MY LIFE - MAY

Thursday, May 4, 2000

Today was another slow night in the pharmacy. This is getting to the point of being absurd in just about every which way possible. The numbers just don't justify us being open until 10pm. Some people may think it's more convenient that way, but we don't do a whole lot of scripts at night and it's just silly to be standing around for one or two hours because nothing's going on.

Of course, this is a trend being seen all over the place. Just what the hell compels all these companies to continue to open up new pharmacies? Many areas are already short, yet new stores continue to open up. Can someone point out the logic in that detail, or am I just missing something completely?

It makes no sense at all. In the district I work in alone, we're short almost 20 pharmacists. It's the same all around too. Whenever Tom calls for a transfer prescription, he makes it a point to ask the pharmacist at the store he's calling how things are going. The answer's almost invariably the same. Too many pharmacies, not enough pharmacists. It'll probably only get worse before it gets better too.

Why the shortage in the first place though? Simple. Pharmacists are being treated like crap right now by both customers and the company they work for. There are people who work for a month before getting fed up. There's been a rash of people quitting and the pharmacy companies can't figure out what the problem is. Well, the problem is no one's listening to the pharmacists and taking their needs into consideration. It's so ludicrous that whenever something happens, it goes against the pharmacist.

If a customer complains, no one bothers to check to see if the complaint is legit. They're so worried about making a profit that they choose to go with the customer's word. That's wrong because the customer is very rarely right. Half the time these people can't remember birthdays, so why take their word on a situation? I've had mothers come in who couldn't remember their child's birthday. That's just sad.

Too many choices for consumers, not enough choices for the people working for the companies. It will only be a matter of time before this mess blows up in someone's face.

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I'm definitely going to talk with Steve about transferring to #3035 in Berea. I've thought about it for a while and it just makes sense to me. Sure, this is the busiest store in the area, but I'm someone who needs to be kept busy or else weird things start to happen. I'm very fidgety, which makes the slow nights even worse. Working in Berea would more than keep me busy.

The fact that it's closer and would be strictly pharmacy only (non of this closing down the store crap) are other reasons why I'm going to try and transfer. An even better reason is that the hours would more than likely be 10-6:30, which would leave me plenty of time to just sit at home and relax, rather than go home and being so pooped that I go to bed right away.

I'd hate to leave Lenny and Tom without any help, nor do I want to leave Debbie, Jeff, or Jacqui, I have to look out for myself every now and then. This is just something I should do.