I've written plenty about mental illness in here.
I've written how people with mental illness aren't understood and often don't get the support that they should because there's a stigma attached to it. I've written about how some are in situations that compound the situation even more than it already is.
The situations I've mentioned involve people already getting help. What about those who might need it, but aren't getting it?
I'm fairly certain there are a lot of people in this world who need some kind of help but aren't getting it either because they can't, they don't want to, or refuse to admit they have a problem.
Some of these people worry that if they are diagnosed even with just mild depression, that those they care about will abandom them. Or they worry that they will be looked upon differently, so they keep their issues to themselves. Some worry that they'll lose their job because they might be considered crazy.
That seems to be the biggest stigma. Too many people attach crazy with depression when that's not the case. How many times have you heard someone say they aren't going to a therapist/psychologist/doctor because it means they're crazy? I know at least in movies that's mentioned a lot and I have heard it a few times in my life. Someone probably should go, but they won't because it implies they're crazy.
Thus a big segment of people don't go to get help they might need.
Some turn to "alternative" forms of medicine to cope. In other words, they drink or do drugs. I dated a girl once who claimed the only time she felt "normal" was when she was drinking. In the end, it was because the alcohol was calming her nerves, but she was a mean person when she drank and thus made me not want to be around her. Problem was she never wanted to stop drinking and I didn't want to give up on her even though there was little I could do.
Most use drugs to escape because they can't cope with the real world. Some people avoid doing things because of how it makes them feel. I'll never forget watching the MTV True Life show on anxiety. There was one guy who could not drive across a bridge at all. It didn't matter how long or short the bridge was, he couldn't drive across it. Every day, they'd show him talking about how today was the day he was going to do it, yet every day he would avoid it. Another woman was OCD about cleaning. If she saw even the smallest piece of dust in a room, she'd clean the room from one end to the other without stopping no matter what she was supposed to be doing.
These people refused to get help because they didn't want to lose friends or family because of the stigma attached with the idea of going to see someone about it. They didn't want to be thought of as crazy. Instead they tried to find ways to avoid the things that made them anxious or depressed.
Of course, it's a problem. Instead of trying to find a way to treat the problem, they avoid things and never get the help they probably need.
Denial is the worst though.
They can't even admit that they have a problem, they just sit and act like everyone else is crazy or constantly dispute that there's an issue and it goes back to the stigma that is attached to any kind of mental problem.
Eventually it catches up to them though and they either have to face the issue or they completely lose the battle.
It just makes me sad to sit and think a lot of people don't get help because of what they're afraid it will do to them. I understand when people can't afford it because let's face it: without insurance, it's not cheap to try and get help. Even at my primary job, which specializes in mental health, it can be costly if you don't have insurance.
Ultimately though it seems the biggest deterrents are the stigma of people possibly thinking someone's crazy and/or lack of support from friends and family.
That said, how much of a friend are they then if they won't support you when you try to get help? How much does someone love you if they try to convince you nothing's wrong with you?
And what does this have to do with pharmacy?
The last question is easy. How many of you work in a pharmacy where the mental health/anxiety medications are your fastest movers? I'm willing to bet most pharmacies would qualify. I know both pharmacies I work in have mental health medications as some of their fastest movers.
What it comes down to is if someone's struggling, they need to know that someone, even if it's just one person, is there for them and will support them as they try and get better.
They need to know that the person treating them is going to be there for them, talk to them when needed, and do whatever they can to help them get better no matter what.
Finally, they need to know that the pharmacy will work with the doctor to make sure the right medications get prescribed for the patient.
Mental illness will never go away. But we can do what we can to make it easier for those who deal with it.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
can I help you
"You made a mistake."
Anyone who's worked in any retail job has heard that line at some point.
Sometimes it's "I don't think this is right," or "were you born stupid, or did you become that way with time?" Sometimes it's even "You fucking moron" or "I hope you die."
Before you even know what the problem is, you're being accused of a litany of things and the demand being made to fix the problem that you don't know about. You then spend the next 15 minutes of your life trying to piece together what the problem is, often realizing it had nothing to do with your department.
Sometimes, it's not even a mistake, it's just a matter of the customer not understanding what's going on. In pharmacy, it's usually a matter of them wanting a specific brand and you not carrying it or being allowed to dispense it, or their insurance not covering something or only allowing so many pills.
Yes, sometimes we made a mistake. We filled it wrong, or billed it wrong, or miscounted the number of pills.
This isn't about whether we are capable of making a mistake or not. This is about how the way you approach someone determines the level of service you get.
Now some might say it shouldn't matter. The customer is always right so you should do what you can to fix the situation. Well, several years in retail have taught me that the customer is very rarely right and in fact usually has no clue what's going on. The truth also is no matter how level-headed you claim to be, when someone comes up to in a piss-poor mood, human nature kicks in.
It's hard to be nice to people who are being complete jerks to you. It's as simple as that. Sure, management tells you to just put on a happy face and trudge through it, but it's not that easy to do, especially if you have one after another that's complaining about what happened. It's even worse when it's not actually your fault.
Why am I ranting about this? I haven't had any particularly bad experiences lately, but feel the need to post this simply because I've seen a lot of people posting on my cell phone's community page complaining about the level of service they've received and how crappy they are and the phones suck. I suppose I have trouble believing it's that bad because my girlfriend and I between us have never had trouble with them and when a phone did go wonky, the situation was resolved quickly.
After reading through a bunch of the complaints and the way people described the problem they were having, I have to say I'd be pretty crabby with them too. More often than not, those trying to help the person complaining have to ask them to clarify the problem because it's so vague or poorly written. Other times, you realize it's just because they don't understand how the phone works.
More often than not, unsatisfactory customer service complaints are because the service wasn't very good. But what isn't mentioned is the attitude brought towards the person trying to help you. When I have a problem, I'm nice until given a reason otherwise (ask insurances about how I can get). If you seem to be trying to solve the problem, I'll continue to play nice. Give me unnecessary attitude and I'll get snippy back, but usually I'll just request to speak to a supervisor.
Unless you're an insurance company. I'm liable to hang up on your ass if you're not assisting me properly.
By properly, I mean blaming the software when the reality is you have no clue why I'm getting a rejection and you actually didn't go and ask anyone what it meant, you just sat and finished putting up your post on Facebook complaining about your job for the 37th time that week. If you don't know, just tell me you don't know and pass me on to someone who might know.
In terms of my cell phone company, I know I'm biased. I've been with them for over 8 years and have had virtually no problems with them. When my phone took a swim, they replaced it. When one of the next phones starting turning off repeatedly, they replaced it. When the phone after that took a couple of jumps out of my hand, they replaced it even though I was the one who damaged it. When my most recent phone went restart crazy? Yup, replaced it.
Simply put, the kind of service you get often depends on how you approach the person helping you. Granted, this isn't always true. Sometimes there are just people who hate their lives and everyone around them so they really don't care. They just want to collect their check and go without earning it. I get that, but it's not a majority of people and if you're not happy with the service, you can always move on to a supervisor.
If you go in kicking and screaming, both parties are going to end up bruised and dissatisfied. It's why when I always used to walk away when I dated a girl who's idea of being helped was to immediately give a cashier attitude if something didn't go how she wanted to go. She was the type who'd refuse to leave the line until she was "properly" helped, which meant how she wanted to be helped.
Having worked in retail for years, I'm not quite as brash. I realize that mistakes are made and sometimes cashiers are put in a tough spot. The last thing I'm going to do is yell at someone for something that probably wasn't their fault.
I also realize that sometimes people are just snakebit. You get a product, it doesn't work, you exchange it, it still doesn't work, they give you a different one, that doesn't work either. I'd get frustrated too. In that case, maybe it's time to move on and try a different line.
One complaint that stood out was the couple that was changing service providers. They were unhappy with who they had so they were switching. They had their phone numbers ported over and thought everything was good until they received a bill from their former carrier. They complained, but to no avail. The reason why they received a bill? They didn't notify their former carrier they were switching.
That's the type of thing that makes me smack my hand in my face. Do you really think any company is going to just stop billing you because you decide to walk away without saying so? Hell, some will keep billing you even if you do notify them because you didn't notify them properly. Then you'd be right to be mad. But in this case? It's on you to let them know you're canceling.
In the end, it's like anything else in life. You get out of it what you put into it. If you're bullish and mean from the start, the person on the other end of the phone is likely going to be combative. If you're friendly, they'll be more receptive to your problem.
Give it a try sometime.
Anyone who's worked in any retail job has heard that line at some point.
Sometimes it's "I don't think this is right," or "were you born stupid, or did you become that way with time?" Sometimes it's even "You fucking moron" or "I hope you die."
Before you even know what the problem is, you're being accused of a litany of things and the demand being made to fix the problem that you don't know about. You then spend the next 15 minutes of your life trying to piece together what the problem is, often realizing it had nothing to do with your department.
Sometimes, it's not even a mistake, it's just a matter of the customer not understanding what's going on. In pharmacy, it's usually a matter of them wanting a specific brand and you not carrying it or being allowed to dispense it, or their insurance not covering something or only allowing so many pills.
Yes, sometimes we made a mistake. We filled it wrong, or billed it wrong, or miscounted the number of pills.
This isn't about whether we are capable of making a mistake or not. This is about how the way you approach someone determines the level of service you get.
Now some might say it shouldn't matter. The customer is always right so you should do what you can to fix the situation. Well, several years in retail have taught me that the customer is very rarely right and in fact usually has no clue what's going on. The truth also is no matter how level-headed you claim to be, when someone comes up to in a piss-poor mood, human nature kicks in.
It's hard to be nice to people who are being complete jerks to you. It's as simple as that. Sure, management tells you to just put on a happy face and trudge through it, but it's not that easy to do, especially if you have one after another that's complaining about what happened. It's even worse when it's not actually your fault.
Why am I ranting about this? I haven't had any particularly bad experiences lately, but feel the need to post this simply because I've seen a lot of people posting on my cell phone's community page complaining about the level of service they've received and how crappy they are and the phones suck. I suppose I have trouble believing it's that bad because my girlfriend and I between us have never had trouble with them and when a phone did go wonky, the situation was resolved quickly.
After reading through a bunch of the complaints and the way people described the problem they were having, I have to say I'd be pretty crabby with them too. More often than not, those trying to help the person complaining have to ask them to clarify the problem because it's so vague or poorly written. Other times, you realize it's just because they don't understand how the phone works.
More often than not, unsatisfactory customer service complaints are because the service wasn't very good. But what isn't mentioned is the attitude brought towards the person trying to help you. When I have a problem, I'm nice until given a reason otherwise (ask insurances about how I can get). If you seem to be trying to solve the problem, I'll continue to play nice. Give me unnecessary attitude and I'll get snippy back, but usually I'll just request to speak to a supervisor.
Unless you're an insurance company. I'm liable to hang up on your ass if you're not assisting me properly.
By properly, I mean blaming the software when the reality is you have no clue why I'm getting a rejection and you actually didn't go and ask anyone what it meant, you just sat and finished putting up your post on Facebook complaining about your job for the 37th time that week. If you don't know, just tell me you don't know and pass me on to someone who might know.
In terms of my cell phone company, I know I'm biased. I've been with them for over 8 years and have had virtually no problems with them. When my phone took a swim, they replaced it. When one of the next phones starting turning off repeatedly, they replaced it. When the phone after that took a couple of jumps out of my hand, they replaced it even though I was the one who damaged it. When my most recent phone went restart crazy? Yup, replaced it.
Simply put, the kind of service you get often depends on how you approach the person helping you. Granted, this isn't always true. Sometimes there are just people who hate their lives and everyone around them so they really don't care. They just want to collect their check and go without earning it. I get that, but it's not a majority of people and if you're not happy with the service, you can always move on to a supervisor.
If you go in kicking and screaming, both parties are going to end up bruised and dissatisfied. It's why when I always used to walk away when I dated a girl who's idea of being helped was to immediately give a cashier attitude if something didn't go how she wanted to go. She was the type who'd refuse to leave the line until she was "properly" helped, which meant how she wanted to be helped.
Having worked in retail for years, I'm not quite as brash. I realize that mistakes are made and sometimes cashiers are put in a tough spot. The last thing I'm going to do is yell at someone for something that probably wasn't their fault.
I also realize that sometimes people are just snakebit. You get a product, it doesn't work, you exchange it, it still doesn't work, they give you a different one, that doesn't work either. I'd get frustrated too. In that case, maybe it's time to move on and try a different line.
One complaint that stood out was the couple that was changing service providers. They were unhappy with who they had so they were switching. They had their phone numbers ported over and thought everything was good until they received a bill from their former carrier. They complained, but to no avail. The reason why they received a bill? They didn't notify their former carrier they were switching.
That's the type of thing that makes me smack my hand in my face. Do you really think any company is going to just stop billing you because you decide to walk away without saying so? Hell, some will keep billing you even if you do notify them because you didn't notify them properly. Then you'd be right to be mad. But in this case? It's on you to let them know you're canceling.
In the end, it's like anything else in life. You get out of it what you put into it. If you're bullish and mean from the start, the person on the other end of the phone is likely going to be combative. If you're friendly, they'll be more receptive to your problem.
Give it a try sometime.
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