Although all of our Best of the Best award winners go above and beyond, Triet Nguyen goes the extra mile—literally. Nguyen, known as Tony to his customers, won the Above and Beyond Award for his regular deliveries of medication and vaccines to customers and his ability to bring new customers to the pharmacy by way of his sheer personality.

What inspired you to become a pharmacist?

I come from an Asian family, and usually Asian parents want their kids to become a doctor… that’s the first choice. I enjoyed chemistry in high school, chose chemistry as my major, and then was pre-med. But when I finished my high-level doctorate in chemistry, I was put on the waiting list for medical school and decided it was not the kind of lifestyle I wanted. 

I went through the career book and saw that pharmacy was closest to chemistry while still being in the health field. I applied a little late but was fortunate to get into the pharmacy class that year, so that’s how I ended up in pharmacy. I really was excited about it and enjoyed pharmacy a lot. 

Our customers know that we go the extra mile for them, and they keep coming back. 

When I graduated pharmacy school, I wasn’t really looking to go into retail. I was nervous about dealing with customers and talking with insurances and all that. So I stayed on in a hospital setting and I worked as a night shift pharmacist. Eventually I moved back to Virginia, where I’m from, and got married; I couldn’t work night shifts anymore, so I tried retail. 

I worked for Giant for six years, and it turned out that I like retail. I like dealing with customers and insurances and helping customers out. In 2006, I switched to Safeway.

How do you go above and beyond for your customers?

Nowadays, many companies can mail a prescription out for free, but sometimes the mail can take two days to get there. We do deliveries from our Safeway. I live in Fairfax, not far away from the pharmacy, and I pass through a lot of the neighborhoods where our customers live anyway, so I offer to deliver to them as well. I think they appreciate that. I even bring flu shots or shingles vaccines to some customers, like the ones who can’t go out or they’re immobilized at home. 

One customer, I gave him a flu shot and then he left his credit card at the pharmacy. I brought it to him at his house, and he was so grateful. He became a customer of our pharmacy after that.

We call insurance companies, we explain to customers why their copay is high, and we try to get the doctors to do prior authorization for them. Our customers know that we go the extra mile for them, and they keep coming back. 

How has the relationship between pharmacists and customers changed throughout your career?

I think customers now realize we are doing more for them than before. They don’t go to doctors as often for immunizations, and sometimes they just get surprised when we call to remind them to take medication, or to talk to them about drug interactions. We get calls from customers asking, “Is this safe to take with my drugs or my condition?” I think they rely on us first [before calling the doctor]. 

I also have people coming to me to diagnose their condition. They will [show me something on their body] and say, “What is this?” I have to tell them they should see their doctor…I’m not trained to diagnose! They try to see if they can get by with just seeing a pharmacist.

Do you enjoy being a pharmacy manager?

Yes, I like being a manager—sometimes it can be more stressful and you do have more responsibilities, but the good thing is that my kids are grown up now, so I don’t have to worry about them anymore.

I opened this store up, brand new, in 2008. I was hired as a manager for this new Safeway, and I got partnered with someone else for the first year and a half, but it didn’t work out. I remembered this person who I worked with as a floater a few times, and I liked her, and called her back in as a partner. It turned out great: She’s just as hard working as me, and she’s very kind.

She’s a great pharmacy manager partner. We’ve been together for almost 12 years now. She’s Korean, I’m Vietnamese, and we have a high population of Korean and Vietnamese customers in our store.

What does this nomination mean to you?

First, I’m humbled and honored. I never realized there were customers out there who would nominate me. I’m just doing my job, just trying to help them out. But I am glad to finally be recognized for all the effort and the work I put in. I try to do my best at my job, to help my pharmacy and the customers—to make it a win-win situation for both. I’m just very thankful.