MY LIFE - SEPTEMBER
Thursday, September 14, 2000
Last night was my first time working in the store in Berea where I'm supposed to transfer to in the near future. Let's keep a long story short and say things went very well without any real problems. I didn't screw anything up and spent most of my time in one place there, which I'll explain in a minute. As for the whole transfer process, well, I'm still waiting to hear the latest information. As is customary with CVS, you don't hear anything until the last possible moment.
As for Berea. Basically, there are four areas that are occupied by techs and pharmacists. There's the register and drive thru area, which are for techs who are otherwise useless, which I don't see at Berea, at least not yet. There's the input area where information is entered into the computer system by either a tech or a pharmacist. There's the filling station where another tech or pharmacist is situated to fill what's been put into the computer. Finally, there's the checking station where there's a pharmacist to check everything you've done.
I spent most of my night in the filling station getting the hang of filling things, scanning them, finding the medication, and labeling the bottle before putting it into either a white (non-waiting) basket or black (waiting) basket for the pharmacist to check. It's a lot more complicated than that, but I don't feel like explaining it right now. But everything's filled according to priority. Priority code 3 is a waiter, 2 is coming back within the hour, 1 is coming back in over an hour, and 0 is coming in the next day.
You put the priority code in when inputing the script, which is something I'm definitely going to have to get the hang of in the near future. Otherwise I'll get an earful from whoever's at the filling station over "all these waiting scripts." I'd like to avoid that if possible. But all in all, it was an interesting and uneventful experience. It got busy at times where I was constantly moving, but for the most part I was caught up with everything, which seemed to impress those who were watching me. It seemed that they weren't sure how good I'd be.
Truth is, I don't know if they realize how much experience I have overall. It seems to me that the other techs there expected me to struggle more than I did and were impressed with how well I kept up. A couple even came up to me to ask me some questions on some stuff that came through, and that helped me out. It told me they felt comfortable around me and figured I had to have a clue about what I was doing, otherwise Steve (the pharmacist in charge there) wouldn't have been trying to get me over there.
I really can't wait to transfer and get into the flow of things there. I think it would be rather interesting, if nothing else.
I've been watching with amusement the aftershock of the Federal Trade Commission's finding that the entertainment industry as a whole has been marketing its products to children and teenagers. Well duh! I didn't think you needed a study to tell that one, but apparently politicians and columnists did. And now everyone is appalled over the excess violence and sex in our culture. Sorry, but the morals in this country went bye-bye a long time ago and I couldn't care less.
To me, it's just another way for politicians to try and improve their stock. Demanding answers on this question, yet the answer is very clear. Kids buy this shit all the time. Rap music isn't a multi-million dollar industry because of its wholesome values. Nor are film studios making a killing off of movies based on morals. It isn't happening because people don't care for that kind of thing. Everyone's complaining about the decay of morals in today's society, then that same person goes and watches "The Sopranos" on HBO the same night. It's a double standard and it exists.
Now Congress wants to pass laws on this kind of thing. They want to restrict who is marketed to and they want entertainment companies held accountable for god knows what. Fact is, someone is making the choice to watch a violent movies. Someone is making a choice to listen to offensive rap lyrics. Someone is making the choice to buy graphic video games. I'm one of them and I'm not running around, threatening people and causing society grief. The simple act of parenting came into affect there.
Simply put, if parents don't want their children accessing volatile material, don't let them. If you don't want your child seeing a violent movie, don't let them go. It's not up to the law to decide what a child sees, but the parent. You don't want your child seeing offensive commercials? Give them a book to read and turn off the tv. It's simple. There's a little button marked "power," get it?
This whole thing bothers me to no end too. Dick Feagler of the Plain Dealer wrote the usual garbage column on this whole thing. He feels that those who have made money of their form of entertainment have somehow committed child abuse and have hid behind the first amendment. Well of course they'll hide behind the first amendment. Freedom of speech isn't a myth. He then goes on to add that he can't use raunchy music in a newspaper, but that a rapper can swear all he wants in a song. Well of course. Newspapers are a public service that can be bought for 35 cents in just about any location in the area. A CD costs $13-17 and can't be bought by a minor unless the store isn't obeying the parental advisory stickers. That's an unfair comparison and Feagler knows it.
But Feagler does this all the time. Like most columnists, he feels he's the voice of America and even states that most of Americans agree with him that Hollywood should feel ashamed. Well, I'm an average American and I strongly disagree with him there. Hollywood shouldn't be ashamed. It did what any company does and it put out a product it stood behind. The only people who should be ashamed, if anyone, is us as consumers. We're the ones who buy this stuff even though it's "bad" for us. Hollywood has nothing to be ashamed of. People like what it puts out, so why should it stop?
Want to know what I do when I see or hear something I don't like? If it's on the radio, I change the station or turn it off. Same thing with the tv. If I don't like what a person is saying or doing, I stop watching. It's a simple process. Don't like the movie at the video store? Don't rent it. Don't like the advertisement on tv? Change the channel. Don't like the song? Change the station. Free speech is free speech, no matter how offensive it might be and that's where Feagler gets out of line. I don't care how sleazy it is. It's protected and that's that.
The only person who can control that is yourself. Try it. You might be surprised over what happens.
I hate pop music. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't believe Britney Spears lip-synchs, like some have contended. If that were the case, I would think they could find a voice a lot better than that. Sure, she has a great speaking voice, but there's very little in her singing voice. She's pure looks and dance and nothing more. The one with a voice? Christina Aguilera. I'll admit it. I also think she's the better looking one. She just has more talent. Listen to her songs and you can hear it right away. She can hit the notes better than Britney.
This from someone who hates pop music. I'm sorry, all you millions and millions of fans, but I can't stand it. Like a lot of R&B, it's written by a team of writers and producers, and not the artist(s) themself. It drives me crazy because it all sounds the same for the most part. I'd like to see Britney or any of these other pop stars write their own music and see how far they fly. If they have the talent, then great. If not, well, then I told you so.
I just think it's wrong that 50 year old guys are writing songs that "teens can relate to." Oh, and as for teenage girls dressing too sexy? See if it bothers me. I have no complaints seeing the girls dress the way they do. If Britney and Christina are comfortable wearing those outfits, then more power to them. I think they're all sexy and I have no complaints whatsoever.
If you don't like it, don't dress your daughter that way. It's really easy. It's called saying "no." I think it's become a lost form of art.
A note about the September 1 entry in which I'm very upset over working the amount of hours I worked. I did have the rest of the weekend off and I went to the Indians game on Monday (Labor Day). Lenny did come back and was grateful that Deb and I helped out the way we did. He then proceded to redo the Halloween aisle that we had set up according to plan. Thanks Len, now transfer me before I really go crazy.
Now he's suggesting to Deb that she maybe take a vacation week while I'm still at the store. Hello Len, didn't I say that my schedule for next week was tentative just last Saturday? I could've swore I did, although he apparently doesn't think my transfer is going to happen soon. It had better happen within the next two weeks or there are going to be a few angry phone calls. And I will refuse to stop doing the shift supervisor thing. If he doesn't like it, then too bad. I'm tired of doing two jobs at once. If I'm going to do anything, it's pharmacy. Thank you, and have a nice day.
Just a side note here: there was an entry for September 1st, but it apparently was eaten up by my computer or something. I'm still trying to figure out what the hell happened. This one's okay, but god knows about tomorrow's.
| Dave's World | Come Again? | Commentary | The Escape Pod | Me, Myself, and I | Music Charts and Reviews | Updates |