22 days stretch in retail

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ancienbon

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I just finished a 22 days stretch at Cvs.
ANYONE MIND SHARING THEIR RECORD?
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Eight days (hospital). Yup, I'm a wussie, lol.
 
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6 day stretch and that was 3 years ago. I enjoy my position but enjoy family and friends far more. ;)
 
As a PGY1 I did an entire year of 11 on, 3 off. Some programs do 12 on, 2 off.

Nowadays I pretty regularly do 8-10 in a row if my per diem needs me a lot (hospital).

My record in residency was 24 or 26, I think I had to trade weekends to go to a wedding or something absurd.
 
I am on a 9 day stretch right now; had to switch around some days so my rxm could take vacation. I dont mind, because they i basically get a week off except for 1 7 hour shift the following week.

Thats my max though; i knwo once thursday rolls around i will be burnt out
 
 
12 days (night shifts) a week ago. got sick this week and my partner wont cover for me. its amazing what u would do for ppl and what they wont do for u.
 
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trailerpark said:
24 or 26 days in a row for a pharmacy residency... That's just ridiculous for a pharmacist. Would anyone even notice if you took a day off. I could see a ER doctor, but c'mon.
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The only people I know who did this as residents were moonlighting, so it was by choice. The norm is typically max 12 days straight unless you do some weird ass switching like njac.

I think my record in residency was 12, and then that broke and I worked 22 days straight between both my FT and per-diem job in the months after residency.

That was a lot of Christmas money.
 
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35 overnights in a row. I took home like $25,000 before taxes.
 
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farmadiazepine said:
35 overnights in a row. I took home like $25,000 before taxes.
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That's insane! Great if you're young and trying to pay off school loan or saving for a down payment on a house. Too old to do that now (only 44). I prefer my time off over extra money. However, I'll pick up like 5 OT shifts per year or something to work at other stores (just so I can appreciate that mine isn't so bad)
 
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txpharmguy said:
That's insane! Great if you're young and trying to pay off school loan or saving for a down payment on a house. Too old to do that now (only 44). I prefer my time off over extra money. However, I'll pick up like 5 OT shifts per year or something to work at other stores (just so I can appreciate that mine isn't so bad)
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Yeah I did it a year after I got licensed, so I was like 25 years old and it was easy to do for me. I wouldn't do it again now. Pretty much had zero social life or family life when I did that. It was work, sleep, eat, repeat.
 
My record I believe is only 10 days, but I've done a few 7 on, 1 off, 6 on as well. Unless you count as a P4, in which case between rotations and intern job, it was like 200 in a row.

I find that its easier to do a stretch when it's not the same thing. Being in your own store for 7-8 in a row gets old, but if you work your normal schedule, and fill in 2-3 shifts in other stores, that's not quite so bad.
 
farmadiazepine said:
35 overnights in a row. I took home like $25,000 before taxes.
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It's gotta be more than that in today's dollars.

I gotta say... it is a blessing and an honor to be in a profession that allows insane workaholics an outlet to do that and come out with the equivalent of a new car at the end.

I see some of the hard working grunts in other professions (even within the hospital) that work just as many hours/days just to put food on the table and pay for gas to get to work to do it all over again.
 
Probably around 26 or 27 days straight 3 years back. If my PDM didn't find out, it was probably over 35 days straight. My paycheck was like $7000+ net in 2 weeks. He had to call my cell and told me "you are off tomorrow no matter what, someone will cover your shift". Obviously, the company does not want any liability of overworking their pharmacists and getting sued for it later if we make a mistake.
 
I did 19 days straight back in 2013 with multiple 14 hrs shifts in between. Never again except if I'm homeless and my children are about to be taken from me. It's not worth it.
 
I think it depends....if I were working an ICU for 25 days straight, it could be pretty easy given that the actual turnover would be limited day to day, so your real difficult shifts are the first few days when you're catching up with all the existing patients (depending on the size of the unit).

But, as luck would have it, 75% of your unit could turnover and you show up one morning with a **** show...oh and it's day 15 of 25 and you're exhausted as ****. Yeah that would suck.
 
21 straight 10 hour overnight shifts. I knew a guy (not a pharmacists) that worked 8 straight months = 240 days straight days as a telephone line repair man - but then again my father is a farmer and I don't think he has had a day off in 5 years.
 
Today is day 16 of a 17 day stretch. I'm sure I've definitely done over 30 in a row last summer or the summer before. If we're including rotations, though, I worked full time during rotations and that meant working pretty much every weekend. I don't even want to know what the longest stretch was that year.
 
My record when working as overnight pharmacist was 35 consecutive night shifts during the late fall a couple years ago. Started and ended with my usual weeks at my home store. Picked up my store's other overnight pharmacist vaca week and then the same scenario for another 24 hour store in district on my other usual 'week off'. On top of that, I was taking a semester-long physics course w/ lab during that timeframe (lectures and lab a total of 4 days a week) to complete last requirement for med school the following year (applied via Early Decision - knew of acceptance in Sept). That was a very long 5 weeks with very little sleep.
 
purduepharm13 said:
My record when working as overnight pharmacist was 35 consecutive night shifts during the late fall a couple years ago. Started and ended with my usual weeks at my home store. Picked up my store's other overnight pharmacist vaca week and then the same scenario for another 24 hour store in district on my other usual 'week off'. On top of that, I was taking a semester-long physics course w/ lab during that timeframe (lectures and lab a total of 4 days a week) to complete last requirement for med school the following year (applied via Early Decision - knew of acceptance in Sept). That was a very long 5 weeks with very little sleep.
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Kidos, that sounds terrible.
 
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farmadiazepine said:
35 overnights in a row. I took home like $25,000 before taxes.
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would love to do it at an easy store. some stores u walk in at night and the queue is all clean. at my store i walk out monday morning with zero page, walk back in monday night with 5 pages in red. 5 pages for next day. and 6 pages readyfill waiting to pop up after midnight. #ihatemystore #ihatemycvs
 
I did 8 days in a row. But Ive got a young kid, and now two. Its very hard to convince family to play mommy for that many days in a row. Id kill it for a month though to pay off my loans faster. Wish I could.
 
13 days...and its sad when you call a neighboring store and they have a floater there giving their other pharmacists a day off...:mad:
 
owlegrad said:
Well, I just heard of a pharmacist doing 40 days in a row in my district. I mean...dang, I thought I worked too much!
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And yet the constant talk of no jobs?? I find it extremely difficult to hire GOOD pharmacists. Even the halfway good ones are difficult to get.
 
How does your company not mind all this overtime? I don't get it. Every job I've ever had absolutely loathe giving overtime.
 
Six. I wanted to curl up and die.

Some of these numbers are mind boggling. My mind is boggled. Bunch of masochists...
 
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Just heard that an overnight pharmacist in our district is working 14 straight weeks overnight between his normal weeks and picking up a weeks worth of shifts on his week off. Needless to say, he's been caught sleeping more than once
 
CUpharmD2013 said:
Needless to say, he's been caught sleeping more than once
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Not sure why this is needless to say, he should be sleeping during the day, not during his shift. Although I have considered taking naps during my break sometimes. Never done it though, I suspect it would just make me more tired/want to sleep more.
 
owlegrad said:
Well, I just heard of a pharmacist doing 40 days in a row in my district. I mean...dang, I thought I worked too much!
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Challenge accepted! haha (Barney Stinson voice). Just kidding, that would be miserable. Definitely not worth the money.


Rumored that back in mid-2000's there was a store in my district that had the same overnight pharmacist work both weeks. Not sure how that store ended up in that situation. Tried to cash flow college for his kids before stepping down from full time. Ended up getting so burnt out after a year or so (or close enough to his goal?) that he just stopped caring. Would literally lay on floor behind counter and sleep in area where cameras couldn't really see. I guess enough customers complained that Rx sup and DM made surprise visit one night and caught him. Supposedly CVS didn't even fire him, just warned him and didn't let him work both weeks anymore until he went part time. The store and district has different management now, so I could never get the true story.
 
How does overtime work at your companies? I'm salaried, so any extra shifts I pick up means I get reimbursed with "premium pay." (Weekly salary)/40*(extra hours worked). There's no time and a half or double pay with this company.
 
At CVS exempt employees get extra pay (+$6), which kicks in after you are 4 hours over base for the pay period. So if you work 100 hours a week every 2 weeks and your base hours per week is 42 (so 84 per pay period), you get +$6 per hour for 12 hours or $72 extra (on top of your normal hourly wage) for working those extra 16 hours. (100 - 84 - 4 = 12). I can only speak for AZ. It could be different elsewhere.

Pharmacists are non-exempt employees in CA, so they would get time and a half at least per federal law.
 
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You are just trading in your limited time and your health for some money. You got to do what you have to do right?

I rarely work OT even when I am behind. The money is good but the extra money is not going to change my life that much. My time, on the other hand, is limited. Once it is gone, it is gone forever.

If you want to make extra money, look for other opportunities. Talk to people who have actually "made it". That is usually the best way to start.
 
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BMBiology said:
You are just trading in your limited time and your health for some money. You got to do what you have to do right?

I rarely work OT even when I am behind. The money is good but the extra money is not going to change my life that much. My time, on the other hand, is limited. Once it is gone, it is gone forever.

If you want to make extra money, look for other opportunities. Talk to people who have actually "made it". That is usually the best way to start.
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But I get it too...you enter a profession you love, they pay you for it, AND they want to throw more money at you for doing the same job? When you grow up poor, not taking advantage of this is almost foolish. Taking leisure/free time is what privileged people do.

But once we get settled and the money piles up...time is more valuable, no doubt about that.

So to those hungry 26 year olds fresh out of school with no families to care for...rack up that OT, we salute you!
 
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confettiflyer said:
But I get it too...you enter a profession you love, they pay you for it, AND they want to throw more money at you for doing the same job? When you grow up poor, not taking advantage of this is almost foolish. Taking leisure/free time is what privileged people do.

But once we get settled and the money piles up...time is more valuable, no doubt about that.

So to those hungry 26 year olds fresh out of school with no families to care for...rack up that OT, we salute you!
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I agree the money is good but when you are always jumping at working over time, there is no incentive for management to hire more help. The place will always be short staff which means you will have to keep on working at an unsafe speed and when someone is out, you would have to work even faster. That may be fine when you are 28 but don't think management will suddenly change their expectation of you when you are older and when you don't have as much time to work. You may go from "exceeded expectation" to "need improvement" simply because you cant work 60 hours a week.
 
BMBiology said:
You are just trading in your limited time and your health for some money. You got to do what you have to do right?

I rarely work OT even when I am behind. The money is good but the extra money is not going to change my life that much. My time, on the other hand, is limited. Once it is gone, it is gone forever.

If you want to make extra money, look for other opportunities. Talk to people who have actually "made it". That is usually the best way to start.
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I partially agree and wish I had a great side opportunity to make money, but at the same time its hard to turn down over $70 per hour for my overtime (rate+$6). I would like to find a nice side business but it would be hard to find one with a better return than that. I do find myself working less and less overtime the longer I'm out of school since it really doesn't even feel like it makes my check that much different after taxes.
 
SouthernRetailRPH said:
I partially agree and wish I had a great side opportunity to make money, but at the same time its hard to turn down over $70 per hour for my overtime (rate+$6). I would like to find a nice side business but it would be hard to find one with a better return than that. I do find myself working less and less overtime the longer I'm out of school since it really doesn't even feel like it makes my check that much different after taxes.
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Agreed. I recently picked up an extra $1K gross in OT, but only netted me an extra $500. Hardly seems worth it
 
ChalupaBatman86 said:
And yet the constant talk of no jobs?? I find it extremely difficult to hire GOOD pharmacists. Even the halfway good ones are difficult to get.
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From my experience, the people who have no jobs are people who have issues...a LOT OF issues...

There are plenty of jobs if you are good and have common sense.
 
farmadiazepine said:
Yeah I did it a year after I got licensed, so I was like 25 years old and it was easy to do for me. I wouldn't do it again now. Pretty much had zero social life or family life when I did that. It was work, sleep, eat, repeat.
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I did that too... worked a month straight with maybe a day in between. My Scheduler didn't even realized it and yelled at me. I even did a day shift and then was asked to covered an overnight shift right after. I was so burned out but it made me become a better pharmacist. I can do **** with my eyes closed. I also made a lot of money because they had to give me a lot of extra hours for me to do that.

I laugh at interns who whine about working 10 hour shifts. WTF... is it me or are interns getting crappier and crappier each year.
 
txpharmguy said:
Agreed. I recently picked up an extra $1K gross in OT, but only netted me an extra $500. Hardly seems worth it
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This is usually just a tax withholding issue, which you will get some back on your tax return.

One other good thing with OT is when you max out the Social Security tax at $118,500, they stop that 6.2% tax for the rest of the year.
 
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