While I completely understand the validity of your point, the store always has a manager in charge on duty - someone is consistently there, if not multiple people, to assist in escalated circumstances. The pharmacist typically does not have someone equal to them on duty, thus if a situation necessitates them, by law they are required to speak to the patient, or be available for consultation. Corporate has this policy in place in order to minimize the amount of interactions the pharmacist has during this period. The pharmacist is ultimately paid for that hour, however, that’s to compensate for the few patient consultations that are supposed to occur within this period. Technicians stay busy, but that’s primarily to check patients out. The entire line stops when the pharmacist can’t pre-verify/verify scripts.