hosp for Moduretic. Let's call him the Moduretic Uncle then. Well, our hosp had run out of Moduretic since 100yrs ago. We placed the order like 200 yrs ago dy, but until now we haven't heard of any news yet. Maybe the company needs to import Moduretic from Mars that's why it's been taking so long. We already informed all the Klinik Kesihatan to stop sending patients to our hosp for Moduretic liao, but none seems to understand human language. So, this Moduretic Uncle was directed from one of the Klinik to our hosp for his Moduretic.
Upon screening his Rx, I informed Moduretic Uncle politely (with the friendliest smile) that our hosp had run out of that medicine as well and what I could do for him was to take down his phone number and to call to inform him when the medicine arrives. I wonder if Moduretic Uncle suffered from hyperthyroidism for he somehow got very irritated by my statement.
"What? No medicine again? What is this? Har? U know how many times I travelled to and fro already ah? 4 times already, ok! Last time also like that! What are u all doing, man?!"
"Uncle, u see, this has happened for quite some time already. See, so many other patients are not getting the medicine as well. We already placed the order, but the company hasn't sent us the medicine yet..."
"NO!! U cannot say so!! Do u know this is a medicine for high blood pressure? *DUH!! Abu then?? U think my degree fake one ah??* No medicine ppl can die one u know?? Do u know how dangerous this is?!! How can ur hosp be like that? I think I am going to write to the newspaper to expose this!!! What la u ppl?!!"
I was a bit beh song already, but I tried to tahan. "Yes yes Uncle, I know. We're trying our best. Maybe u can go to the pharmacy outside and get a few tablets to hang on first. It's not very expensive. We will inform u once we have got the medicine. We're trying our best here..."
"NO!! That is NOT the case!! It's NOT about buying or not, it's about ur lousy system!! I am going to write to Liow Tiong Lai to complain about this!!!"
My blood temperature raised to the boiling point. If being accused for lying is one thing I hate most, being threatened by patient who thinks complaining could solve all the F-ing problems comes in second. I seriously felt like shouting, "Like I care?!! Wanna complain go complain lah!! I don't give a damn!! Go complain also wont get u ur medicine loh!! My own uncle is not getting the medicine as well loh, ok?!"
Luckily one FRP came out just in time to take over so I didn't have to reason with that Moduretic Uncle anymore. I just sat aside to listen to the pointless argument. Finally Moduretic Uncle realized he was just wasting everybody's time so he made us took down his phone number before leaving. As I was doing so, he reiterated the point that he was going to complain to Liow Tiong Lai (like our Health Minister was his best fren like that). I really tak boleh tahan dy so I sengih in return. Think he realized I was quite beh song dy, so he finally said something human-ish.
"I'm not complaining about u. It's the system. Liow Tiong Lai should know about it."
My anger simmered abit, but still, I kept quiet. I gave him a polite smile though. Moduretic Uncle then left.
Sigh.. I never knew dealing with angry patient is part of a pharmacist's daily routine as well. Teacher never teach in school leh..
Haiyo.. Uncle Aunty oh.. Would u stop threatening us with all ur complaints? Do u think we would be intimidated and reply,"Oh, sorry sorry!! Pls don't complain!! Pls, I beg of u!! I'll go get u the medicine now. Sorry!!"? No lo.. What makes u think we'd simpan the medicines and prevent u all from accessing them? It's not like the longer we simpan the medicines the more would turn into golden bars loh... Of course u have all the rights to complain if we behave like some stuck up bitches or if we never take any reasonable steps to solve the problems. But when we have apologized sincerely and explained how hard we have tried to provide u a quality healthcare service, could u pls at least be more polite to us? Think twice, before u react, ok?
And to a certain group of Doctors, when u make mistakes, we informed u in a humble way just to ensure that u won't cause DEATH. Pls don't be oversensitive and overreact like we are trying to make fun of u, ok? We are not that free for ur information. We care more for the patients, NOT u. Plus, when we make mistakes, could u pls remind us like the way we reminded u before, instead of calling to the pharmacy and simply shout at the unlucky soul who happens to be the one picking up the god-damned phone? Hey, having the title "DOCTOR" doesn't give u any right to simply SHOUT and vent ur anger on the pharmacists, alright? Just like having the title also doesn't save u from being scolded a "SCUMBAG" by a humble pharmacist like me on this humble blog of mine. Pls learn from ur fellow colleagues whom we respect much. These Doctors earned their respects, and they definitely didn't do that by shouting around. Period.
Finally, some good news to share! Forensic Exam results were released and I'm seriously glad that most of us passed!! Woohoo!!~ Congratulations, peeps!! =)
To my dear frens who didn't make it this time, don't be disheartened. Afterall, we weren't exposed to these before in the University. Moreover, what's this compared to PP3, right? We had come through together in year 2008 and am sure it's gonna be the same in year 2009. Jia you!! We will all get through and become fully registered by the end of this year!! Hek!!! =)
