CVS Pharmacy Boycott

It’s official. We are ex-CVS Pharmacy customers.

For years, we have been loyal CVS customers, despite the long lines and incompetent, rude pharmacy staff. I have diligently stored Extra Care Bucks on my savings card and filled every prescription at CVS for the last eight years, but I’ve finally reached the end of my rope.

Last week, Baby went back to the pediatrician for a follow-up on his recent ear infection. The doc decided that we haven’t conquered the infection yet, so she prescribed Omnicef. The pediatrician’s secretary called the Rx in to the pharmacy before we left the office, so I decided to pick it up on the way home.

Ordinarily, I run in to the store because it’s faster, but Baby was sleeping so we went to the Drive Thru window.


There was one car ahead of us in line, so of course there was a 10 minute wait. When I pulled up to the window, I told the pharmacy assistant what I needed and she disappeared. I wasn’t certain that she understood me very well because her English seemed a little rusty, but I had no choice but to give her a chance. About 5 minutes later, she reappeared and told me that the computer system was down so they weren’t able to fill any prescriptions. She asked me to return in 45 minutes. I groaned, but there wasn’t really a choice to be made. I took Baby home to continue his nap in the comfort of his crib.

Daddy came home from work, we ate dinner, and Daddy decided to go to CVS to get the Rx because he needed to go to the bank ATM anyway. When he arrived at the store, the pharmacy assistant told him that the doctor’s office never called in the prescription. She suggested that we call the pediatrician’s office. Daddy had the great fortune of talking to the same pharmacy assistant with limited English-speaking ability that evidently didn’t know that doctors’ offices aren’t usually open at 8:00pm on a Friday night in the United States.

Daddy came home without the prescription and was seriously upset. Mommy got on the phone and called the manager at CVS, who was trembling at the sound of Mommy’s pissed off ranting. After 15 minutes of searching while listening to Mommy curse into the phone, the manager miraculously found the prescription. He politely informed Mommy that the prescription would be ready in one hour. Mommy politely informed him that the prescription would be ready in 15 minutes or Mommy would drive to the store herself to meet the manager in person. The manager decided to get the prescription ready right away.

After Daddy picked up the prescription, Mommy and Daddy began to wonder if the prescription really had been found or if the manager filled a prescription based on the information Mommy gave because he was afraid of this apparently-rabid customer. Mommy and Daddy imagined Baby overdosing on antibiotics and decided to call Walgreen’s to confirm the dosage.

The pharmacist at Walgreens was polite, helpful and knowledgeable. We have found our new prescription home.
If you don’t think this experience is all that bad, ask me to tell you about the time CVS filled my prescription for birth control pills and forgot to put the PILLS in the bag…

(No, that is not how Baby was conceived…)