Walgreens — Local services in Santa Clara

I had an extremely frustrating and humiliating experience at this Walgreens location near the DMV, when I came in urgently needing to print a document for my DMV appointment.

The printing service in the store is intended to be self-service, but nothing about the process is clearly explained. There are no visible instructions or signage — only a scannable barcode tucked away near the register. Since I was in a hurry, I asked the nearby register staff if printing was available, as I needed to decide quickly whether to stay or try another store across the mall.

The person at the register was engaged in a conversation with a customer, so I waited for a break before asking a quick question. It turns out the “customer” was actually a store manager. From the moment I spoke, her response was cold and dismissive. She vaguely pointed me to the barcode and told me to stop asking questions and move to the back of the line — even though I hadn’t cut in line, and there was no visible queue.

After scanning the barcode, I had to go through a multi-step registration process to submit a print job. A few minutes later, the link was gone and I had to ask where to find the barcode again. At that point, the "manager" told me she “didn’t want to help me seeing me like this (in a hurry)” and that she and the team had decided to shut down the printing service — solely in response to me. She pointed to another customer and said others had waited, and I wouldn’t get my document printed fast enough anyway.

This was clearly punitive and personal. The store was still operating normally, and the staff remained active. I said I’d wait however long it took, and only then did she let me continue. I finally got the document printed, but not before spending over 15 minutes just trying to get basic help.

I was spoken down to, publicly shamed, and made to feel like a burden for simply being in a rush and asking for clarification. The experience was unnecessarily hostile and deeply unprofessional.

Walgreens needs to hold staff — especially managers — accountable for treating customers with empathy, especially when they’re stressed. I hope this incident prompts internal review and coaching.

I’m open to follow-up if needed. Please take...

First I have to say that interacting with the pharmacy cashiers ( pharmacy techs PC?) has always been a pleasant experience, this is definitely not them.

Walked my 15 year old daughter through making an appointment for her flu and covid vaccines to be administered. It was a very easy process. On the day of, we arrived 15 minutes early, she checked in online and we waited. Her appointment was at 4:00 p.m. at 4:15 p.m. she noticed that there was no one in the pickup line so she went to the counter to verify that she was checked in and that her vaccines were being processed. The Pharmacy cashier started to check her terminal but then the pharmacist came out and shut them down and yelled at my daughter to be in the other line, embarrassing her in front of a store full of customers. I looked around and everyone in site had turned to look at her, as people do. Again, all she wanted to know is that she was checked in and things were being processed. It's not as if customers were waiting behind her, I have no idea what possessed this man to believe his behavior was appropriate, embarrassing her in front of an entire store full of customers but for me it was very inappropriate and for my daughter add embarrassing, humiliating and a bit demoralizing. After another couple minutes, 4:20, I decided to tell the cashiers that we would have to reschedule and we left. We left for the failure in communication on his part. I wasn't able to get the man's name but I heard another pharmacy tech call him...

I have a fairly long list of health problems for someone of my age, and am on multiple prescriptions for each issue. I fill almost all of my medications at this pharmacy, as it is very close to my apartment, save for any controlled substances simply due to Walgreen's policy regarding them (long story short: FDA made it hard for them to fill schedule II medications, which makes it harder for Walgreens to get them to us). My PCP and my neurologist are the worst about approving refill requests. I always submit 7-10 days in advance or use auto refill, but I still run into trouble a couple times a year. Whenever that has happened, this pharmacy has been SO GOOD to me. Two of my medications have terrible withdrawl symptoms, and when I run out of one of those the staff will move heaven and earth to make sure I don't go into withdrawals. Ji-Hyeun and Harpreet are fantastic human beings and so are their staff. So yes, the line for the pharmacy is always a bit longer than other places (though having waited in it as often as I have, the holdup is usually the patient either asking a really dumb question or trying to refill a prescription way too early and not understanding why they can't do that), but I will continue to frequent this Walgreens because at the end of that wait is someone who genuinely cares about my health and well being. In this age of electronic, faceless communication, that is so hard to find and absolutely worth minor...