So, for the moment, my job is as a writer. A journalist specifically. I think I'd look pretty good in one of those hats with a piece of paper marked "PRESS" tucked in the band.
And I kinda hope the moment lasts. It's fun to spar a little with corporate media relations folks. Friday I called Rite Aid's to see if I could get a take on their plans to bring in scabs should a Southern California strike go down. She bobbed and weaved, and said the policy is not to comment on "unsubstantiated rumors." I then asked her flat out if the company was going to bring in replacement workers and she said she would get back to me.
You have no idea how much I would like to call her back with evidence in hand. No idea.
So, my Rite Aid friends, talk to me some more. Did the company put any of their plans in writing? Is there a name of the person making calls rounding up people to head out west? Tell me what you know and I assure you no one ever finds out where I got my scoop. No piece of info is too small. Once we get some solid evidence of what they're doing we can take this story off the blogosphere and into the mainstream media, where people who deserve to know what's happening will see it.
On a lighter note, I've also been assigned a feature piece on pharmacy preceptors. If you've ever been or had one you know their importance to the profession. I still, to this day, surprise myself by parroting something said or done by my preceptor long ago. So, we're looking to explore the subject a little bit. How to become one, the ups and downs and challenges and rewards involved, and of course, any great stories. I know there are great stories out there. I had been behind a pharmacy counter a grand total of five minutes when I spilled a bottle of (very expensive) Capoten all over the floor. Had it not been for my preceptor calming me down, I might have gone down the career path of a grocery clerk.
Which would mean I'd have a steady job right now. Hm. I'll have to ponder that awhile. Reach me at drugmonkeyrph at gmail with your scoops or stories.
7 comments:
I know that his is not want you are looking for but you got me reminiscing my college days.
I graduated in 1967. I answered a question pronounce avoirdupois the French way. The professor reprimanded me "Cut out the French crap, It's pronounced avoiz du poizz. He also taught me when making White Lotion, it's Pee in the sink, that is pour the potassium solution into the zinc solution, otherwise you have a mess.
Began pharmacy school in '76.
Don't remember what retail preceptors said, but they always seemed under the gun to get something done. Talking with patients was frowned upon by higher ups or there wasn't time or pharmacists plainly were not prepared to discuss pros and cons and give advice. Sometimes, it seemed to me that pharmacists even seemed uncomfortable to discuss general health matters with customers.
I worked for an indie owner one summer and recall watching in horror when he almost choked to death on a bologna sandwich he had tucked away in the insulin refrigerator; eating lunch and answering the phone at the same time.
He was he an extremely busy person with contracts with dispenser, consultant to nursing home, group homes, on several boards, a member of the Rotary Club, and medical adviser member at monthly meetings of AHA and Lung Association. I wondered when he had time to read journals and keep up-to-date though he was very knowledgeable. He graduated from a tough school to get in on the West Coast, and there was no question he knew his stuff from science to business management.
The shop was on the way from the airport to downtown and had a 1 hr photo processing business, sold hunting and fishing licenses, sold groceries, ethnic jewelry, and had a copier business. Owner's wife was bookkeeper. At the end of summer after I worked there he told me he was selling the shop and asked me if I wanted to come back and work with his other partner when I finished school. No way. His other partner liked to sit around and tell stories about his side businesses and I could just imagine myself picking up all the lucrative business contracts and working the late shifts.
I recall the sink always had a bucket under it because it didn't work and pharmacies were required to have a sink to pass inspection.
I remember a pharmacist at an grocery store pharmacy internship told a patient that nicotinamide would do the same thing as nicotinic acid, and the CS book was mostly used to sign out Parapectolin by the pharmacist-- and I wondered if I wanted to work with someone who had so much diarrhea.
I also remember working in institutional pharmacy with an old pharmacist who was at least 70 yrs old and so arthritic it was painful to watch him walk. His wife was on kidney dialysis, and he told me he was never going to retire because he had too many bills to pay. That was before there was much availability of health insurance and the indie he'd worked for 35 yrs had always told him that he would have the shop when the owner retired, in lieu of 'benefits' but instead, the shop was handed over to the son and that was that. And, I thought I'd never be taken advantage of like that in my old age.
So, I didn't go into retail. I wanted to be able to talk with patients and not involved with figuring business angles for the drugstore. But, I also have the experience when our hospital was the only pharmacy open Christmas eve and a patient came in needing a Fleet's enema, and there was some discussion of the pharmacist in the out-patient area of how we could 'sell' it to a member of the general public (not seen in the E.R.) and hearing words echoing in my head, "It's a freakin' enema on Christmas, why don't we just give it to him?"
Far, far and away, we're underutilized for our knowledge. I think that the only way we can get away from being square pegs in round holes is if we get away from full-time employment from any one employer, and do things in pharmacy we like...free agent pharmacist?
What is the "nu book" you speak of?
-nerdy girl
Nerdy Girl,
New book is being fermented as we speak, probably about 25% of a first draft written so far...
Drugmonkey,
I work for rite aid and their is rumbling about techs being paid to be sent to california, if I get something concrete Ill let ya know.
Anonymous 5:08,
Awesome. You may now consider yourself part of the Drugmonkey army. drugmonkeyrph at geemail.
I have never been so happy for a person that I have never had the pleasure of encountering! I have followed your blog for a while and have always seen you as an exceptionally gifted writer, so this new step is an enormous victory in my eyes. I feel like journalism is perfect for you and I hope you decide to branch off into other mediums as well. Your writing has always been sagacious and deliciously sharp so much so I was always a little depressed you know that you were trapped behind a pharmacy counter. I would love nothing more than for your writing to continue and develop. You have done great work, please don’t ever stop
Best of luck,
Katarina
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