I found another business worth a love letter and ten dozen orchids, so I am happy to say I just dropped the love letter into the mailbox. The orchids? Maybe later. The letter is more crucial and will last longer.
My friend Toni and I have lived in separate cities for decades now so do not have each others actual shoulders to sob on for the hammerings we suffer at the hands of a variety of businesses who assault us in endless clueless and heartless ways.
So we have to do it rather regularly by telephone, and she just had quite a clobbering to report. But, I am not here to complain. I am here to applaud.
After having fled from her local CVS for their having altogether dropped the ball on a very important prescription, Toni drove through Studio City looking for an independent pharmacist who might be able to help. She was relieved to see one looming into view. Nuts, closed Saturday. She drove on.
And, there it was, Dr. Ike’s, at 11736 Ventura Blvd in Studio City. Open Saturday. She asked if Dr. Ike could help. The woman behind the counter, one of Dr. Ike’s astounding staff members, assured her he could. How long would it take to get that prescription? The answer was “about ten minutes,” and that is actually how long it took them to hand her the bottle of pills that CVS apparently couldn’t get done at all for reasons too negligent to bother with here.
Ten minutes? Huh? Yes, and wait, there is more. In an era of impersonal service (and I use the term “service” guardedly while I use the term “impersonal” to mean just what it does) Dr. Ike offers some more assistance from a time gone by. Toni gleefully reports they take insurance, do all the paperwork, and offer prices the same or lower than the pharmacy she has grown a little weary of even mentioning. She says, “I will call the loathed CVS and transfer all my prescriptions,” which she can apparently do in two easy steps.
Anything else to say here about Dr. Ike's? You bet. He does compounding. How many people today have ever seen that offered or know what it means? Dr. Ike provides saliva and blood spot testing for hormones, cholesterol and diabetes. This pharmacy offers immunizations, flue, pertussis, shingles and more.
Yes, folks, parking in L.A. can be daunting, and what is a person who is in need of critical medication to do when getting out of the car is impossible? Well, Dr. Ike has jumped this hurdle, and with all my enormous respect to Dr. Ike, solving the problem is not so hard in concept. But it does take someone who cares about people and is determined to make individual life better, safer and less anxious. He has curbside service.
Too ill even drive to the pharmacy? Don’t have a car? No longer driving? No time for traffic snarls? Worry not. Free delivery! Dr. Ike’s has on staff two patient reliable men whose specialty it is to deliver prescriptions over a huge geographical area. How long has it been since anyone has seen this service that seems to have disappeared with house-calls and phone booths?
Oh, and just to arm you against the possibility of an emergency, you get the phone number to call him for after hours service. I am giddy with all this generosity in an age where the world is not exactly teeming with good news for customers. But, don't touch that dial. I’m not done.
Puzzled about what to do for the 10 minutes Dr. Ike is preparing your prescription? Need a little pick-me-up? The angel at the counter offers to get you a cup of coffee. Huh? Coffee? Yes, and not just coffee but absolutely delicious coffee.
Toni’s last word on all this was simply, “If they had a bed, I'd sleep there!” Well, Precious, you can’t sleep there, but, and this you may not believe, I notice you can go to the website for fabulous recipes! An embarrassment of riches.
I hope CVS is paying attention to all this and listening carefully to the voice of one candid customer who is speaking for many. What company, no matter how large, can afford the kind of ill will that is circulating on the streets of Studio City as people are turning to Dr. Ike?
Thank you, Toni, for the good news report, and thank you Dr. Ike for illustrating so clearly that it is still and always possible to treat people like people and not simply like another faceless nudnik in line.
In addition to being thankful for Dr. Ike's coming to Toni's rescue, I am grateful to be seeing here a whole other world of love letters just waiting to be written and received, gratitude letters to people we have never met but who have helped the people we love. Why not?
From me to you with love in the air,
Janet
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