I had to write this after reading so many bad reviews, it is a bit confusing to me because I have never had a bad experience at this branch. Everyone is always super nice to me from the greeting every time I walk in front door. I pick up all my meds here and so I interact with pharmacy ever visit, no problem. They have always been professional and friendly. It's pretty rare I don't by something on my way out. I always find something I need. Front end cashiers have always been nice and even when there is a line, I am out of there in just a couple minutes.
I have to respond to a couple of reviews that I read so that maybe there will be a bit more understanding of working in retail in the current sad affair of homelessness and drug addiction.
The parking lot can be a bit scary at times filled with trash and obvious signs of drug use and homelessness. It is not the employees place to go out and clean this parking lot every 30 min because it gets trashed all day long. If they had a janitor, then it would make sense that they clean up lot, not cashiers. Lack of employees, that is again not the fault of the employees, big corporations like to make money and get their bonuses, back in the day the staff that ran the stores would get some bonus's if there sales were high. The stores are given a tight budget for staffing the store, it is never enough staff! Often there are job opportunities, yet no one applies. I am not sure if anyone out there had noticed, but any store you go in from grocery to fast food restaurants. Truly you put ads out, help needed and no response at all. That is why there is never enough staff around. Next comment I have to respond to is a customer excepting the cashiers or anyone in store to go outside and ask people shooting up or asking for money, to go away. It can be very dangerous, you have no way of knowing who you might have to be asking to leave. There is very little health care available for mental disorders. Hardly any place in this city where anyone, but especially homeless mentally ill can get the help they so badly need! I don't think anyone working at the North Gate Walgreens should have to risk their safety by going outside and dealing with unwanted activity happening in their parking lot. Staff can try calling police if there is someone in the parking lot that needs to go. The problem is, we are short on police in this city and they will always go where there is a bigger threat to someone's life, than to tell the person outside asking for money that they need to move along. Instead of complaining and acting as if the staff should be taking care of the scary stuff happening outside, it is time to start fighting back to get our city to stop cutting back more and more and more and do something about our homeless population and our rise in people that do have mental illness walking our streets, often hungry or voices in their head they can't control, with very few places to get the help that is desperately needed. Please stop getting mad at the overworked and underpaid staff and place the blame where it belongs, politicians fighting for big tobacco or oil companies so they can make more money. Seriously people wake up we are getting less and less from our government, while we give them more and more of our paychecks and accepting big drug companies getting away with murder.
Sorry about the ranting, but it is all true. Just know that the staff in your neighborhood drugstore should not be expected to go outside and handle the scary stuff outside their store.
Thanks,
Gina read more
