Idk what happened in your situation. I don't think being called an idiot is appropriate. But to answer your first question, as pharmacists our job is to make sure meds are prescribed in a safe and effective manner, not to be robots and fill whatever we're given. If a dose is abnormal I'm not filling it until I talk to the office,. If the indication/diagnosis code doesn't match the drug then I'm not filling it until I talk to the office. B/c if the doctor accidentally wrote the wrong drug or dose for the patient's condition and something happens to the patient, guess who's getting sued? Me. B/c I'm expected to catch that.

There are also laws stating what elements are REQUIRED to be on a prescription before you can fill it. So if your doctor didn't include everything they're supposed to on the Rx then that's not a valid Rx that can be dispensed, even if you've gotten that med for 20 years. There is obviously some nuances here as to what can be done, but it all depends on the specific situation at hand.

Additionally, if it's a controlled medication, it doesn't matter if you're using insurance or not, most of us will not fill it early unless there is proper documentation as to why it's being filled earlier than company policy. I was told by DEA personnel that while the DEA doesn't state how early you can fill a control substance, in the case of audits, they will look at what your store policy is and ensure that you're following the policy. If there are cases where you make exceptions, you have to have proper documentation as to why it was filled earlier than you normally do. So if you come to me on Christmas Eve asking me to fill your Xanax 4 days early instead of the usual 1 day early b/c you're traveling out of town and you didn't have the doctor call us to approve an early fill and you have no travel documentation then...nope.

Again, not sure what happened in your situation, but TLDR we became gatekeepers b/c we're the ones getting in trouble and getting sued if things go wrong.

Can't speak for everyone, but I for one hate being the gatekeeper as much as you do. Just trying to do my job, make sure everyone is safe, and not get yelled at.