Dealer On The Streets. . .

CP: <hangs up phone> Hmmm.
ME: That sound signals intrigue.
MICE ELF: What got the hamster wheel spinning in that noggin of yours, CP?
CP: Another abusive phone call from a patient asking when her medication was due for a refill.
ME: How is this one different?
CP: It got me thinking about the hard working drug dealers.
MICE ELF: Oooh. I hear Dopeman already.
"It was once said by a man who couldn't quit.
Dopeman please can I get another hit?"
CP: Exactly what I was thinking. I wonder if street dealers face similar situations as their legal counterparts? Did you ever wonder if they have to put up with the same abuse we do?
ME: Um. Yeah. We sorta share a brain here.
MICE ELF: Like, does El Dopeman turn on his phone first thing in morning and find dozens of messages and people blowing it up for their supply?
CP: Is there a line on his corner before he even gets there?
ME: Can you just picture him denying refills as too soon?
<role-playing>
ED: "Oooh, I'm sorry but I just sold you a 3-days supply yesterday. You're going to have to wait."
Client Of El Dopeman: "When can you fill it?"
ED: "Two days at the earliest. And don't be in line before I get here."
COED: It'll be ready then?
ED: Yes.
COED: I'm going to another dealer. This is ridiculous.
ED: Okay, but he's going to check the Street Users Guide to Abuse Reporting (SUGAR) and won't fill it either.
COED: "Hey man, gimme a hit."
ED: I cannot do that. If you OD, I lose my income. No paying clients = no money for me. I've learned that dead clients don't pay.

CP: Yes, and then she'll be back in line the next day, hoping there's a floater dealer she can cajole into an early refill.
MICE ELF: "She's called the Strawberry and everybody know, Strawberry! Strawberry! is the neighbourhood hoe."
ME: Well this sure took a turn. You had all these thoughts simply in the act of hanging up the phone?
CP: My brain works in mysterious ways. Six straight days of phone calls, with multiple calls a day from the same patients at a few of my stores planted the seed for this thought.
ME: The above conversation would be phun to overhear. Maybe we should combine phorces?
MICE ELF: Our state's PMP with the SUGAR report? Sales tactics? Best practices?
CP: Sounds legit. I see Uber-Tech telling me there's a call on hold from El Dopeman and he wants to know if one of his clients is double dipping and coming to the pharmacy.
ME: Nah. They're probably like doctors; don't review the database then blame the pharmacist for the patient taking too much.
ME: They probably get treated better than we do.
MICE ELF: Although they sometimes go toe-to-toe in the middle of a sale.
CP: What the hell have you been listening to lately? And aside from their chances of being shot being slightly greater than ours, I wonder if their arguments over price include GoodRx.
ME: Well my phone says that the Dopeman on the next corner is charging less per gram/ounce than you are. Will you match the price?
CP: Yeah. I bet he's questioning his lifestyle choices every day and wishing he went to pharmacy school like we did.
ME, MICE ELF, and I <pass out laughing>