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Customer Discrimination

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gregcool

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? North Carolina

My wife and I are getting comments from all sides of the spectrum from our family/friends. I am simply looking for what you would do in our situation.

Today, my wife had to take my youngest son to the doctor. He ended up with a single prescription that she asked them to call into our local Harris Teeter. My wife then proceeded directly to the pharmacy in the store. She waited at the counter only to be ignored by the pharmacy manager. Finally she just outright asked if they had our son's prescription(politely). He looked it up, didn't verify any information, just asked how she was paying. She told him medicaid and that she would wait on it. After about 20-25 minutes, she kindly asked how much longer it would be because she could leave and come back if needed. He proceeded to rudely say he was working on it at that point in time. Finally, he proceeded to ring her up. Toward the end of the transaction he stated there was something else he needed to tell her about the medicine. He proceeded to tell her that when she asked him how much longer it would be, he put her in front of 3 other people. Then he said that she didn't have a right to ask because his tax dollars pays for my kids to be on medicaid and the other people pay for theirs the legit way. He said this in front of 2 other customers (HIPPA violation?). She left very upset and got the phone number to talk to the manager. She called him and he asked her not to call corporate. Shortly after that I got a call from his district manager who seem to be upset. I believe he handled the situation just as they are told to. He offered a $25 gift card and apologized for the pharmacist. At that point I was thinking that the guy must have been having a bad day or something. But as the day went on, I got more and more frustrated that anyone would have the audacity to make a comment like that to a customer (I am in retail myself, matter of fact I worked as a pharmacy tech first and have close relationships with the pharmacists at my store).

I told the pharmacy manager at my store about the situation. He said that he actually knew the guy and he has always been a jerk(different from what the district manager portrayed). At that point, I just couldn't justify this guy having his job after a comment like that.

I am just curious as to where I should go from here. As far as race is concerned, my wife is African American, I am white, and the pharmacist is white. He never saw me. It does feel that this was partially racially motivated. His comments were absolutely uncalled for, no matter what he is going through personally.

Thanks for any advice,
Greg
 


Proserpina

Senior Member
Frankly your wife was lucky she was offered the gift card.

You have no legal recourse here.

(And it was not a HIPAA violation by any means)
 

Antigone*

Senior Member
Just because you wife is African American does not mean the idiot was racist. He was just an idiot. The pharmacy did right by you. Now put it behind you.
 

CourtClerk

Senior Member
And although it's not "politically correct" to remind people that taxpayers PAY for medicaid, it is true. I see nothing wrong with telling the truth. Most people would APPRECIATE the truth...
 

justalayman

Senior Member
It does feel that this was partially racially motivated.

You have got to explain how you got that out of the interaction. I would love to hear it. You have stated absolutely nothing that would infer race had anything to do with what happened.

and it appears he gave your wife special treatment as she was moved ahead of other customers. If anybody have a right to complain, it would be them.

So please, do tell how this was racially discrimination.
 

gregcool

Junior Member
And although it's not "politically correct" to remind people that taxpayers PAY for medicaid, it is true. I see nothing wrong with telling the truth. Most people would APPRECIATE the truth...
I don't have any issue with that either. It had nothing to do with that statement, it is how it was used. My wife was treated rudely because our children receive medicaid. The comment he made stated that my wifes rights were different because he didn't have "legit" insurance like the other customers were getting prescriptions filled.
 

Proserpina

Senior Member
I don't have any issue with that either. It had nothing to do with that statement, it is how it was used. My wife was treated rudely because our children receive medicaid. The comment he made stated that my wifes rights were different because he didn't have "legit" insurance like the other customers were getting prescriptions filled.


You weren't present, correct?
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I don't have any issue with that either. It had nothing to do with that statement, it is how it was used. My wife was treated rudely because our children receive medicaid. The comment he made stated that my wifes rights were different because he didn't have "legit" insurance like the other customers were getting prescriptions filled.
So you even acknowledge there was no racial motivation...glad that's cleared up.
 

stealth2

Under the Radar Member
He looked it up, didn't verify any information, just asked how she was paying. She told him medicaid and that she would wait on it. After about 20-25 minutes, she kindly asked how much longer it would be because she could leave and come back if needed. He proceeded to rudely say he was working on it at that point in time. Finally, he proceeded to ring her up. Toward the end of the transaction he stated there was something else he needed to tell her about the medicine. He proceeded to tell her that when she asked him how much longer it would be, he put her in front of 3 other people. Then he said that she didn't have a right to ask because his tax dollars pays for my kids to be on medicaid and the other people pay for theirs the legit way. He said this in front of 2 other customers (HIPPA violation?).
She told him, publicly, that medicaid was paying for the script. Y'all can't then claim that he violated her privacy by restating it, And it's true that taxpayers are paying for your son's meds.

Pharmacies can be busy places. Who knows how many other prescriptions he was working on at the time? Just because your wife chose to wait, doesn't mean he had to jump to her order immediately. I've waited anywhere from 5 minutes to nearly an hour - depending on how many scripts were before mine. Heck - took my Mom nearly 45 minutes yesterday to pick one up, that was already filled. All because of insurance issues.

Really - y'all got nothing. Move on.
 

csi7

Senior Member
It was rude of the pharmacist to provide a personal opinion while they were performing their job.
Accepting the gift card does not mean you can not report the incident to corporate.
I have reported comments to corporate after not getting satisfaction from the store managers.
The business accepts federal funding payments, and is expected to follow the rules.
I would report the incident to corporate.
 

stealth2

Under the Radar Member
It was rude of the pharmacist to provide a personal opinion while they were performing their job.
Accepting the gift card does not mean you can not report the incident to corporate.
I have reported comments to corporate after not getting satisfaction from the store managers.
The business accepts federal funding payments, and is expected to follow the rules.
I would report the incident to corporate.
Do the rules include "Thou Shalt Not Be Rude"? :rolleyes: and one for Pro. :rolleyes:
 

commentator

Senior Member
I agree with csi. Report it to corporate. Take the gift card. Use it, and then from now on, don't trade with these people at this particular pharmacy. While there is no lawsuit material here, the pharmacist was rude and unprofessional and as someone has pointed out, he is working for a store which is obligated to cooperate with federal programs, and he is obligated by this mandate to be cooperative with customers who participate in this program. And in these days of heavy competition, it isn't wise to run off any business, and no business can really afford to have pharmacists on staff who are rude to any group of customers or individual customers.

Rudeness to any customer, whether they are paying with Medicaid, Medicare cash from their pocket or private insurance would certainly not be acceptable if I were this person's manager or supervisor.
 
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