Tonight I Answer A Question Every Pharmacist Has Probably Heard At Least Once In Their Career.

It showed up tonight in my e-mail box, which marks at least the third time since a Degree in Pharmacy touched my grubby little hands that someone has turned to me for guidance about this evidently burning issue:

Dear Drugmonkey, 

My roommate and I have read your blog regularly for almost 4 months now and we love it. Since you are The Master of Pharmacy, we want you to settle a bet we have. What is the origin of the famous "Rx" symbol that is associated with our profession? 

Thanks, 

Nikki.

Dear Nikki, 

I bet you dot the "i"s in your name with little hearts don't you? But that's getting off track....

Which one of you bet that I don't give a rat's ass where that symbol came from?  Because that's the answer. I've heard several stories purporting to explain the origin of the Rx, probably all equally full of shit. I guess I could go ahead and add one more to the pile:

The origin of the Rx symbol actually dates to ancient Egypt and the original apothecaries that served the people in the time of the Pharaohs. (Learn to use the fucking google) The business climate during the time of the Middle Kingdom was very competitive, and pharmacist Cutamohnken Venzevian Surmanses found that if he could eliminate the need to urinate during the workday, he would be able to fill an average of 2% more prescriptions each week than his competition, giving him a leg up on other drugstores and ensuring he would not go bankrupt and be drafted into pyramid construction duty. CVS, as he was known to his colleagues, then developed the ultimate penis knot to ensure that all urine would stay in his body for at least 18 hours, and posted a picture of his innovation outside his store to demonstrate his commitment to sacrificing his urea elimination and osmotic balancing needs in order to earn the AWP-40%+25 cents that most Egyptian insurers paid per prescription at the time. 

While we can only dream of reimbursement rates as high as those of ancient Egypt, the business CVS built has never forgotten the financial advantage of the penis knot, administering it to every male pharmacist in a secret ceremony on their first day of employment. How CVS has eliminated urination from its female pharmacists remains a mystery. Many suspect they are actually robots. 

I'm sorry Nikki. I made light of your serious question didn't I? I'll make it up to you. Somewhere in the story I have just written, I have embedded a clue that will guide you to the answer you seek. Good luck in your quest.