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Waiting on something important can frustrate just about anyone.

That’s what this pharmacy employee understood after a customer came in expecting to pick up a prescription refill.

The only problem was that the employee couldn’t find anything in the system, so they contacted the doctor’s office and immediately sent over a refill request.

But at that point, the customer started blaming the pharmacy for the delay, even though the employee had already done everything they could.

Then the customer accused the staff of being incompetent and threatened to find a new pharmacy.

So, rather than apologize for something that was completely out of their control, the employee gave a blunt response that caught the customer completely off guard.

Keep reading to learn the full story.

AITA for showing no sympathy for a customer’s frustration?

I work in a retail pharmacy.

A customer comes in asking to pick up a prescription. I look on the shelf and in our computer system for the given name and birthday and I can’t find anything. I check our faxes and voicemails…still empty.

With visible frustration, the customer gives the doctor’s office a phone call and hands me the phone on speaker.

The customer was pushy from the start.

Me to receptionist: I’m not seeing anything written recently for those meds, but I see an older one on file with no refills. I will fax a refill request to you right now so you can resend it easily.

(The receptionist understands and hangs up)

Me to customer: Okay, they said they’ve sent it to us but I’m not showing anything in my system. I just sent them a refill request so if you can wait a few minutes we should be able to get that shortly.

Customer: Well, how long is that going to take?

And then the customer got rather upset.

Me: I’m not sure, it’s entirely dependent upon them to send us the fax, and even so, it’s not instant. There’s usually some buffer time in the system.

Customer: This is the third time I’ve tried to get this prescription from you guys, and it’s clear that you all are incompetent and don’t know what you’re doing here. I think it’s time I find myself a new pharmacy.

Me (with zero **** given): Okay.

Customer: And you don’t give a **** do you!?

Then, she asked for the manager.

Me: No, I don’t. I’ve done everything that I can to help, and my hands are tied at this point. And you giving me attitude over something I have no control over doesn’t make any sense at all. But if that’s going to be a problem for you then yeah you can go somewhere else.

The customer is stunned and in disbelief. They proceed to go on a ramble about my attitude and keep repeating, “How about you show a little compassion?”

Me: Compassion? I’m doing my job to the best of my ability. This is totally out of my control and there’s nothing I can do for you at this point.

The customer proceeds to ask for my name and pharmacist (my boss). The pharmacist had overheard the entire exchange and was quick to defend me and my actions.

Suddenly, the customer wanted someone else to speak with.

The customer then says, “Well, you weren’t standing here talking face-to-face with them (me) like I was, so you don’t know exactly what was going on. Is there someone at the front I can talk to about -VOIDED_?”

Me: Yeah, you can talk to the store manager ‘Manager name.’

(The customer storms off and leaves the store, doesn’t talk to the manager)

I’m questioning if I did the right thing here regardless of what my coworkers think. I always approach people with a good attitude but I am very matter-of-fact and I don’t sugarcoat or beat around the bush. And as soon as someone gives me a crappy attitude, I’m quick to give it right back.

AITA?

Yikes! It seems like everyone here could’ve handled it a little better.

Let’s see if the folks over at Reddit agree.

This person likes the way it was handled.

Such a great point!

According to this comment, there are a couple of things worth noting.

Here’s someone who almost feels bad for the customer.

There really wasn’t much else the pharmacy employee could do.

Yet, at the same time, The customer had every right to feel frustrated. The whole situation really just stinks because it doesn’t sound like either side caused the problem.

Unfortunately, people tend to take their frustration out on the person standing right in front of them rather than the one who actually deserves it. In this case, that person happened to be the pharmacy employee instead of the doctor’s office.

At any rate, hopefully the prescription came through soon after because nobody wants to deal with something like this any longer than they have to.