Pluggers by Rick McKee for October 27, 2021

This is my father. But they will always ask what is your birthday. I feel like asking them you remember his name, but can’t remember his birthday.

Feels like that one fictional Bostonian bar:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JhVRzh4_j50

Hey, Jerry, gimme the usual

I am too. She is drop-dead gorgeous!

He OUGHT to be on a first name basis with his pharmacist for all the pills said pharmacist dispenses to him.;D

Not a hard thing to do when you grew up with the pharmacist ;-)

We live in a small town, we’re on a first name basis with everyone in stores we go to and many of the other customers.. LOL!

Never got to this point, as all of my meds come through the mail and since my mailbox is on the street, I don’t know who that is either.

Pluggerville can be small, in which case a Plugger is on a first name basis with nearly everyone, especially his banker and investment counselor. They help him be able to afford to go to the Pharmacy.

It’s also easy to be on a first name basis when the 8 prescription medicines all need to be refilled at different times.

I live in a small town. CVS just asks my birthday to verify. I call the post office to hold my mail. All I say is “can you hold my mail.” Before I can give them my name and address, they say " Sure Mr. B. That is Address …" They know my voice! At the grocery store the checkout person will tease me when I shop alone “K (wife) let you shop on your own?” You always allow extra time because you are going to run into people you know. If I’m in a hurry I’ll drive a bit to the next town over, still no guarantee you won’t run into people you know.

When I was a lad, I had some health issues. Since I was a AFB, all the test were done at the hospital on base. All dependents (at the time) used the providers SSN. It got to be when I went into the lab for a blood draw the phlebotomist new all my information as soon as I sat down.

This sounds familiar, even though I place my orders online. When I appear at the pharmacy counter a couple of the assistants will grab my prescription first, and then go through the name – birthdate routine on the computer. If the pharmacist on duty is within earshot he’ll give a wave or nod.

And all their tech’s as well!

When I first got married, the local restaurant people knew our names. When we had kids, the local pharmacy staff knew our names. The latter situation continues . . .

Yep, don’t need to live in a small town (I live in a city of over 90,000 people). Just be consistent where you go. IHOP employees know us – know which waitress we want to serve us, knows what booth we want to sit in, know what my daughter wants to drink (I change my order up, so they know to ask), know we don’t want straws (we bring our own). My pharmacy knows me by name and I know several of the pharmacists and technicians. My local service station knows my name and I know theirs. Our local 7-11 knows our names and we know theirs. We do this by being friendly, chatting with them and asking their names and letting them know ours. It’s amazing what happens when you are courteous, respectful and nice (and SMILE).

For those wondering about being asked their birthdates, at least around here, all the records are kept in the computer under the patient’s date of birth. A better system than just a name, since more than one person can have the same name. People can have the same birthdate, of course, but it’s doubtful that two different people would have the same name and the same birthdate.

Thank you for this strip!! Went today and picked up refills of a med we both take. I forgot to put them in our day of the week boxes for starting tomorrow morning – saw this and reminded me. Now husband will not going crazy figuring out what is missing from his box and being very upset with me for forgetting!