i’m positive i’m not the only new yorker who is completely fed up with duane reade (the nyc drugstore which is found on every other corner in the city  -  see reviews).  last year duane reade was purchased by walgreens and it was the hope of all city peeps that the acquisition would improve the quality of service in the stores. nope.  didn’t happen.   still atrocious.  (when was the last time you heard thae word atrocious?  funny, isn’t it?  that’s just what popped into my head . . . . )  anyway, i have boycotted duane reade several times over the years but eventually end up going back because they are always so close by – no matter where i live.

my first boycott was after the time i purchased mascara at DR only to find it had no bristles on the brush when i opened it.  the duane reade store manager refused the return.  i wrote a letter to the ceo of duane reade and i never got a response.  like father, like son . . . i realized why many DR employees are the worst in america – because dad doesn’t care.

i have many, many more duane reade stories, but to keep it short, i’ll just relay part 1 of yesterday’s incident and write a second post on the second act of stupidity.

scene 1:  i went to the DR on my block with a prescription and this was the conversation with the pharmacy employee (pe):

me: hi, do you have this?

pe:  no. we have no customers for it, so we don’t keep it in stock.

me: i have this rx every single month and every time i come here, you tell me you have no customers for this drug.  do you think you could keep it on hand so that i don’t have to call other pharmacies each month to find one that has this on hand?

pe: no.  we can’t stock that drug because we don’t get orders for it.  we can only order what we’ve sold the month before.

me:  how could you possibly sell something you don’t have, in order to get it into the system to generate the sale for next months re-order?

pe:  blank stare.  no response.  nada.

after about 30 seconds of staring eyeball to eyeball in complete silence, i turned around and headed home to make the litany of phone calls in search of my rx and wonder why she has a job and i’m unemployed.

“Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.”
–Anonymous