Some things should never be automated.
By Marie Coyle
@MarieCoyle (47805)
June 19, 2025 7:12pm CST
Ok, so it works for some things, some of the time. I know several bills I pay online send texts as proof of payment. I have the option to opt out of those, but I choose to get them for my own protection, in case it's ever needed.
BUT...the medicine thing is truly beyond totally annoying. Doctor's office calls in a new prescription, that's fine, right? Well, the office did their part. Then the pharmacy sends a text detailing what it was and says it will be ready in 10 minutes. Wow, I think! That's fast, right??
Except it never happens that way.
You think to yourself, fine. I am a good 40-minute drive in heavy 5 o'clock traffic to get home, so I will just stop and get it when I get there (the CVS is about 4 blocks away from my home) and then we are home for the day, yay!
But it never works that way! The stupid automation is what sends out the texts, saying ''It's ready now!'' BUT, it isn't ready. It's going to be ready in 30 or 45 minutes. By the time drove home and got to CVS, 45 minutes had passed. No, it wasn't ready yet. I went home, got the son settled in, and went back in 45 minutes, giving them the maximum time. And it still wasn't ready! I had to wait nearly 10 more minutes...I was smiling on the outside, but nearly to the boiling point on the inside.
I totally understand when things can't be ready quickly. But don't send out those idiotic robotic texts that say it is ready for pick-up when it isn't even close. There are days when I think auto stuff is just...wrong in every way. I realize we will have more automated things in our lives in the future...that doesn't mean I am happy about it.
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14 people like this
11 responses
@crossbones27 (51094)
• Mojave, California
20 Jun
Yeah, I get what you mean I told post office that. Its one day, but one day could be important, get it right don't appease me to make me happy. When you tell someone something important is going to happen, they are depending on it. They get hope and relief, but then even a day late it makes fools of us all. and I get medicine is even worse.
People could die if they do not get medicine on time. People think AI is going to be a life changing thing, but AI does not care about anything. Its just programed to do what you tell it. People will always need people.
3 people like this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
•
20 Jun
You are so right when you say that people could die without their med. This new medicine was to replace another one the doctor felt was not right for him and caused a whole new slew of harsh side effects. He had to have this tonight, not tomorrow.
I know it is not the fault of the CVS people at the pharmacy. It’s all automated and we’ve had to go to other CVS stores at times and it’s all automated, as soon as the order is sent to them, the auto thing kicks in and the person gets that text. And I gave them the grace of a nearly two hour wait, but honestly they were swamped.
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (482597)
• Italy
21 Jun
@MarieCoyle -That is the wrong way to deal with customers.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
•
21 Jun
No sense just sending them out if it's not going to be ready. A waste of time. And people waiting all over the place, on something that should have been ready long before.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
•
21 Jun
@LadyDuck
They are polite and nice, and helpful when you ask them questions. Their main problem being, they never have enough help and are always looking for more.
1 person likes this
@kareng (79158)
• United States
20 Jun
@MarieCoyle That is like at Taco Bell, one we stopped at last week. No more ordering from a human at all at the counter. You HAVE to use the Kiosk. I don't mind that too much, but it takes more time than ordering at the counter. THEN we had to wait 30 minutes for our food, yet the cars in the drive through just kept on flowing. I know our order was in before 90% of those orders.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
•
21 Jun
@kareng
Oh, yes. All fast food puts the drive thru ahead of any customers inside. Very annoying, for sure.
I can't eat at Taco Bell...I love tacos, but it makes me sick and most generally comes right back up. I always wonder what they do to their stuff to make me so sick, but hey...I just can't go there.
1 person likes this
@kareng (79158)
• United States
21 Jun
@MarieCoyle My husband doesn't love it, but gives in once in a blue moon to me since I like it. We have been doing so much running with looking at boats, that we have been making the rounds with the fast food. Not being fond of it to begin with, one time in 3-6 months for one chain is usually enough to do us in. So he was ready for a change 
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
•
20 Jun
Yes, it does. But the store workers don’t send out the dumb automated texts, the computer just does it automatically and that’s it. It is not efficient, nor is it helpful.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (102163)
• United States
20 Jun
@MarieCoyle Oh yeah. I’m thinking about our local CVS who now doesn’t pick up the phone. You leave a message, and they call you back when they “can”. sometimes it’s four hours.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
•
20 Jun
@AmbiePam
Yes, you get the voicemail thing when you call, leave the message, and don't hear for hours. I understand they are all very short handed and harassed, I get it...but the way they, and many other pharmacies are operating, is not efficient, either.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (125437)
• Gainesville, Florida
21 Jun
I wonder if the pharmacy powers that be have set in place certain performance standards that must be met. Like they have a metric saying orders must be acknowledged and filled in X amount of time. So the employees push buttons at the pharmacy to make it look like they are meeting the performance metric, but then don't actually fill the prescription until you show up to claim it.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (125437)
• Gainesville, Florida
25 Jun
@MarieCoyle It’s such a well paying industry that I’m surprised there would be any shortages of help.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
•
25 Jun
@moffittjc
True. But getting a pharmaceutical degree is no easy thing...it takes a long time. My youngest is a clinical pharmacist and went longer to be able to qualify to do research and get a doctorate. She's not sorry now that she did that, as she doesn't have to work in a retail pharmacy.
@MarieCoyle (47805)
•
21 Jun
That's a definite possibility, you are right. I have no way of knowing but, I know it happens in many instances.
Unfortunately, we seem to have a huge shortage of pharmacists, pharmacy techs, etc. here. The service is about the same in all the pharmacies they have sent us to, to get his meds at times.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (199302)
• United States
20 Jun
I would have filed a complaint with the home office. That's just not right.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (199302)
• United States
21 Jun
@MarieCoyle I've never had a problem with my pharmacy. Knock on wood.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
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21 Jun
@LindaOHio
You are very fortunate. It's a struggle here for pretty much everyone.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
•
20 Jun
It’s that way in every pharmacy now, not just CVS. There doesn’t seem to be a way to change it since they cannot seem to find enough people to hire.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (195220)
• United States
20 Jun
That is super annoying. I would talk to the pharmacy manager about it, and see if there is anything they can do. They should just turn it off, if it is going to give false info. like that. I dropped by the doctor's office today because the office had gotten a fax previously from a pharmacy company, of course they couldn't locate it today. Had them send another one with doc's name on it. I was paying on a bill anyway, I asked them if she had gotten the fax. They mysteriously "found it" just then and put it in her box. They weren't even busy!~
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (195220)
• United States
22 Jun
@MarieCoyle Make you really feel valued as a patient. Another thing is someone was supposed to call me about a dermatologist referral, guess what never happened. It's OK though, I have decided not to go. I will just keep an eye on mole that looks vaguely suspicious.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
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23 Jun
@snowy22315
I often wish for a good old fashioned General Practitioner, they were great doctors. But we don’t seem to have any of them. Every one is now a specialist.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
•
21 Jun
I did ask once before. They are controlled by corporate and not able to shut off the option. It's just there...and babbling nonsense and sending those texts that are just lies!
Why do medical offices, pharmacies, etc. get in to such snarls? Not enough help? No one really in charge? And wow...they mysteriously found the fax. Oh, the things that make us go ''hmm''...
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
•
20 Jun
There are never enough people to deliver it, and our CVS gave up on that. It’s only a few blocks away from where I live. It’s just so annoying to get the texts that it’s ready and then it never is.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (121609)
• Marion, Ohio
20 Jun
That is very messed up. Walmart always has had mine right
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
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21 Jun
Our Walmart is pretty much the same way. Supposed to be ready, I go out to get it, and wait. You're lucky.
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (20970)
• United States
24 Jun
I use Walmart as a pharmacy and they are pretty much on time with mine. But I do have to wait in line sometimes.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
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25 Jun
Our Walmart does the same thing that our CVS does. They say it's ready. I go pick it up..and I get to wait. And wait...and there is nothing I can do about it, so I just grin and bear it.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (47805)
•
20 Jun
It seems a lot of things do not work the way they should. Ugh.
1 person likes this
