MY LIFE - NOVEMBER

Monday, November 6, 2000

I guess my mom is a little better, but not as much as I thought she was. She had been moving around Saturday, but yesterday and today she paid for it. When I got home yesterday, she was already in bed and she's not usually in bed until midnight at the earliest. I didn't pay attention to it because I was so tired, but I realized she wasn't doing that well when I went downstairs just prior to leaving for work.

She was still in bed and my younger sister was looking for something for my mom to eat. That's not a good sign when my mom isn't able to get up to get something to eat. Of course, her being home on a Monday isn't a good sign either, especially when it's 2 in the afternoon. She's not usually home until like 9 or 10 at night on Mondays.

When I got home, she was at least on the couch attempting to study. From talking with her, it's clear that getting up and moving around are not easy tasks. She's continuously coughing mucus up whenever she gets up, so she's obviously sitting down as much as possible at this point. But with her being on the couch, it's a good sign, albeit very small sign. She's taking a stronger form of Augmentin right now, 875mg instead of 500mg, which should help. The Entex LA should work a little better now too.

The one thing that worries her is that I'll get it. I don't think I will because I've been in contact with both her and Lori since Lori first got it last week. I don't feel any different right now, although that could change in a heartbeat. I hope not since calling off isn't a very good thing for me to do. I've only been working at the store for two days, so that might not sit well, especially since my transfer probably hasn't gone through, meaning my personal days probably still haven't gone through either along with my vacation time.

I don't think I will though. It seems that I've built up a pretty good resistance to sickness right now. My allergies can kill me, but that's from all the fur in my room. I haven't been able to vacuum or wash blankets for two weeks now. I normally do that kind of thing on a Sunday. I obviously worked Sunday, so that was killed. It probably won't be until Wednesday at the earliest before I get any kind of cleaning done.

Even if I do get what my mom has, I'll probably try to fight through it. I'm dumb that way and doubt I'll ever change. If I am sick, I'm sure you'll all notice it. I get really nasty sometimes.

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So far, my transition to the store in Berea has been a smooth one. Yesterday, while busy, was nothing overwhelming. Sure, it was over 270 scripts on a Sunday, which was more than what I ever did on a regular basis at my old store, but it wasn't bad considering the way things work at that store. You pretty much do one task, whether it be typing the prescription in, filling the script, or ringing register. You don't have to take the script down, then type it, then fill it. You do one of those things, maybe two.

That's why today, despite doing over 640 scripts, it didn't seem like much. I was never overwhelmed, aside from having a pile of scripts that I had to try and fill. All of the waiters were taken care of as they came through, then I'd move onto the ones who were coming back in a half hour or hour, then to the ones who were coming back later in the day, then to the ones who were coming in tomorrow.

Sometimes I had help while filling. But that's primarily what I did all day. I just filled whatever came off the printer down below me. If there was a problem, I went and asked someone what they thought I should do. I wanted to make sure that I did everything the right way in this store. I didn't want to be the one who screwed something up. If there was a partial, I put in how much I was filling then sent it on its merry way. If I thought we had to reorder something, I made sure there was a yellow sticker somewhere for the pharmacist checking to get an item number off of.

As with yesterday, I showed I can handle what's coming at me. I took care of drive-thru when I had to and I rang register when I was needed to. The difference between this store and my old one is I'm only ringing people up who have scripts, not everyone else too. The sales are typically smaller and are just easier to deal with. There's less searching through an ad to see if something's on sale. I just deal with prescription customers.

It makes a huge difference. I've really noticed it.

When it's slow, I can clean the baker cells and cassettes or try to fill the cells and cassettes. There's not a whole lot of time spent being bored and doing nothing at all. If there is, there's almost always someone to talk to, sometimes even if you don't want to really talk. I haven't found myself just standing around, doing nothing in the days that I've worked there.

I'm just happier at this store. It's been a breath of fresh air. I'm sure there are going to be days where I think I'm going to go nuts, but so far it hasn't happened. Everyone's getting along with me and I survived the busiest day of the week without any real problems. If this is the busiest day, then I'll be fine. If this is what it's like when there's a shortage of help, I'll be fine.

In other words, I'm just going to be fine.

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Here's the crew that I've dealt with so far: pharmacy techs include Joanne, Peggy, Darlene, Swati, Paul, Velvet, Linda, and Jean with another tech, Stacy, slated to begin working in the pharmacy in a week or so. Joanne can get obnoxious, but she hasn't really bothered me yet. Peggy and Darlene are nice and they work primarily in the morning along with Joanne. Swati seems nice, but isn't always the sharpest knife. She also works primarily during the day. Paul is dorky, but in a friendly sort of way. He works all sorts of hours. Velvet and Jean are strictly nights, with Velvet working at 7 and Jean working at 6. Both of them are nice and easy to get along with. Linda, well, let's just say I've heard things come out of her mouth that I don't usually hear too often. Things I wouldn't want to repeat myself. She can get very annoying, but she's manageable.

Pharmacist-wise, there's Jim, Steve, Elizabeth, and Regina. Jim has been okay to work with so far. He has a sense of humor, but can get crabby with people at times. Steve, well I like working with Steve as most of you probably already know. Elizabeth is nice and easy to get along with. They're the ones who are full-time and their hours change from week to week. Regina, at this point, works mostly midnights. She can give you a different look depending on how she feels. She's been real nice one day, then really nasty the next.

I don't know too many of the front store people. I know Bob, the manager, and a couple of the supervisors, Jill and Matt. I know there's an associate named Monica, but there's been very little interaction between them and me. This will probably change in the future. Jill and Matt seem pretty personable and Bob is always in the pharmacy for one thing or another.

That's really all I know though. I guess I'll find out more about the people I work with in the future. There's at least a couple guys and a girl that I haven't really met, although there was one girl who left while I was on break. She had hair that was dyed red and she gave me a couple of looks, but I wasn't really paying attention since I was eating.

I'll give more information as time passes and I learn more. I still have to learn the store itself. I don't know where anything is in the place.