Pharmacy refusing to tell me over the phone if they have medication in stock - is this usual?

[Anonymous]

I just ran into this in the last month (after filling ADHD med rx for almost a year). It is a pain because it is usually not in stock and I'd rather call 5 pharmacies than drive around to each one (and sometimes I have had to call that many). I am trying to get better about taking in the refill prescriptions a few days before I need it so I can wait for them to order it, but sometimes I forget.

[Anonymous]

That happened with my mom when she was discharged late in the day on a Sunday after surgery...hospital pharmacy was closed so they couldn't send her home with her meds, and no pharmacy could tell me over the phone whether they carried the med (it was a controlled opioid). I couldn't leave my pain-addled mom alone at home with my incapacitated, elderly father to go driving all over the metro area to find a pharmacy with the drug. Found a pharmacy and figured out care, but man...I was appalled at the incompetence of the hospital (a good one) in not having a way to send patients home with medication.