58o 
Pharmaceutical  Progress. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I  December,  1901. 
tion  of  the  prescription  or  dispensing  department  from  the  room  in 
which  customers  are  received  and  served,  and  connected  with  it  by 
a  waiter,  has  many  and  decided  advantages,  if  sufficient  force  is 
available  to  insure  the  presence  of  four  persons  during  business 
hours.  With  less  than  this,  it  had  better  not  be  undertaken  One 
person  cannot  possibly  attend  to  trade  and  waiter  ;  neither  can  one 
person  attend  to  waiter  and  compound  prescriptions.  Experience 
leads  me  to  offer  the  suggestion  that  the  plan  had  better  not  be 
undertaken  with  less  than  eight  available  men.  With  such  a  num- 
ber it  works  beautifully,  economizing  labor  and  time,  while  devel- 
oping specialists  in  the  very  different  fields  of  salesmanship  and 
dispensing.  This  separation  of  the  two  departments  allows  me  to 
hold  before  you  a  picture  of  presentable  salesmen :  in  clothing  not 
soiled  or  scant ;  hands  and  nails  that  are  absolutely  impossible  with 
a  dispenser;  able  to  properly  receive  and  serve  patrons,  with 
no  distracting  thought  of  what  the  prescription  may  contain  or  the 
manner  in  which  it  has  been  compounded.  ,He  is  free  to  meet  the 
oft-trying  demands  of  the  customer  in  the  best  possible  manner.  I 
am  also  able  to  show  you  a  dispenser  comfortably  and  appropriately 
clothed,  quietly  placed,  with  no  distracting  influences  ;  not  hurried 
by  the  impatient  customer,  and  in  a  roomy,  well-lighted  apartment, 
with  ample  utensils  and  facilities.  In  the  sales-department  is  stocked 
everything  that  can  be  passed  to  the  patron  without  change;  in 
the  laboratory  will  be  found  all  products  used  in  compounding  or 
required  to  be  arranged  for  the  special  requisition.  Orders  are  classed 
as  "  waits,"  "  calls,"  and  "  send-outs."  The  latter  are  subdivided 
into  "  hurry,"  "  time,"  and  "  unmarked,"  which  means  any  time 
during  the  day.  Each  class  is  numbered,  and  impartial,  systematic 
order  is  the  rule.  In  the  sales-department  no  more  is  done  with  the 
prescription  than  to  properly  receive,  wrap  and  deliver  it.  Yet  this 
requires  care  and  systematic  treatment.  Order  blanks  are  used  for 
everything  to  come  from  the  laboratory;  for  all  "send-outs;"  also, 
forall  charge-sales  not  "  send-outs."  If  a  customer  is  passed  articles 
to  be  found  in  the  sales-department,  no  order  blank,  of  course,  is 
used.  Checks  are  given  for  all  "  waits  "  and  "  calls  ;"  "  send-outs  " 
are  entered  in  a  delivery  book,  where  proper  notation  is  made  as  to 
the  time  for  delivery.  Checks  are  numbered  with  a  triplicating 
numbering  machine,  which  puts  a  corresponding  number  upon  the 
prescription  and  order  blank.    Checks  for  renewals  are  numbered 
