Sunday, February 22, 2009

I Seriously Work With The Best Staff Ever. Or I Am Corrupting Them. One Of The Two.

It may shock some of you to read this, but I can be less than a joy to work with at times. It will surprise you beyond belief that there are times when I can be a bit....moody. Cranky even. 

Most of the time working with me is a fucking riot. But yeah, I have my days. 

Thing is, when the pharmacist is having a day, it infects the whole operation. A toxic wave will envelope the whole pill room, and everyone involved, techs, customers, front end employees, they'll all get a whiff. Those days have happened with me, and they're not fun, for me or anyone else. 

Saturday was threatening to be a day. I was coming off working two twelvers in a row, and it's so much easier to be cranky when you're tired. A customer had just tried to engage me in a 10 minute debate over two cough syrups. Two cough syrups with the exact same ingredient. Strike one. An eerie calm before the storm was descending over the pill room. A couple more strikes and it was gonna be a day. There was a tension in the air. 

My tech R__ took the next phone call. Let me give you the background on R___. Two months after she started, if you would have asked how R___ was doing, I would have said, "she's really nice, and she really tries, but I don't think she's gonna make it." She spent her workday nervous, making nervous mistake after nervous mistake, and just not moving fast enough to be of much value. I used to send her home early because it annoyed the hell out of me to be alone with her. She hung on though, and she's obviously a much better tech than from those days. I'd go so far as to say she's a good one. 

So R___ takes the call, and it's a moron who doesn't have any refills left on their prescription who couldn't understand the secret code pharmacies put on the bottle that indicate this, the words that say "NO REFILLS." The customer goes into crisis mode and asks what they are supposed to do. Yawn. The kind of shit that happens every day. 

I should say the kind of annoying shit that happens every day. Strike two was coming. 

R___ knows we're gonna give the moron enough to get through the weekend, but also knows she needs to ask first, just in case it's a druggie looking to score some extra Soma or something. "The customer on line one says they are out of Lanoxin and wants to know what they should do" she says.

"Tell them they're just gonna have to die" says the cranky, angry Drugmonkey

The key to what happened next is R___'s accent. It's soft and very up and down over the course of a sentence, almost musical in a way. She picks up the phone, hits the button below where the customer is on hold and says into the receiver;

"Hello ma'am? The pharm-a-cist says you will just have to die"

My head snaps around and we both burst out laughing. That's how far R___ has come. From barely competent to able to detect and diffuse a bad day coming. It was at that moment I said to myself "You have made great progress young one. I can feel the force is with you."  R___ will someday be a keystone tech.

My other tech is even better. Many of you have asked why I don't quit my retail gig. Some of you will now understand. 

 

9 comments:

Heather said...

Nice.

Moments like that are beautiful, aren't they?

That was certainly a buy her a coke or at least give her an awkward "that-a-girl" pat on the shoulder moment...

Anonymous said...

Bwahahahaha!! That's awesome.

Anonymous said...

Bwahahahaha!! That's awesome.

Anonymous said...

I pray to god everyday for good technicians someday. They will really make or break the daily grind. Good techs are priceless, and they can't just be good techs, they have to have good personalities so you actually enjoy hanging out with them when it's slow

Unknown said...

If I ever find out where you work, I may just have to steal your techs. My current favorite tech sings old show tunes. The best! AND he can tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.
That guy makes life worth living some days.

Anonymous said...

So jealous, right now I don't have one tech who is worth a darn. It makes the days so much worse.

Unknown said...

My lead tech does things like that too. If it is in my power, I would make her work every shift I work and pay her over time. I love those moments and that's one of the things that kept me going.

Anonymous said...

too funny. a great tech can't be replaced... certainly the ones who take everything literally.

Anonymous said...

I love my techs. I think yours and mine went to the same school...