Long Story

A girl I know from my hometown occasionally comes to my pharmacy to get her prescription(s) filled. She doesn't live here, but she gets her prescriptions filled once every few months when she's passing through town. These prescriptions are usually for things like Lortab, Xanax, Restoril, and other such items of great popularity. She always acts over-excited to see me, and she usually comes in with her husband and/or children, but on one particular day, she was all alone. As I rounded the corner to approach the pharmacy for my 11:00 AM shift, she saw me, dashed over, hugged me, and proceeded to tell me how she was so glad I was there, because she needed her temazepam (generic for Restoril) transferred from a pharmacy in Las Vegas. I called the pharmacy in Las Vegas for the transfer and didn't notice anything unusual (like an attempt by her to fill the medication too early), so I filled it for her. She picked it up right away, and quickly left. About 30 minutes later I received a phonecall from her husband. He asked if his wife had "already stopped by the pharmacy". All I told him was that he just missed her. Since I've filled prescriptions for him before as well, I figured he wanted me to fill something and have her pick up his medication while she was at that pharmacy. Wrong! Shortly after my brief conversation with him, I received a phonecall from this girl, who sounded quite panicked. "Um Kristin?" she began, "My husband just called to see if I picked up a prescription and you gave him the impression that I did, but will you just tell him that I didn't pick anything up? Will you just confirm with him that I came by to say hello and to pay for the hairspray I bought? He's right here. Will you just confirm that with him? That I didn't pick anything up?" Then he came on the line. I'd never been put on the spot like that before. HIPAA regulations, though a pain to work through sometimes, would save my bacon on this phonecall. I told him that I could neither confirm nor deny that she picked anything up, but I could tell him that I did indeed see her purchase hairspray. At that point I realized my original conversation with him was a trap. Anyway, the dumb girl had shown him her receipt from the pharmacy to prove that she purchased hairspray. What else was on that receipt? Yeah, that's right. There was a charge with a prescription number attached to it. After I got off the phone with him, she called me again to say that what I told him wasn't good enough. I was to tell him flat out that she DID NOT pick anything up, and that the charge for the prescription on the receipt was a mistake. She told me her husband was on his way down to the pharmacy to dispute that charge, and she wanted me to refund him that money and she would just stop back by later to repay me for the medication. Wow, this was turning into a mess. Well, about 20 minutes later, her husband showed up. I told him I couldn't say what medication that prescription number was tied to. I told him that since I hadn't rung up her merchandise in the register, that I couldn't really confirm what she had left the pharmacy with. I mean, I really could confirm, but I didn't want to be involved! Too late. After it seemed like he bought my avoidant explanation, he told me he originally called me because his wife has been in and out of rehab for abuse of temazepam, and his question to me was a trick. He explained his great love for her and his desire to help her stay off the addictive substance. I felt his sincerity. He had worked in a pharmacy for years, and he knew he could call the automated system and enter a prescription number to see if it was filled and ready. He said he knew the minute he got in the shower that morning that he figured she'd sneak out and try to fill a prescription. Great. He told me that he knew I couldn't give him any information, but he just thought he owed me an explanation. Moments after he left, I got another phonecall from the girl. She was panicked...again. She then explained the rehab thing to me and told me that this was the only ONLY time she tried to fill this prescription and that she wasn't even going to take any. She said her husband was on his way home to "drag me down there" to "prove I didn't pick anything up" and to "look at my prescription history." Why me? She wanted me to falsify some prescription history records before they came back down. She said he'd divorce her if he knew she picked up temazepam today, which I knew wasn't true. Anyhow, I weighed my options. I could drum up some more "politician answers" for him when they came back together, or I could hide somewhere in the store. I chose the second option. I figured the break room in the back of the store would afford me the protection I needed. Minutes passed, and I received a phonecall from a technician in the pharmacy. She informed me, "They're here and they're asking for you, and I don't think they're going anywhere until they talk to you." Okay, so option #2 was out. I walked slowly back to the pharmacy, and they both approached me as I arrived. She started, "Kristin, I told him you would print out my prescription history (wink, wink) and that you would tell him once again that I didn't pick up any medications today." The free Barbie she had given me when I was 6 flashed in my mind. Was this the price I had to pay for a Barbie? I realized then that Barbie wouldn't want me to lie. Psychologist Barbie would want me to say, "Look, your husband loves you. I didn't help you at the register, and I haven't really researched the information in the computer to see if it was indeed picked up. That's something you'll have to discuss with your husband, WITHOUT me. He loves you. What would make you doubt that? He wants to protect you and his children, so why don't I make a printout of your actual prescription history, and you can talk to him about it." She didn't get it, because she said, "Oh, okay. (Wink Wink) Go ahead and print out my history." Well, I printed out her actual history, handed it over, and watched the fireworks. It turns out there were several other times she picked the stuff up besides today. Oops! They had a little scene, but it all ended with him handing back the information and telling her it didn't matter about the past, and that he wanted the truth from this moment on. Well, I wish I had a real ending for this story. I haven't seen them for many, many months, so hopefully she stopped sneaking around. Yeah, let's pretend that's the ending to the story.