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  • Pushed my last pill

    I never thought it would happen, I must shamefully admit that I was being more than a bit arrogant in the past when I’d hear someone bailing on a job because of stress, thinking to myself smugly “there’s someone who can’t handle life, just hunker down and take it” Well, karma came a knockin’ last week, and I officially can no longer take my job and turned in my resignation.

    Hard to say what the final straw was

    Maybe it was having that guy who I made a courtesy call to asking if he’d be home to take a delivery telling me “I don’t have time to talk to you” and hanging up on me mid-sentence. Or that management told me I had to deliver anyway, since he was home.

    Maybe it was the continual problems I’m having with the one pharmacists’ condescending and out of line behavior with the other techs.

    Maybe it’s the fact that I got called into HR on back to back days to defend myself from complaints he’s been lodging against me, while the 2 letters I’ve written to them well before that time indicating that problems were brewing were allowed to die on a desk somewhere with no action.

    Maybe it’s the fact that I’m *this* close to punching my one co worker who continues to try and boss me around despite the fact I’ve been here longer than her, and that management agrees she’s a pain, but “doesn’t want to hear complaining” from me.

    Maybe it’s the usual customer rudeness, now coming faster than ever as we’ve had a 30% jump in business in the last month, and it’s not slowing down. It’s all I can do to keep work flowing, and I’m being repeatedly criticized for minor problems, like not taking breaks at EXACTLY the scheduled time. Look, I don’t expect any ticker-tape parades in my honor, but how about just a bit of flexibility here?

    Maybe it was the foot-dragging in getting us extra help. We needed 1, maybe 2 more techs, we warned HR that the volume of work was outstripping the ability for us to keep up, we even gave them the names of people in the store who we’d like to transfer to us. HR instead hemed and hawed for almost a month, then sent us a person off the street who called-off their first shift. Fortunately, my manager told them point blank to stop dicking around and we got two more folks, but by then, the damage was done, running the work of 5 people through 2 is a killer, and I’ve run out of patience.

    Maybe it’s the fact that I had to buy a pack of Ranitidine tablets for myself for the first time in my life.

    Maybe it’s the fact that I get to the store in the morning, and instantly want to turn my car around and go home.

    Maybe it’s all of that taken in one big angsty stress-filled dose with no chance to recover, but the end result is, they can find someone else to do this job, because as much as I once loved it, I now hate it, and I’m very disappointed.

    Maybe it’s the design of the job itself, too many things are demanding my attention, I can never sit down and work uninterrupted on a single task and complete it. I’ve never been a person who can function with 20 different things going at once, having a dozen side duties wasn’t a problem when you served 70 people a day, there was lots of down time, but that was 2 years ago, we’re serving 220, 240, 260 a day, headed for our first 300 Rx day, and I just can’t work at this pace. The phones, the inventory, the delivering, the constant jumping between them, I hate to sound like a whiney and immature slacker-teen, but isn’t a smart person supposed to realize they have boundries? Well, I think I’ve been pushed outside of mine for too long at any rate, I’m no longer fun to work with I’m sure, I’m getting surly, curt, and it’s only a matter of time before those evaluations start going south on me, I’d rather get out while I’m still in the good graces of management. I think that’s most of it right there.

    Sorry if this is an angsty go-nowhere post, but to all of you out there who think stress is a lame excuse for the weak, not so. Everyone has a break point, and I’ve exceeded mine, I can’t do the job anymore because I’m mentally exhausted, and my health is suffering.

    If you’re working a job you can’t handle, there truly is no shame in leaving

    That is all.
    - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

  • #2
    Oh, and I want to add this, as that first post seems awfully negative, and for some reason I can't edit it.

    I really didn't want to quit, there were some days I loved my job, and despite all the bad mouthing I just put down, when everyone there worked as a team, we were awesome. At the height, we were pulling in "defectors" from other pharmacies, including at least 2 a day from the 800 pound gorilla of Wal-Mart, who were specificaly saying that we were much more polite, much quicker and more proffesional than anyone else in town. We got Christmas cards and home baked cookies from some folks. The department manager who'd come up from South Carolina to manage our store said we were the best crew he'd ever had. I nearly cried when I had to write that resignation letter, I really did, and I pride myself on not getting worked up over things. I just can't do it anymore, as good as I was, I couldn't keep it up forever. Some of the things I could've fixed, some I couldn't, and it just didn't work out in the end.
    - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

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    • #3
      I feel for you, and wish you well.

      Comment


      • #4
        I see that kind of thing happen at my store all the time. We are so understaffed, and when the head pharmacist asked the manager for one (only ONE!) more tech, he basically laughed in her face.

        I wanted to tell this guy: "C'mon genius! It's the holiday season! You're gonna need to hire at least another person for both aspects of the store!"

        Oh, well....I feel you pain.

        Olive juice you too.

        Comment


        • #5
          I quit one job by leaving at my lunch break and not going back. Instead, I drove home, then e-mailed a resignation to HR. I was breaking down crying at least once a shift, and missed several days when I found myself too panicky to even go in (I had to drive 50 miles each way. When you're shaking and crying, driving that kind of distance is not a good move).

          OK, so I'm not eligible for re-hire at that company. I don't care. I sucked at the job, and I hated it (inbound sales call center). Didn't really like the company, either, so I won't be *wanting* to work for them again.
          "Crazy may always be open for business, but on the full moon, it has buy one get one free specials." - WishfulSpirit

          "Sometimes customers remind me of zombies, but I'm pretty sure that zombies are smarter." - MelindaJoy77

          Comment


          • #6
            Arga:

            You did the right thing for the right reasons. The ones that are MEANT to be used.

            You sat down, made a rational decision about yourself and your quality of life, and chose to act upon it.

            Instead of growling, grunting, bottling and taking it out on other humans.

            You are a better person - instead of having a poopy day and screaming at the next cashier that rings you up (like the SC's here) you called it and said This Is My Limit.

            Sweety, hugs to you and I want you to take about 2 weeks off of responisbilities. Really. Sit on your butt and dont be responsible / thinking/ rational. Shed the chains.

            Do get a recommendation letter (for the kick ass job you've done) from your South Carolina boss, and write out what you accomplished (with the heavier traffic) after you take the time out.

            Good job, hon. You are doing the right thing.

            cutenoob



            ps do the techies use pills dropped on the floor for slingshot ammo? :P
            In my heart, in my soul, I'm a woman for rock & roll.
            She's as fast as slugs on barbituates.

            Comment


            • #7
              There is no shame at all in looking for something better; looking for something that will improve your lot in life. Most people here would not feel badly about quitting a job that had even half the conditions that you listed. Take pride in your accomplishments, highlight your accomplishments, and before you start dropping off resumes helter-skelter, it might not hurt to look around. Perhaps evaluate your life up to now, take a vacation, or simply be a little more cautious when it comes to looking for your next job-ask some of your old co-workers if they had heard of some good places, open the Yellow Pages to Pharmacists and check around with the companies listed there. Who knows what could happen?

              But-like other have already said-take some time off to recahrge your batteries.
              I pray for the strength to change what I can, the inability to change what I can't, and the incapacity to tell the difference -Calvin, Calvin & Hobbes

              Being a pessimist and cynical wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't right so often!

              Comment


              • #8
                No idea why you shouldn't be able to edit your post.

                I know what you mean about stress, though. I had it bad a while ago, and even when I wasn't in a situation where it should affect me, just thinking about the situation caused acid to flare up in my stomach.

                Eventually, you have to change something or you'll kill yourself. You did the right thing.

                Rapscallion

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                • #9
                  In our market the Rite-Aid business model is starting to be copied by other large chains: 1. Pay low, so you have a lot of techs who only speak English as a second language, or native speakers who are so dumb/lazy they can't get hired elsewhere. 2. Run a skeleton crew no matter how busy it gets. 3. Blame your mistakes such as wrong drugs, wrong quantitites, lost faxes, lost calls, etc on the customer or the doctor's office or both.

                  Some work environments just become toxic, and it's the right thing to do to leave. The alternative of sticking it out no matter what gave rise to the phrase "going postal", the USPS being one of the most toxic places to work EVER.

                  I've known a lot of people who were MISERABLE in jobs that either paid well or had good benefits, they just could not see their way to quitting. A few of them ended up so stressed out they literally broke down, had to go out on FMLA for depression, etc.

                  I've known 3 people who took the financial plunge to change careers and they are all doing great. One woman worked for a telecom company that was bought out. Layoffs ensued, she was doing the work of 4 people, she just came unglued after a year of that. She left, went to cooking school despite being a single mom with no full-time job. Now she's a chef, extremely happy, engaged to be married, her kid is doing much better.

                  Good luck in your new, saner life. I bet you will do well.
                  Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the restraints...
                  TASTE THE LIME JELLO OF DEFEAT! -Gravekeeper

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                  • #10
                    Where i work, there have been people that when they finally retired, they died within 6 months.

                    My boss's boss, gets so worked up that hes had 1 heartattack, hes only in his mid 30s and he already has a head full of gray hair. When he started working here, he had a full head of red hair.

                    Its laid back, but it can get crazy. I worked with a guy that was driving me to having an ulcer. for the last month i worked with him, i had some of the worst heartburn i had ever had. and after being reassigned to work with someone else, my heartburn is gone.
                    I still like the job though. hehe
                    http://www.vilecity.com/index.php?r=221271
                    Cyberpunk mayhem!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      argabarga, you did the right thing. There is no point in staying in a job where you absolutely dread going in to work every day. That's crazy-making at least, and health-wrecking at worst.

                      Take a little time to decompress now and relax, if possible. Consider your options, send out some resumes, and see what's available. Good luck and here's to a better job! You certainly deserve one

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                      • #12
                        Hey, it happens to us all! I'm glad I'm in a pharmacy that's staffed well enough to handle the 500+ we do per day, and increasing all the time. There's a lot of other stores in our chain that aren't doing as well, or have waaay crappier techs. It makes a HUGE difference in whether you have fun techs that are there to work and pharmacists that are fun and are fast, without a god-complex.

                        Do you want to stay in pharmacy? Since you at least have a state license (I don't know if you went for the national certification or not), maybe check into mail order facilities or hospital teching. Especially at the hospital, you won't have to deal with insurance, and won't have to deal with deliveries at either one....

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                        • #13
                          You did the right thing. Getting out of a crappy environment has an amazing effect on your health: When I left the job containing my suckiest boss, about 2 weeks later I went home with a full blown stress induced migraine (I do not get migraines as a rule: this was migraine #2). Not because of new job but psycho bitch exboss. Good luck finding a better pharmacy (can you work for a hospital in an in-patient pharmacy? Nurses give you food! )

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                          • #14
                            You were right to get out.

                            Last spring I was working at the store Sam Walton founded. I was lousy at it, but was going to stick it out till I found something else. Problem was, it was sucking the life right outta me, and I didn't have the energy to look for anything else.

                            Then cam the fateful day...My till had been off by more than five bucks twice that month, and Customer X claimed I'd given her the wrong change. Along comes the CSR, who brings another bag of money, but no drawer...and forgets to take a reading as he takes my till to count the cash. So while I make change from a zippered pouch, CSR tries to backtrack and figure out how much my drawer should total without a reading. My drawer was off the next day. (DUH)

                            Since it was the third time in a month, and I'd clocked out a whopping two minutes late a month before, I was given a D-day.

                            Guess what I decided? Hint: I now make $6 an hour more, doing something I like.

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                            • #15
                              Quoth AFpheonix View Post
                              Hey, it happens to us all! I'm glad I'm in a pharmacy that's staffed well enough to handle the 500+ we do per day, and increasing all the time. There's a lot of other stores in our chain that aren't doing as well, or have waaay crappier techs. It makes a HUGE difference in whether you have fun techs that are there to work and pharmacists that are fun and are fast, without a god-complex.

                              Do you want to stay in pharmacy? Since you at least have a state license (I don't know if you went for the national certification or not), maybe check into mail order facilities or hospital teching. Especially at the hospital, you won't have to deal with insurance, and won't have to deal with deliveries at either one....
                              Eh, I think i'm done with pharmacy, twas fun while it lasted. ANd I'm not losing any investment either, I was just plucked from the front end and tossed in here when they needed help, I dont' have any official certifacation or lisences.

                              I'm seriously thinking about applying for an auto dismantler's lisence though, but that's a different story
                              - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

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