Customer No-Service

Probably like many Americans who visited their doctors within the past few weeks, I had to get a prescription filled. I drove to my neighborhood drugstore and got in line to drop the prescription off.

After 10 minutes of waiting, chatting with the other people standing near me and wondering what was taking so long, the pharmacist behind the counter began to pull down a rolling partition. One of the people in front of me — I counted seven of us waiting on his services — asked the pharmacist what was happening. He did not respond, pointing instead to a small sign posted overhead: “Pharmacy closed from 2:00-2:30.”

The sign was on a piece of paper no larger than the size of two index cards, and was hung with tape around a corner of the counter, out of sight of the line.

Of course several of us who had been waiting asked the pharmacist whether he could take care of our needs before he closed. He said that he could not because he had not yet had his lunch.

You can imagine what some of the comments from the people in line were then. We were frustrated that we could neither drop off nor pick up our prescriptions, and angry that we had wasted our time. Not one of us had noticed the sign about the afternoon closing.

I don’t know whether this was an unusual occurrence in that drugstore. I don’t know if the prescription counter was short-handed. And I’m symphathetic that the pharmacist apparently doesn’t get to eat lunch until 2 p.m.

But since that day, I have been thinking more about the people who waited in that pharmacy to no purpose. What an example of customer no-service. And what a great way to lose business.

Every single one of us in that line — that’s seven CUSTOMERS — walked out of the store unhappy. Two people with shopping baskets simply left them on the floor. Another holding a magazine and a bag of candy dropped those items on the counter. I heard comments from several of my line-standing companions that they would never come back to that location again.

I got in my car and pulled down the street to another drugstore, a big new one with wide aisles, bright lighting, lots of merchandise (including HME), a drive-through — and a 24-hour pharmacy. When I walked in, there were several employees on duty. They were happy to take and fill my prescription.

After years of loyalty to one particular store, it took only a moment and one hungry employee for my neighbors and me to leave and take our prescriptions, along with our money and our repeat business, to another.

As HME turns toward retail where patients and caregivers will inevitably have more choice about where they purchase goods, customer service will be more important than ever, as will offering the right merchandise at the right price in the right location. It is just too easy these days for consumers who expect and demand good service to vote with their feet and take their business elsewhere.