Ah, Vixmom! What a disaster! It reminds me of the situation before my first eye surgery. It took a full TWO WEEKS to obtain three prescriptions for eye drops. One blunder after another, just like your had.
I would suggest looking for another pharmacy. I stopped doing business with CVS long ago. The employees were rude and unhelpful beyond words. Of course, it varies from store to store.
As to why there is so much incompetence these days, my view is that (1) they hire untrained staff so they don't have to pay them much, (2) they often don't give them sufficient training, so the employee is as frustrated as their customers, (3) the employees feel no loyalty--why should they when they're treated badly?--so they leave as soon as they can find something else. And the cycle goes on. Will more automation help? Maybe. I'd rather have good customer service from a human, myself.