when change strikes

Things can change quickly in life.

One day, you think you have a grasp on what's going on and how things are going, the next everything's been turned upside down and you don't know what's going to happen next.

I've experienced plenty of change, whether it be at home or at work.  I'ved moved a couple of times, gone through a few relationships, and dealt with issues that were very unexpected.

The changes at work can be just as striking.  One day you're working, enjoying the change of pace, the next thing you know, you're starting to feel like you did at your previous job.  All the things you liked about the new job suddenly don't feel so marvelous because different aggravations are popping up.

I've been at my full-time job for over a year now.  The lure of a different environment, plus an increase in pay were enough reasons for me to drop to part time at my retail job so I could take the current one.  I had become so disenchanted with the retail environment that I couldn't get out fast enough.

I still am.

I only work at my retail job once a week now and that one day is enough to remind me why I couldn't go back full-time.  I've been asked to.  I've been asked if they paid me more an hour than my current job pays me, would that be enough.  I've said no and it's for reasons other pharmacy employees have mentioned.  It's not enough for us to fill prescriptions.  We're expected to babysit these people, make sure they get their refills on time (even if they don't take them on time), give them flu shots, call them for every little thing (refill reminders, reminders to pick up said refills, follow-up calls to see how they're doing with their meds, see if they want to switch their meds, see if we need to hold their hands while they take their meds, and so on). Some even are now having employees call to remind patients about refills that don't have refills on them.  In other words, we're supposed to call them to tell them there are no refills, do they want us to call the doctor and have them filled even though it's been six months and the patient doesn't even remember taking the medication.

It's insane.

Sure, would making more money be nice?  Yes.  However, the stress of the job would probably kill me before I could ever reap the benefits of the extra pay.  That and the shitty hours.

Hell, my full-time job could frustrate me to no end and I still wouldn't want to go back to retail.

Change had to happen though.  Things were going on that shouldn't have been going on.

I'm all for having freedom at work.  I'm all for being able to make a call or two, text someone if you have a moment, and so on.  I'm all for being able to do what you want to do, yet remain professional as well.

What I'm not for is working with people who spend their entire day on the phone or disappearing for long stretches of time.

The worst is when it's your supervisor that's setting the poor example by constantly being on their phone and the work phone for personal reasons. Then your other tech thinks that it's okay, so they proceed to do the same.  Next thing you know, both are yapping away on phone calls while you try to get all the stuff done that they aren't doing.

Of course, there were more issues than that.  Waiters waiting for 30, sometimes 40 minutes because my pharmacist was staring off into space, on a personal call, or chatting with someone rather than check the waiter.  There was the issue with how I supposedly needed to communicate with my pharmacist better.  Never mind that more often than not, they were the one forgetting to tell me things that were vital.

In the end, it became too much.  I complained.

A week later, the culmination of two meetings, an e-mail, and other employees leveling complaints as well led to the lead pharmacist being let go.

It's a bittersweet moment.  I liked working with them, but at the same time, there were things going on that just didn't make sense.  I also didn't like being the one that got the snowball rolling, but in the end, I couldn't continue to overlook what was going on.

Additionally, the other tech is being watched because of attendance and phone issues as well.  Simply put, showing up a half hour to an hour late is just not a good thing.

Change comes in a hurry sometimes and this was a prime example of it.  In a week's time, we went from fully staffed with concerns, to losing the pharmacist that hired me on when the place opened.

Hopefully this is what stabilizes things and helps the pharmacy take off.