Duane Reade — Local services in Jersey City

I’m writing this review for the pharmacy with the knowledge as a former pharmacy technician and as a woman. My trip to the pharmacy today was handled poorly in every possible way. I came to this pharmacy a few days prior to pick up my prescription, however, my doctor sent it to a different Walgreens (not the pharmacy’s fault). It was for my birth control prescription. I had a few pills left at home, so they said they would get the prescription transferred over and it’d be a half an hour wait. I opted to come back another day instead of waiting since I couldn’t. I also worked the next few days, so I knew it was going to be an inconvenience coming back. I came back a few days later rushing over from work after spending a ridiculous amount on an Uber just to make it there exactly at 9-their closing time. I thought, “thank god, I made it”. I took my last pill the previous night, so I needed my birth control. They got my prescription and proceeded to ring out me out on the register, but I noticed the bag looked funny, so I said that’s so and so brand correct? The pharmacist said no, it’s this brand, another generic. As a former pharmacy tech, I know when brands are out of stock, they sub any generic “equivalent”. I write equivalent in quotes because honestly it is not 100% the same thing. Same drug yes, but differences none the less. I vowed to never take another generic of my brand that I take due to a bad experience in the past. My entire cycle was changed, and my hormones were all types of messed up off of the same “drug equivalent”. So I told the pharmacist I cannot take another generic, and if they had my brand in stock. They did not. They gave me the option to have the birth control I needed in by Monday. It was Friday night. 3-4 days without birth control? I thought are you going to pay for the future baby that may result from this nonsense? Ha. I contemplated my options, but the reason I’m writing this review is to say as a woman, I felt like the male pharmacist had no compassion. He just stared at me, and said, “do you want it or not?” No apologies because as a man, I’m sure he did not understand why I couldn’t take this generic. As a former pharmacy tech, I write this review to say they did not do their job to inform me of other options. Luckily, I know I can call another pharmacy and have the prescription transferred the following day, but they just said, “Monday”. Overall, I felt misunderstood, rushed, and looked over. Women will know what I mean. Next time it would be best to inform someone of all the options, including getting the prescription elsewhere, and also a little compassion...

This store has discriminatory policies against people living with chronic illnesses. I have asked them at least 5 times to move the glucose tablets to a place that is always accessible during store hours because I need them in cases of low blood glucose but the manager was very dismissive and said that’s not how her store is set up. They are locked behind the pharmacy gate despite being an over the counter emergency treatment and this is the only store I have been in that does that. One time the pharmacist was on break and the manager was like ‘you’ll need to come back after she finishes. I can show you where the candy is however.’ Glucose tablets work more quickly than candy to raise low blood glucose and as someone who experiences this frequently, I need to keep them in my bag, at my bedside and all over the apartment in case of an emergency. Candy does not work as effectively in this situation and switching different candy brands is like shooting blindfolded at a dart board. Glucose tablets have a known, predictable response. Again, these are not a controlled substance and do not require a prescription so when there is no pharmacist available, I should still be able to purchase them, especially because it is something that I need all the time and it is unpredictable when I will need them. For example, I could have a bad low blood sugar episode on Sunday, run out of glucose tablets and need to purchase more because I cannot be without them. I also need to take them to work with me and would not be able to purchase them on Monday before work. And on Sunday, because the pharmacy is closed and they unnecessarily lock them behind the pharmacy gate, it makes it impossible for me to remedy this difficult and scary situation. Again, these are not a controlled substance, do not require a prescription and this is the only store I have been in that does this and continues to disregard someone living with a chronic illness needs because they are lazy and refuse to move them to another shelf. The policy is incredibly selfish and discriminatory because if you have unnecessary policies that knowingly or unknowingly make someone living with a chronic illness life more difficult and you can easily change the policy but refuse to, that’s...

There's a really rude employee here, a woman with maroon braids who's both rude to customers and her colleagues. I came into the store when there was 1-2 people on line needing photo services. The employees told me to wait and I was waiting for a while. One of them finally comes around and states the employee with maroon hair passing by can help. Maroon hair color doesn't even respond when he calls to her, ignores both of us and walks right past with finger in the air. Then she comes back around and avoids walking past where I'm waiting. I finally walk to her and ask about the photo services. Girl points to a line of new customers waiting to pay at the cash register saying she can't help me she has to help them. Then proceeds to walk away in the direction OPPOSITE of the register. Mind you there's two people manning the registers and I've seen this Walgreens busier, so the line was being taken care of just fine. I just left at this point. I wasn't rude to anybody, inquired for help nicely since retail workers complain everyone is rude to them. Seems like this lady here is rude no matter what and is taking out whatever issues she has on customers and coworkers.

I recommend Bergen One Hour Photo Center run by a nice and effective older Asian man for 31 years if anyone needs...