Why does a pharmacist stand on a higher platform at the drug store? He/she is not on the same level

[debm55]

as people waiting for their prescriptions. Does he/she also double as security person? Is it an example of the two tier system? Just pondering. What do you think is the reason???

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Dispensation comes from on high. . . . nt

[debm55]

2. Very true, Bernardo, very true.

[Orrex]

3. Or they're high with drugs.

[debm55]

5. Nay, I looked back at Rite Aid and he was standing on a platform, which made him high but not that

high.

[Orrex]

6. LOL

I have to confess that of the three pharmacies I visit most often, none has the raised platform.

[debm55]

8. Rite Aid in my area does. Maybe your's isn't doubling as a security guard.

[FSogol]

4. To make it harder for someone to come over the counter and take

Controlled substances. Ever been to a towing company? They are 5-7 feet above you.

[debm55]

7. Could be but he stands behind a glass window. One would have to break the window. Meds are kept in

the back of the pharmacy. I still think he doubles as a security guard. I have never been to a towing company. Why are they 5-7 feet above you? What's the reason for that? They don't sell controlled substances.

[okaawhatever]

32. No but they have your car and you don't. nt

[marble falls]

9. Give him some gravitas so you'll be more inclined to listen to them - like a judge or preacher.

[debm55]

10. And be able to tell you that it's too early to get your pills refilled. Come back tomorrow.

[marble falls]

12. With no guff or lip. They aren't a Dr or other title. That step up is all they got.

[Paladin]

22. Yeah, that step-up is about it. That, and the pharmacy degree they worked many years to obtain.

Know why a pharmacy degree takes so long to get? One of the main reasons is that medical students get surprisingly little instruction on drugs, much less than most people realize. Pharmacists have to constantly monitor and sometimes correct the prescriptions they receive from doctors. Genuine life-or-death stuff.

I know all of the foregoing because I've had a pharmacist in my family for over 50 years.

[marble falls]

23. Pharmacists acted as doctors in some of the towns I've lived in where there was no GP or ER for ...

... miles. The respect small town Pharmacists gets has to do with their markets knowing who and how they are. They treat the pharmacists at the big boxes and groceries like just another clock puncher. You get good info from a pharmacist.

[Paladin]

24. All very true. (nt)

[Ocelot II]

11. Not at my drugstore (Walgreen's).

If there is a platform back there, the pharmacists must all be very, very short.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. Seems A Mixed Bag

All the Walgreens around here are like you describe. Some CVS stores have the raised area. The WalMarts have retail exchange done at floor level, but the formulating desk is a step or 2 up. The Osco stores are mixed.
But, the tiny indie pharmacy in town is all on one level.
Around here there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.r

[intrepidity]

13. Probably stands on a slatted platform

so when they drop pills, they collect there rather than rolling all over the floor and under counters?

That's what I've always thought, but never asked anyone.

[debm55]

14. Do they then follow the 5 second rule that if is on the 5 seconds you throw it out??? or do they

put it back in the bottle and give to unsuspecting sick people????

[intrepidity]

15. They probably wait til the end of the week

then grab them all and down them at once.

[Mark.b2]

16. Walmart pharmacy where I get scripts isn't this way. Nt

[debm55]

17. Mine still is --Rite Aid

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

18. Why would a pharmacist also be a security guard?

Why would anyone even think that? For one thing, the pharmacist is almost never looking out into the store. They usually have their heads down filling prescriptions.

[debm55]

19. Because the pharmacy is in the back at the store directly in the view of the front doors.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

20. Not necessarily.

I can think of at least one pharmacy in a local drugstore that absolutely has only a partial view of the store, and I doubt they can see the front doors from there.

Plus, at the risk of repeating myself, the pharmacists are not spending any time looking up and out. They are heads down, filling prescriptions, turning around to pull medications off the shelf.

[Chainfire]

21. The platforms are highly advanced buffering system that act like the shock absorbers on your car,

specifically engineered and designed for people who work on their feet all day. I thought everyone knew that...

[debm55]

28. Is that true? If it is, that's a good idea. Thank you.

[Chainfire]

30. I was doing my Republican imitation and practicing lying. I am sorry, it was a joke.

[debm55]

31. Dagnamut, I believed you---------------

[jmowreader]

25. Flood prevention

They raise up the department with all the expensive drugs in it so that if the river overflows its banks, the drugs and patient records will still be above the surface of the water.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. We Live In A River Town

The pharmacy closer to the river has no platform.
That said, it's a building constructed in the computer age, so paper records wouldn't be relevant. The CVS in town has the raised area, but it's in a plaza built in the late 60s. Before everything was on computers.
Don't know though, about protecting the meds. They could just have the shelves where they start now, from the retail floor level. That's what that independent pharmacy closer to the river has.

[debm55]

29. That could be true also as the meds are located in the raised area directly behind the pharmacist