I use the Kroger on Barracks Road in Charlottesville, VA. The last time I was there, on New Year’s Eve, two pharmacists were working, one male and one female. The female pharmacist was basically running around the pharmacy completing prescriptions for me at the check out. The male pharmacist was just wandering around the pharmacy until the female pharmacist asked him if he could help with the line of patients at check out. There was a helpful technician working at the counter for pick as well. The female pharmacist had given some guidance to the technician to fill each patients’ prescription as they arrived at check out, if the prescriptions were not available for pick up. The male pharmacist turned around and basically yelled at the female pharmacist stating, “If that is how you are going to do things then I am not ringing the register anymore and I refuse to help more patients.” The look of shock on the technician’s face is unforgettable. And as a customer to hear him say he refused to help anymore patients has led my entire family of 6 to transfer all of our prescriptions to Costco. The female pharmacist did speak to me and apologize for the situation and asked how she could make it right for me, and I told her that I just wanted my order and wanted to leave, and that I felt sorry for her. This is not the first time I have seen this same male pharmacist raise his voice at that particular female pharmacist. Also the male pharmacist was wearing jeans, and I observed him unable to help another patient assemble some type of inhaler-he asked the female pharmacist to help the patient with the inhaler, and she took her time and explained each step of how to set up the inhaler. It was one of the worst interactions I have had at that pharmacy. The male pharmacist has been there for a few years, and he is consistently rude and unhappy, and he makes all of that known to the customers. He is short with me when I ask when I should come back for my order—at one point he told me, “how would I know, we have no help, it could be 4 hours or 4 days.” And, he walked away from me, that was the end of that discussion. If Kroger wants to stay in business they need to know how their employees interact with us, the customers. I will never return to that pharmacy as long at that male pharmacist is working there.
