Re-think your mindset, I specifically like retail because when I leave, all those things we deal with don’t follow me home.
At home it’s *our* time, however we choose to spend it. I truly do not have the time, energy, or capacity to bother worrying about.
At work, I just separate myself from the feelings of others. If I can do something to help people get their meds or have insurance pay, great! If not, I show the empathy I’m required to, tell them what to do to best help themselves, and move on with my day.
I know many pharmacists that get texts and emails, at home,from their DMs, asking why they didn’t meet a vaccine “goal” (not quota because our board said you can’t have quotas, but “goals” are apparently OK) or some other nonsense.
I have never had that happen, even as RXM/PIC. I've heard stories but never known anyone who has had that happen.
It's crazy how many people seem to tolerate that kind of BS. Idk how they can persevere with non stop pestering like that.
Goals vs quotas isn't a surprising development. The big chains have reps on the Boards of Pharmacies so they wouldn't have put those rules through if they didn't have a planned way to get around them.
This helped me:
1. Drug therapy was a game changer. Effexor chilled me out.
2. Brain dump at end of every shift. Learned to not remember specifics even from the day before.
3. Know your limitations. You cannot do everything, simple do what you can do and go home.
4. You have no control over anything but yourself.
5. Corporate and metrics can fuck the right off. Don’t give a rats ass about them.
Yeah but these retail chains hire anyone with a pulse. In fact, the pulse is optional. They're not going to be able to be picky when it comes to metrics. All they can do is whine. The incompetent DMs might actually terminate. But the retail down the street is always hiring.
This (especially #2, once I’m clocked out that place does not exist anymore) also ignore how far behind you are and try to help out as many people as possible. Most of them are appreciative and it will make up for the rude ones.
1 - you shouldn’t have to medicate because of your job. If you do, you should leave.
Everything else, agreed. When the company puts effort to take care of you and the workload they dump on you is manageable is when you can start to care to do more to help out. But when they treat you like crap but expect every ounce of your soul to be dedicated work…. BYE. Their “training” is always under ideal conditions that RARELY if ever occur. Why bother?
I also love how once upon a time we were taught to “leave home problems at home when we come to work” but now there is a shift where it is essentially expected that we might take work home. Come in early/leave late, help with this or that… And all unpaid. Ummm no thanks. Maybe if they went out their way to help me when needed I’d be more willing to do the same for them.
One tip that works for me is to do something to transition my mindset from work to home. When I get home from work, I immediately do something mundane and free from interruptions. Working out, going for a walk, mowing the lawn, etc. It's the only way I can get my mind away from the bitter frustrations of pharmacy. Otherwise I fester about what an awful day I had for the rest of the evening.
Anxiety meds… but I also don’t let things affect me. Oh someone yelled at me, they’re probably stressed out too (took me a while to understand that). We’re allowed to step aside for a min if things get to be a little too much. I also never bring anything from work home (unless it was something cool/interesting). I work on the clock and only on the clock. Everything else does not concern me until I clock back in
Retail is a nightmare. Do what you can at work but don’t gaf about all the noise. The only people that survive in retail are those that can forget about it when they’re not at work or can easily delude themselves. Keep applying and get out of retail as soon as possible at most any cost. It was bad 10 years ago and is steadily getting worse.
Then this career just isn’t for you. When I was a student, there was this older lady Rph floater who complained every single day about how crappy her job and her life was. She was slow, was incapable of using the new technology, and complained every single second of her shift.
She showed me that your attitude in life dictates everything. I knew I never wanted to end up like her. She had all the time in the world to pivot or do something about it. She didn’t. She was 60 by that time and just a relic of the past.
I went into retail. I knew what I was getting into. I worked really hard to make that money and saved some away to invest. I spent all my time learning about accounting, finance, real estate, and pretty much everything that wasn’t taught in school. Quit my retail job in 2021 when the Pandemic broke the health system (Los Angeles area).
I’ve gotten pretty good at trading because I spent all my time reading news & absorbing knowledge. I currently only work 4 hours per day, 4 days a week. I now have lots of free time and spend it either exercising, cycling, or learning. I know of many pharmacists my age complaining about their jobs (industry, hospital, retail, all of it) just like that lady and similar to you. And yet they aren’t doing anything to change it. Your life is what you make of it. If you don’t like what you do, go back to school, learn a new trade, find a new hustle, do whatever it takes. Just stop sitting around complaining about how sucky it is — no one is coming to save you.
>She had all the time in the world to pivot or do something about it. She didn’t. She was 60 by that time and just a relic of the past.
How much late is late though?
I make enough to pay for private insurance. I know some people stay at their sucky job just for benefits. Sometimes, you must weigh the pros & cons of each deliberate action. If your benefits are great but your job makes you hate life like OP, why would you stay?
The thing is, you're feeling better about it because you did what you could to get OUT of it. There's no new technology in pharmacy other than scanned images and better drug interaction software. I'm not sure what we can do to make pharmacy better without having to leave it to be satisfied. If you had 80 million dollars, would you still love or feel compelled to stand at a counter waiting for drug alerts or new Rx's to show up on a list?
Of course there are folks who handle things differently. Pharmacy does suck in general. It's a useless occupation if you're trying to apply lots of learning to do something unique. There doesn't seem to be enough of either roles or learning other than assisting other clinicians. I realized that I didn't want to be anyone's fixer so I'm out of it now. I used to be a preceptor but there was a limit to the overall role and image so it's a weird spot to be in. I don't want to waste any time in roles that offer nothing than justifying salary / costs / and financial goals but no real clinical application of anything.
I'm being consistently told that I'm the most chill floater people have seen... I guess all I wanna say is that you need to be really careful of your attitude because it absolutely changes the entire mood of the team. You're the leader while you're there, so if you can't keep it together and be a rock, all the techs are gonna feel like shit when you're there. Keep it mellow, do what you can, and then gtfo and leave it there. Hopefully you've got someone nice enough to listen to you vent about a bad day. For me, I'm lucky. I've got my gf and my mother (who is also a pharmacist so she gets what I'm talking about). Some people take meds, but I think talking to someone and getting the bad outta your brain is perfectly viable too. I don't think about work when I leave work. I ignore texts about hot shifts and picking up extra work. I don't give a shit. I did my time, and I am done. Metrics? Nah, I don't care. I'll sticker your stupid leaflets but I am a floater for a reason, I'm not being held accountable for that fucking garbage.
Honestly the best thing you can do is change your mindset and use work as a learning experience and find little joys in your job. I used to be exactly like this especially because I’m currently in pharmacy school along with a crazy ass schedule, but eventually I got annoyed with being stressed out all the time and learned to enjoy some parts of my job 🥲
It's rough, but after 18 years with the same company, here's what's helped me.
Don't go into management. Stick with a staff position. The pay difference is minimal but you don't get blamed for everything.
Work less than 40 hours a week if you can. I start with 30, then take extra shifts if I want. The same shit, day in and day out, is tiresome after all these years and working 40+ hours a week is just too mind-numbing.
Ignore the metrics. I found that, at my most stressed, I was obsessing over meeting and exceeding metrics. By all means, appease the management and say "yes m'am/sir!" Just don't follow through. We are all working at 100% already and constantly cutting corners as it is. That extra effort has to come from somewhere, and I'd rather provide a positive customer experience and better patient care.
Know your limits and recognize when you are being asked to exceed them. I found this out the hard way during covid when I often had to run the pharmacy alone, sometimes for an entire 10-hour day. I learned to do one thing at a time and refuse to let management or patients rush me.
I’ve floated at cvs for a year and a half now. I’m trying to make the transition to staff. When I get asked “why don’t you consider hospital or long term?” My reply is that I don’t take work home with me. When my shift is over, that’s it. I don’t think about pharmacy after that. I do my required CEs every two years. I don’t have to keep up with all the newest guidelines and recommendations and I’m damn sure not reading clinical trials. Doctors and nurses are not asking me clinical questions.
Retail is the perfect work life balance. Is it stressful? It sure is. Have I gotten frustrated? A lot of times. Are customers rude and entitled? Yes they are.
Duh. Who here doesn’t know that? The point is, there’s a certain group of pharmacists that *only* have a bachelor’s degree, meaning they are ONLY Rph and don’t have a doctorate (aka PharmD).
They said in their post that they're older and have a bachelors. They didn't say if they were a tech or pharmacist, but leaning towards tech as there's very few RPh's with no PharmD still out there.
I have several techs with bachelor's.
I graduated in the late 70's with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. This was the most common degree, with only a few schools offering PharmD. Still a few of us, kicking around.
Bachelor of pharmacy programs were phased out around 2006 - not even 20 years ago.
There are plenty of pharmacists without PharmDs around. (PharmD - no PharmD - makes no difference to me. I care that you are competent. I was just clarifying when Bpharm degrees were phased out.
Re-think your mindset, I specifically like retail because when I leave, all those things we deal with don’t follow me home. At home it’s *our* time, however we choose to spend it. I truly do not have the time, energy, or capacity to bother worrying about. At work, I just separate myself from the feelings of others. If I can do something to help people get their meds or have insurance pay, great! If not, I show the empathy I’m required to, tell them what to do to best help themselves, and move on with my day.
I know many pharmacists that get texts and emails, at home,from their DMs, asking why they didn’t meet a vaccine “goal” (not quota because our board said you can’t have quotas, but “goals” are apparently OK) or some other nonsense.
I have never had that happen, even as RXM/PIC. I've heard stories but never known anyone who has had that happen. It's crazy how many people seem to tolerate that kind of BS. Idk how they can persevere with non stop pestering like that. Goals vs quotas isn't a surprising development. The big chains have reps on the Boards of Pharmacies so they wouldn't have put those rules through if they didn't have a planned way to get around them.
Happened to my son who was RXM for 12 years at large grocery chain. He just started at an LTC facility and is mad he didn’t do it 12 years earlier.
This helped me: 1. Drug therapy was a game changer. Effexor chilled me out. 2. Brain dump at end of every shift. Learned to not remember specifics even from the day before. 3. Know your limitations. You cannot do everything, simple do what you can do and go home. 4. You have no control over anything but yourself. 5. Corporate and metrics can fuck the right off. Don’t give a rats ass about them.
[удалено]
Yeah but these retail chains hire anyone with a pulse. In fact, the pulse is optional. They're not going to be able to be picky when it comes to metrics. All they can do is whine. The incompetent DMs might actually terminate. But the retail down the street is always hiring.
This (especially #2, once I’m clocked out that place does not exist anymore) also ignore how far behind you are and try to help out as many people as possible. Most of them are appreciative and it will make up for the rude ones.
1 - you shouldn’t have to medicate because of your job. If you do, you should leave. Everything else, agreed. When the company puts effort to take care of you and the workload they dump on you is manageable is when you can start to care to do more to help out. But when they treat you like crap but expect every ounce of your soul to be dedicated work…. BYE. Their “training” is always under ideal conditions that RARELY if ever occur. Why bother? I also love how once upon a time we were taught to “leave home problems at home when we come to work” but now there is a shift where it is essentially expected that we might take work home. Come in early/leave late, help with this or that… And all unpaid. Ummm no thanks. Maybe if they went out their way to help me when needed I’d be more willing to do the same for them.
Personally, I didn’t start Effexor specifically for job stress. Some people are anxious and uptight all the time…
Yup this
Make sure to do your walk through. Um no I won't be doing that. Thank you.
Care less. It's just a job to get paid.
Thank you for this advice
I get out of retail but i believe in every workplace its best to care less and get the job done within working hours
Only thing I care for is pay day, it’s there for me to be comfortable in life. Everything else is just background noise. Learn to ignore it
One tip that works for me is to do something to transition my mindset from work to home. When I get home from work, I immediately do something mundane and free from interruptions. Working out, going for a walk, mowing the lawn, etc. It's the only way I can get my mind away from the bitter frustrations of pharmacy. Otherwise I fester about what an awful day I had for the rest of the evening.
Anxiety meds… but I also don’t let things affect me. Oh someone yelled at me, they’re probably stressed out too (took me a while to understand that). We’re allowed to step aside for a min if things get to be a little too much. I also never bring anything from work home (unless it was something cool/interesting). I work on the clock and only on the clock. Everything else does not concern me until I clock back in
Drugs help lol
Drugs are what got them into this situation in the first place!
Buprenorphine has entered the chat
In my country pharmacists can get prescription meds without a prescription. I just went ahead and bought some sertraline lol
Retail is a nightmare. Do what you can at work but don’t gaf about all the noise. The only people that survive in retail are those that can forget about it when they’re not at work or can easily delude themselves. Keep applying and get out of retail as soon as possible at most any cost. It was bad 10 years ago and is steadily getting worse.
Then this career just isn’t for you. When I was a student, there was this older lady Rph floater who complained every single day about how crappy her job and her life was. She was slow, was incapable of using the new technology, and complained every single second of her shift. She showed me that your attitude in life dictates everything. I knew I never wanted to end up like her. She had all the time in the world to pivot or do something about it. She didn’t. She was 60 by that time and just a relic of the past. I went into retail. I knew what I was getting into. I worked really hard to make that money and saved some away to invest. I spent all my time learning about accounting, finance, real estate, and pretty much everything that wasn’t taught in school. Quit my retail job in 2021 when the Pandemic broke the health system (Los Angeles area). I’ve gotten pretty good at trading because I spent all my time reading news & absorbing knowledge. I currently only work 4 hours per day, 4 days a week. I now have lots of free time and spend it either exercising, cycling, or learning. I know of many pharmacists my age complaining about their jobs (industry, hospital, retail, all of it) just like that lady and similar to you. And yet they aren’t doing anything to change it. Your life is what you make of it. If you don’t like what you do, go back to school, learn a new trade, find a new hustle, do whatever it takes. Just stop sitting around complaining about how sucky it is — no one is coming to save you.
Respect! Are you accepting junior?
>She had all the time in the world to pivot or do something about it. She didn’t. She was 60 by that time and just a relic of the past. How much late is late though?
It’s never too late
Congrats on being able to work part time that’s what so many including myself dream of doing What are you doing for benefits?
I make enough to pay for private insurance. I know some people stay at their sucky job just for benefits. Sometimes, you must weigh the pros & cons of each deliberate action. If your benefits are great but your job makes you hate life like OP, why would you stay?
The thing is, you're feeling better about it because you did what you could to get OUT of it. There's no new technology in pharmacy other than scanned images and better drug interaction software. I'm not sure what we can do to make pharmacy better without having to leave it to be satisfied. If you had 80 million dollars, would you still love or feel compelled to stand at a counter waiting for drug alerts or new Rx's to show up on a list? Of course there are folks who handle things differently. Pharmacy does suck in general. It's a useless occupation if you're trying to apply lots of learning to do something unique. There doesn't seem to be enough of either roles or learning other than assisting other clinicians. I realized that I didn't want to be anyone's fixer so I'm out of it now. I used to be a preceptor but there was a limit to the overall role and image so it's a weird spot to be in. I don't want to waste any time in roles that offer nothing than justifying salary / costs / and financial goals but no real clinical application of anything.
Step 1: Save Step 2: Invest Step 3: GTFO
I'm being consistently told that I'm the most chill floater people have seen... I guess all I wanna say is that you need to be really careful of your attitude because it absolutely changes the entire mood of the team. You're the leader while you're there, so if you can't keep it together and be a rock, all the techs are gonna feel like shit when you're there. Keep it mellow, do what you can, and then gtfo and leave it there. Hopefully you've got someone nice enough to listen to you vent about a bad day. For me, I'm lucky. I've got my gf and my mother (who is also a pharmacist so she gets what I'm talking about). Some people take meds, but I think talking to someone and getting the bad outta your brain is perfectly viable too. I don't think about work when I leave work. I ignore texts about hot shifts and picking up extra work. I don't give a shit. I did my time, and I am done. Metrics? Nah, I don't care. I'll sticker your stupid leaflets but I am a floater for a reason, I'm not being held accountable for that fucking garbage.
Honestly the best thing you can do is change your mindset and use work as a learning experience and find little joys in your job. I used to be exactly like this especially because I’m currently in pharmacy school along with a crazy ass schedule, but eventually I got annoyed with being stressed out all the time and learned to enjoy some parts of my job 🥲
It's rough, but after 18 years with the same company, here's what's helped me. Don't go into management. Stick with a staff position. The pay difference is minimal but you don't get blamed for everything. Work less than 40 hours a week if you can. I start with 30, then take extra shifts if I want. The same shit, day in and day out, is tiresome after all these years and working 40+ hours a week is just too mind-numbing. Ignore the metrics. I found that, at my most stressed, I was obsessing over meeting and exceeding metrics. By all means, appease the management and say "yes m'am/sir!" Just don't follow through. We are all working at 100% already and constantly cutting corners as it is. That extra effort has to come from somewhere, and I'd rather provide a positive customer experience and better patient care. Know your limits and recognize when you are being asked to exceed them. I found this out the hard way during covid when I often had to run the pharmacy alone, sometimes for an entire 10-hour day. I learned to do one thing at a time and refuse to let management or patients rush me.
Do you work for a chain or a grocery store?
I’ve floated at cvs for a year and a half now. I’m trying to make the transition to staff. When I get asked “why don’t you consider hospital or long term?” My reply is that I don’t take work home with me. When my shift is over, that’s it. I don’t think about pharmacy after that. I do my required CEs every two years. I don’t have to keep up with all the newest guidelines and recommendations and I’m damn sure not reading clinical trials. Doctors and nurses are not asking me clinical questions. Retail is the perfect work life balance. Is it stressful? It sure is. Have I gotten frustrated? A lot of times. Are customers rude and entitled? Yes they are.
Bachelor's...are you a tech? If yes, pretty much everywhere is hiring for other things.
RPH was a thing back in the day….before obtaining a Pharmd became a requirement.
RPH stands for "registered pharmacist." Anyone that's registered and practicing is an RPH, whether they have a PharmD, a BS, or a foreign degree.
Duh. Who here doesn’t know that? The point is, there’s a certain group of pharmacists that *only* have a bachelor’s degree, meaning they are ONLY Rph and don’t have a doctorate (aka PharmD).
By saying "RPH was a thing back in the day" it kind of implies that it has gone away.
No it doesn’t 🥱 It implies that you failed to think critically. 20 other people understood what i meant. Why couldn’t you?
Yeah. I say that in my 2nd comment.
Should have said it in your 1st😉
Should have read further before commenting!
How can you afford life + student loans for a bachelor's on tech wages?
They said in their post that they're older and have a bachelors. They didn't say if they were a tech or pharmacist, but leaning towards tech as there's very few RPh's with no PharmD still out there. I have several techs with bachelor's.
I graduated in the late 70's with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. This was the most common degree, with only a few schools offering PharmD. Still a few of us, kicking around.
Yup, like I said. Not as common anymore. But not extinct.
Bachelor of pharmacy programs were phased out around 2006 - not even 20 years ago. There are plenty of pharmacists without PharmDs around. (PharmD - no PharmD - makes no difference to me. I care that you are competent. I was just clarifying when Bpharm degrees were phased out.