Pharmacy Worst Career Possible

[diplomat]

Potential Pharmacy students: Avoid pharmacy "Profession" at all costs:

1.) Retail is a nightmare
2.) Have to work nights and weekends
3.) Have to work holidays
4.) Get treated like garbage on a daily basis
5.) Deal with street drug dealers and legit gang bangers. You are a drug dealer. You are no different than the guy on a street corner selling bags of heroin. Street heroin = oxycodone = same thing.
6.) Working retail you can be terminated at anytime, no job security.
7.) 14 hours no break
8.) You have to work with the worst co-workers possible. The turnover is constant and the people they stick you with know nothing. You get what you pay for. Have fun trying to hire a decent employee for 8/hour, not happening. Single moms that call out all the time and could genuinely care less about you or the pharmacy is your typical employee.
9.) Tons of debt after graduation
10.) Almost no chance of owning your own business. Sorry, but you can't compete with Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and Target. If for some reason you think you can compete with these monopolies and you open your own pharmacy, (without bullet proof glass), you will have a gun to your face, and you will be robbed.
11.) Getting tired of standing all day, no lunch break, doing 400+ scripts per day??? H1Bs aren't.

I should have listened when they told me to avoid pharmacy, but when I got into it the job market was still good, and my college's tuition rate was 20% less/year than what it is now. You have to be absolutely, completely, insane to want to get into the pharmacy profession at this time.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[BrightLight]

And don't become a pharmacist because you expect to get lucky with your customers. Hot chicks come to pharmacy to pick up either birth control pills (meaning they already have partners) or psychiatric pills (meaning you probably want to stay away from them). Cute guys come to pharmacy only to pick up emergency contraceptives (meaning they do not practice responsible, safe sex).

 

[BenJammin]

Potential Pharmacy students: Avoid pharmacy "Profession" at all costs:

1.) Retail is a nightmare
2.) Have to work nights and weekends
3.) Have to work holidays
4.) Get treated like garbage on a daily basis
5.) Deal with street drug dealers and legit gang bangers. You are a drug dealer. You are no different than the guy on a street corner selling bags of heroin. Street heroin = oxycodone = same thing.
6.) Working retail you can be terminated at anytime, no job security.
7.) 14 hours no break
8.) You have to work with the worst co-workers possible. The turnover is constant and the people they stick you with know nothing. You get what you pay for. Have fun trying to hire a decent employee for 8/hour, not happening. Single moms that call out all the time and could genuinely care less about you or the pharmacy is your typical employee.
9.) Tons of debt after graduation
10.) Almost no chance of owning your own business. Sorry, but you can't compete with Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and Target. If for some reason you think you can compete with these monopolies and you open your own pharmacy, (without bullet proof glass), you will have a gun to your face, and you will be robbed.
11.) Getting tired of standing all day, no lunch break, doing 400+ scripts per day??? H1Bs aren't.

I should have listened when they told me to avoid pharmacy, but when I got into it the job market was still good, and my college's tuition rate was 20% less/year than what it is now. You have to be absolutely, completely, insane to want to get into the pharmacy profession at this time.

4-7, you're not even bowl eligible.

 

[Pharmizzle]

Potential Pharmacy students: Avoid pharmacy "Profession" at all costs:

1.) Retail is a nightmare
2.) Have to work nights and weekends
3.) Have to work holidays
4.) Get treated like garbage on a daily basis
5.) Deal with street drug dealers and legit gang bangers. You are a drug dealer. You are no different than the guy on a street corner selling bags of heroin. Street heroin = oxycodone = same thing.
6.) Working retail you can be terminated at anytime, no job security.
7.) 14 hours no break
8.) You have to work with the worst co-workers possible. The turnover is constant and the people they stick you with know nothing. You get what you pay for. Have fun trying to hire a decent employee for 8/hour, not happening. Single moms that call out all the time and could genuinely care less about you or the pharmacy is your typical employee.
9.) Tons of debt after graduation
10.) Almost no chance of owning your own business. Sorry, but you can't compete with Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and Target. If for some reason you think you can compete with these monopolies and you open your own pharmacy, (without bullet proof glass), you will have a gun to your face, and you will be robbed.
11.) Getting tired of standing all day, no lunch break, doing 400+ scripts per day??? H1Bs aren't.

Did you ever have a job before you started in pharmacy? Pharmacy isn't the only job where you sometimes have to work nights/weekends/holidays, or work long hours, or work with co-workers you don't like, or have no job security, or have to stand all day and don't get a lunch break. People working non-pharmacy retail jobs or food service often have similar work conditions, if not worse, and make a fraction of what pharmacists do, and plenty of those people are college graduates with debt to pay too. Worst career possible? So you'd rather work in a mine or be deployed to Afghanistan? Don't be ridiculous.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

Worst career possible? So you'd rather work in a mine or be deployed to Afghanistan? Don't be ridiculous.

Amen. Thank you.

This guy might be too delicate for military service. He might find a coal mine to take him, though. My father saw his partner get his legs crushed off below the knees and had to walk mile underground to get help. But all that pales in comparison to how bad pharmacy is.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Yup, I knew we were due for another thread like this.

+

 

[MountainPharmD]

Yeah the worst career possible? Not even close. I am a retail pharmacist and I get paid $132k a year to stand inside out of the hot and cold and count pills. Does it suck compared to other health professions or compared to what I could be doing as a pharmacist? Yes. Worst career ever....not even close.

Jumping out of airplanes with a constant threat of deployment and getting your ass shot off was a little worse than what I am doing now. The highest yearly salary I made in the Army was $21,000.

 

[transzincIIB]

You look so foolish by saying this stuff. I'm sorry. I hope you are not in pharmacy school yet. You go have research more on what you want in your life You should go shadow different profession. If you go to an interview then you say this stuff. Goodluck on getting in somewhere.
We need pharmacy advocates not pharmacy haters. and I'm serious.
You should go hide inside your blanket.

 

[diplomat]

I've had many jobs in my lifetime. I've worked in factories, I've done construction where I have put my life on the line with vehicles buzzing by me at 90mph, I've worked outside in New England winters loading and unloading trucks but I would gladly go back to doing those jobs if they paid what retail pharmacy paid. One thing my prior jobs had was comradery, even though our job sucked, we enjoyed our time together and we had fun and made the best of it. Retail pharmacy (CVS) is pure misery. The pharmacists hate each other and constantly bitch and moan about each other. THe pharmacists bitch about the techs. THe techs bitch about the pharmacists. The managers bitch about the pharmacists. Everyone HATES eachother. I've never had a job where everyone completely despises EVERYONE. It is the most toxic work environment I have ever been envolved with in my life.

 

[diplomat]

And all of you bring up the military because I am sure you are all ex-military. As you know in the military, there is one thing that keeps everyone going, it's the person to the right of you and the person to the left of you, because in the military you would give your life up in an instant for the person right next to you. Don't ever compare CVS or retail pharmacy to the military. Don't ever make that comparison, EVER.

 

[BenJammin]

And all of you bring up the military because I am sure you are all ex-military. As you know in the military, there is one thing that keeps everyone going, it's the person to the right of you and the person to the left of you, because in the military you would give your life up in an instant for the person right next to you. Don't ever compare CVS or retail pharmacy to the military. Don't ever make that comparison, EVER.

You have a lot of growing up to do, son.

 

[Chris co2012]

Wait... you said CVS?


Ahhhhhhh!!! Makes perfect sense now.

Continue.

 

[Pharmizzle]

And all of you bring up the military because I am sure you are all ex-military. As you know in the military, there is one thing that keeps everyone going, it's the person to the right of you and the person to the left of you, because in the military you would give your life up in an instant for the person right next to you. Don't ever compare CVS or retail pharmacy to the military. Don't ever make that comparison, EVER.

I spent six years in the military before attending pharmacy school. Maybe you had a different experience than I did, but I wouldn't hesitate to say it was worse than what I do now working in a pharmacy (and I wouldn't even say that the time I spent in the military was the worst career I could have had). That's the point. No one was making a direct comparison, because it isn't comparable. I can't imagine how being paid 100k+ a year to stand in a climate-controlled building and fill prescriptions is the worst possible thing a person could be doing. It's unfortunate that you don't enjoy your job, but it's a far leap to say that the entire field of pharmacy is the worst career possible just because you don't enjoy the work environment at a particular store that you work at it.

Edit: Ugh I just looked at your post history. Can't believe I even wasted time typing this reply. Oh well, live and learn.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

And all of you bring up the military because I am sure you are all ex-military. As you know in the military, there is one thing that keeps everyone going, it's the person to the right of you and the person to the left of you, because in the military you would give your life up in an instant for the person right next to you. Don't ever compare CVS or retail pharmacy to the military. Don't ever make that comparison, EVER.

On Monday I'll ask my tech (who served two tours in Iraq before he even turned 21) what he thinks about your little rant, and your assessment of pharmacy as the worst job ever.

Also... SHUT IT.

 

[SHC1984]

Did you ever have a job before you started in pharmacy? Pharmacy isn't the only job where you sometimes have to work nights/weekends/holidays, or work long hours, or work with co-workers you don't like, or have no job security, or have to stand all day and don't get a lunch break. People working non-pharmacy retail jobs or food service often have similar work conditions, if not worse, and make a fraction of what pharmacists do, and plenty of those people are college graduates with debt to pay too. Worst career possible? So you'd rather work in a mine or be deployed to Afghanistan? Don't be ridiculous.

Maybe the OP means the worst possible healthcare career? Dentists, Family Doctors, and other healthcare professionals would never work weekends or holidays. My dentist never worked on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday his entire life. lol...

The OP should look into other healthcare careers if he wants weekends and holidays off.

 

[SHC1984]

OP is right. Pharmacy might have bad hours and the worst job security compare to all the other healthcare professions, but I still think it is the BEST b/c it's the cleanest one. Hence why I am in it! GO Pharmacy!

 

[MossyFiber]

I dunno, you get to stand behind a counter and measure out drugs. Sounds relaxing, compared to having crap slung at you by crazy patients or something.

 

[BrightLight]

Wait, so the OP is serious about pharmacy being the worst career ever?

Come on, where else can you find a job where you get paid ~$90/hr while sleeping besides pharmacy?

 

[snopharm]

.

 

[ACE Rx]

I've had many jobs in my lifetime. I've worked in factories, I've done construction where I have put my life on the line with vehicles buzzing by me at 90mph, I've worked outside in New England winters loading and unloading trucks but I would gladly go back to doing those jobs if they paid what retail pharmacy paid. One thing my prior jobs had was comradery, even though our job sucked, we enjoyed our time together and we had fun and made the best of it. Retail pharmacy (CVS) is pure misery. The pharmacists hate each other and constantly bitch and moan about each other. THe pharmacists bitch about the techs. THe techs bitch about the pharmacists. The managers bitch about the pharmacists. Everyone HATES eachother. I've never had a job where everyone completely despises EVERYONE. It is the most toxic work environment I have ever been envolved with in my life.

wahhh, cry me a river OP.

Working in pharmacy is too hard for you? We need to have some of this weeding out take place before people get into pharmacy school. Should have known what you were getting yourself into beforehand. If the comradely isn't there, you should be the one to start it.

 

[CareDD]

Potential Pharmacy students: Avoid pharmacy "Profession" at all costs:

1.) Retail is a nightmare
2.) Have to work nights and weekends (occasionally)
3.) Have to work holidays (occasionally)
4.) Get treated like garbage on a daily basis (This is how my boss sees me as)
5.) Deal with street drug dealers and legit gang bangers. You are a drug dealer. You are no different than the guy on a street corner selling bags of heroin. Street heroin = oxycodone = same thing.
6.) Working retail you can be terminated at anytime, no job security.
7.) 14 hours no break (wait what?)
8.) You have to work with the worst co-workers possible. The turnover is constant and the people they stick you with know nothing. You get what you pay for. Have fun trying to hire a decent employee for 8/hour, not happening. Single moms that call out all the time and could genuinely care less about you or the pharmacy is your typical employee.
9.) Tons of debt after graduation
10.) Almost no chance of owning your own business. Sorry, but you can't compete with Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and Target. If for some reason you think you can compete with these monopolies and you open your own pharmacy, (without bullet proof glass), you will have a gun to your face, and you will be robbed. (at least you have the opportunity to)
11.) Getting tired of standing all day, no lunch break, doing 400+ scripts per day??? H1Bs aren't.

I should have listened when they told me to avoid pharmacy, but when I got into it the job market was still good, and my college's tuition rate was 20% less/year than what it is now. You have to be absolutely, completely, insane to want to get into the pharmacy profession at this time.

I am a molecular biologist

 

[StevePerry]

OP is right. Pharmacy might have bad hours and the worst job security compare to all the other healthcare professions, but I still think it is the BEST b/c it's the cleanest one. Hence why I am in it! GO Pharmacy!

This young lady is speaking to my heart right here .

 

[StevePerry]

I am a molecular biologist

Not nearly as cool as a Marine Biologist.

 

[ValeRx]

And all of you bring up the military because I am sure you are all ex-military. As you know in the military, there is one thing that keeps everyone going, it's the person to the right of you and the person to the left of you, because in the military you would give your life up in an instant for the person right next to you. Don't ever compare CVS or retail pharmacy to the military. Don't ever make that comparison, EVER.

Good job quoting movies but please... what do you know about giving your life for the men next to you? It's more than just a quote from Black Hawk Down. Oh and I was Army infantry so I think I might know something about it. Sometimes I'd rather be out patrolling than helping angry Medicaid patients...

 

[THE MTL]

Potential Pharmacy students: Avoid pharmacy "Profession" at all costs:

1.) Retail is a nightmare
2.) Have to work nights and weekends
3.) Have to work holidays
4.) Get treated like garbage on a daily basis
5.) Deal with street drug dealers and legit gang bangers. You are a drug dealer. You are no different than the guy on a street corner selling bags of heroin. Street heroin = oxycodone = same thing.
6.) Working retail you can be terminated at anytime, no job security.
7.) 14 hours no break
8.) You have to work with the worst co-workers possible. The turnover is constant and the people they stick you with know nothing. You get what you pay for. Have fun trying to hire a decent employee for 8/hour, not happening. Single moms that call out all the time and could genuinely care less about you or the pharmacy is your typical employee.
9.) Tons of debt after graduation
10.) Almost no chance of owning your own business. Sorry, but you can't compete with Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and Target. If for some reason you think you can compete with these monopolies and you open your own pharmacy, (without bullet proof glass), you will have a gun to your face, and you will be robbed.
11.) Getting tired of standing all day, no lunch break, doing 400+ scripts per day??? H1Bs aren't.

I should have listened when they told me to avoid pharmacy, but when I got into it the job market was still good, and my college's tuition rate was 20% less/year than what it is now. You have to be absolutely, completely, insane to want to get into the pharmacy profession at this time.

I hope you know that this is more than just pharmacy career. Alot of things you pointed out comes with just having a JOB!

You're just very lazy and not willing to put in work. The only career I can see you doing is being a house wife or house husband.

But seriously, evaluate what you want in life cause that stuff you said....working weekends? treated like crap? competing with larger businesses? bad co-workers? Thats ordinary life my friend.

But honestly, get out of pharmacy cause the world doesnt need pharmacist like you. Pure laziness in my opinion. Its called a JOB! Its not supposed to be fun.

 

[THE MTL]

And all of you bring up the military because I am sure you are all ex-military. As you know in the military, there is one thing that keeps everyone going, it's the person to the right of you and the person to the left of you, because in the military you would give your life up in an instant for the person right next to you. Don't ever compare CVS or retail pharmacy to the military. Don't ever make that comparison, EVER.

Newsflash! Military pharmacist dont fight. And if you knew your research, you would know that Military pharmacist actually do VERY similar work to CVS/WAGS etc.

You are just so misinformed, its pissing me off. This makes the profession look bad.

 

[schamj01]

So...being a housewife is easy, eh? Don't say that to my wife. I know she works her butt off just to keep the house clean, let alone put up with a grumpy husband when he gets home since he has too much crap to study for. You can't be lazy and be a good stay at home mom or dad...it takes a ridiculous amount of time and dedication to raise a child.

 

[xXRAYNEXx]

All valid points. Pharmacy is not for the weakling. Get out before it consumes ur very soul, eat away ur sanity, make u age beyond ur years, and turn ur heart into a stone. Is this madness? No...this is phaarmaaaacaay!!

Sent from my PC36100

 

[RockHardIce]

dear friend, life is tough. suck it up.

 

[clutzyshell]

This is what happens when people choose pharmacy for money. People who hate retail pharmacy are either (1) not suited for retail or (2) not suited for pharmacy. There are people who are amazing at it and even the most difficult patients give them respect. People don't respect pharmacist because of the way you portray pharmacists. Majority of patients out there acknowledge hardwork, not all are pure evil like you make them out to be.

So quit your biitching and moaning--retail pharmacy (which some people like) is a small fraction? Want respect? Why don't you become a respectable individual or pharmacist? Don't want to work that many hours? Gee I don't know, would you rather be unemployed like the millions of people out there? Poor work conditions? Harping on the war veteran ordeal, would you rather be drowning in mines?

As for owning your own pharmacy, please do your OWN research. In New York City, independent pharmacist flourish. Independent pharmacies OWN majority of immigrant neighborhood and make a huge profit.

So please just cry YOURSELF to sleep and do your research as majority of what you list are NOT valid points.

To prospective pharmacy students

Pharmacy is awesome. My parents dragged me into this profession, and I thank them everyday.
Pharmacy MAKES a difference. I've conversed with medical attendings and residents on rounds, and they tell me every other day how they wished they went into pharmacy instead.

 

[BidingMyTime]

I've had many jobs in my lifetime. I've worked in factories, I've done construction where I have put my life on the line with vehicles buzzing by me at 90mph, I've worked outside in New England winters loading and unloading trucks but I would gladly go back to doing those jobs if they paid what retail pharmacy paid. One thing my prior jobs had was comradery, even though our job sucked, we enjoyed our time together and we had fun and made the best of it. Retail pharmacy (CVS) is pure misery. The pharmacists hate each other and constantly bitch and moan about each other. THe pharmacists bitch about the techs. THe techs bitch about the pharmacists. The managers bitch about the pharmacists. Everyone HATES eachother. I've never had a job where everyone completely despises EVERYONE. It is the most toxic work environment I have ever been envolved with in my life.

Then find a different pharmacy to work in, I assure the majority of pharmacies are not like that. I have worked several different pharmacies, both hospital & retail. I have seen a toxic work environment, and I went out and found a different job. Everything you've complained about is pretty much the same for any job. If you have a toxic job, then start looking for another one.

 

[owlegrad]

Not nearly as cool as a Marine Biologist.

You do not know the amount of love I have for you right now.

 

[PharmhopefulNC]

This young lady is speaking to my heart right here .

I completely agree... Dentists don't have to work on the weekends, but they have to look at rotten, abscessed teeth with nuts stuck between them! I wouldn't trade for the world... Family Doctors, PA's, etc... they get abscessed body parts. No thanks. Have self confidence and a life outside of pharmacy, and attitudes won't be an issue.

 

[confettiflyer]

Wait, so the OP is serious about pharmacy being the worst career ever?

Come on, where else can you find a job where you get paid ~$90/hr while sleeping besides pharmacy?

"sleeping"...oh i can think of a few

 

[SoylentGreen]

Wait, so the OP is serious about pharmacy being the worst career ever?

Come on, where else can you find a job where you get paid ~$90/hr while sleeping besides pharmacy?

Is your pharmacy hiring?

 

[SoylentGreen]

I used to work at other high-pressure jobs - I was a line cook in a few busy restaurants and, later, a mailman. Working at those jobs wasn't much different than working in a busy retail, except that you make a lot less money. Not everybody's cut out for that kind of work. It was common for people to quit after their first day. I started with 4 other mailmen, and all of them were gone within in a week, even though it's doubtful that any of them could get another job that paid as well.

I'm sure it would really suck to be one of those people, but you can't quit because you're saddled with six figures of student loan debt and you have no other skills that can pay the bills. It's probably best to work in a retail pharmacy BEFORE getting that debt so you know what you're getting into.

 

[THE MTL]

So...being a housewife is easy, eh? Don't say that to my wife. I know she works her butt off just to keep the house clean, let alone put up with a grumpy husband when he gets home since he has too much crap to study for. You can't be lazy and be a good stay at home mom or dad...it takes a ridiculous amount of time and dedication to raise a child.

I dont know if your talking to me since I quoted the whole house wife-house husband thing. But try being my mother who is single mother, trying to raise two kids, and working full time.

Being a house wife, cause you have to deal with a grumpy husband? cleaning the house? washing dishes? Oh man, thats so bad. Seriously, ppl now-a-days dont know what work is!

Im not knocking a house wife/hose husband but I've just been around too many women that have done it ALL and more! People wish there job was to simply just take care of the children.

 

[BrightLight]

Is your pharmacy hiring?

No, but that's pretty common in retail. It's called overtime graveyard shifts.

 

[marscole]

Life is tough but depends on how you tweak/modify/view/fool/play around!!!

Attitude is the key to success!!!

 

[clachan3]

I'll just say our job, especially in retail, is not as glamorous as most people think.

 

[owlegrad]

No, but that's pretty common in retail. It's called overtime graveyard shifts.

All the pharmacists I know get shift differential for overtime, not time + half and certainly not double time. But if there are pharmacists out there who get that, more power to them.

 

[Ackj]

I dont know if your talking to me since I quoted the whole house wife-house husband thing. But try being my mother who is single mother, trying to raise two kids, and working full time.

Being a house wife, cause you have to deal with a grumpy husband? cleaning the house? washing dishes? Oh man, thats so bad. Seriously, ppl now-a-days dont know what work is!

Im not knocking a house wife/hose husband but I've just been around too many women that have done it ALL and more! People wish there job was to simply just take care of the children.

I wasn't going to be the one to say it and get flamed, but since you posted first, I'll go ahead and completely agree with you. Sure it's tough to manage a household. It's even tougher when you have to work 40+ hours, which my mother did.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

I wasn't going to be the one to say it and get flamed, but since you posted first, I'll go ahead and completely agree with you. Sure it's tough to manage a household. It's even tougher when you have to work 40+ hours, which my mother did.

Agree. I struggle with this, even with a very supportive husband and a cleaning lady. Of course, I'm working a TON of hours right now and have about four different jobs.

However, I would never disdain SAHMs. It's stressful in a different way. The months that I stayed home with my daughter were very difficult. And I wasn't doing much housework then, either.

 

[ancienbon]

Potential Pharmacy students: Avoid pharmacy "Profession" at all costs:

1.) Retail is a nightmare
2.) Have to work nights and weekends
3.) Have to work holidays
4.) Get treated like garbage on a daily basis
5.) Deal with street drug dealers and legit gang bangers. You are a drug dealer. You are no different than the guy on a street corner selling bags of heroin. Street heroin = oxycodone = same thing.
6.) Working retail you can be terminated at anytime, no job security.
7.) 14 hours no break
8.) You have to work with the worst co-workers possible. The turnover is constant and the people they stick you with know nothing. You get what you pay for. Have fun trying to hire a decent employee for 8/hour, not happening. Single moms that call out all the time and could genuinely care less about you or the pharmacy is your typical employee.
9.) Tons of debt after graduation
10.) Almost no chance of owning your own business. Sorry, but you can't compete with Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and Target. If for some reason you think you can compete with these monopolies and you open your own pharmacy, (without bullet proof glass), you will have a gun to your face, and you will be robbed.
11.) Getting tired of standing all day, no lunch break, doing 400+ scripts per day??? H1Bs aren't.

I should have listened when they told me to avoid pharmacy, but when I got into it the job market was still good, and my college's tuition rate was 20% less/year than what it is now. You have to be absolutely, completely, insane to want to get into the pharmacy profession at this time.

You forget to add that Retail store managers think they are your boss , and customers yell at you and get a 25 dollars gift card for that.

 

[q1we3]

These forums are awfully similar to where I come from. lol

 

[PharmDstudent]

You forget to add that Retail store managers think they are your boss...

Just deny to sell a few controlled scripts and Sudafed to methheads, then they'll get the picture.

 

[NAPLEXON]

The OP is absolutely right. We all know it, but for some reasons, the discussion has turned out to be "I'm the toughest". I know there are harder professions when it comes to physical challenges. I'm sure physical work is not a main criterion while assessing a pharmacist's job difficulty. Still, standing for straight 10 hours (sometimes 14 hours) while having no lunch break is absolutely physically challenging, esp. if you are overweight, suffering from sciatica, diabetic, or even pregnant; and can be dangerous if you have varicose veins. A pharmacist job is very stressful at all levels. I know a pharmacist who started taking adderal already to be able to handle the daily tasks. Make one mistake and you will get sued by a patient, and you may even lose your license. A pharmacist in Oregon was sued and fined because he forgot to counsel a patient on a rare side effect of Trazodone, that is priapism. You have to counsel appropriately while verifying 500 prescriptions per shift (that means verifying at least 1 prescription per minute if you work 8 hours shift, assuming you have nothing else to do but verifying), giving immunizations, dealing with irate patients, handling insurance issues, receiving controlled substance orders and counting them, manage the will call list, managing the inventory, ...etc. Pharmacy is hard because of mental stress, not physical stress. It is the worst career in healthcare. Pharmacy is the only healthcare career where retail experience counts for nothing. In fact, as you grow older, your chances to get a better job are decreased. And if you bring up the army guys who were shot or injured, why don't you bring up the pharmacists who were shot or injured during robberies while unable to even defend themselves because it is against the retail chain policies. C'mon, it is not that bright career. An RN will make as much money as you do. A doctor's or a dentist's salary is 5 times greater than you, let alone what they make through their offices, with much more prestige. We can not even start our own business because the chains are monopolizing the market, and you need a high volume to make for the low insurance reimbursements. Pharmacy is a bad career if you compare it to other careers which dictate academic preparation.

 

[DelawareStudent]

I'll just say our job, especially in retail, is not as glamorous as most people think.

Wait! You mean all those action movies where the Pharmacists swoops in and saves the world by filling the Presidents Warfirin script at the last second.....then goes back to enjoying high-end cocktail parties, tuxedos, and fast cars until the next crisis are inaccurate?!?!

I've been bamboozled!!

 

[ancienbon]

The OP is absolutely right. We all know it, but for some reasons, the discussion has turned out to be "I'm the toughest". I know there are harder professions when it comes to physical challenges. I'm sure physical work is not a main criterion while assessing a pharmacist's job difficulty. Still, standing for straight 10 hours (sometimes 14 hours) while having no lunch break is absolutely physically challenging, esp. if you are overweight, suffering from sciatica, diabetic, or even pregnant; and can be dangerous if you have varicose veins. A pharmacist job is very stressful at all levels. I know a pharmacist who started taking adderal already to be able to handle the daily tasks. Make one mistake and you will get sued by a patient, and you may even lose your license. A pharmacist in Oregon was sued and fined because he forgot to counsel a patient on a rare side effect of Trazodone, that is priapism. You have to counsel appropriately while verifying 500 prescriptions per shift (that means verifying at least 1 prescription per minute if you work 8 hours shift, assuming you have nothing else to do but verifying), giving immunizations, dealing with irate patients, handling insurance issues, receiving controlled substance orders and counting them, manage the will call list, managing the inventory, ...etc. Pharmacy is hard because of mental stress, not physical stress. It is the worst career in healthcare. Pharmacy is the only healthcare career where retail experience counts for nothing. In fact, as you grow older, your chances to get a better job are decreased. And if you bring up the army guys who were shot or injured, why don't you bring up the pharmacists who were shot or injured during robberies while unable to even defend themselves because it is against the retail chain policies. C'mon, it is not that bright career. An RN will make as much money as you do. A doctor's or a dentist's salary is 5 times greater than you, let alone what they make through their offices, with much more prestige. We can not even start our own business because the chains are monopolizing the market, and you need a high volume to make for the low insurance reimbursements. Pharmacy is a bad career if you compare it to other careers which dictate academic preparation
i have to agree with you here on some points.Pharmacy is tough , we have to work out butt off to get no respect from corporate ,store managers, and angry customers who would complaint about stupid things we have no control over. The other day a customer threatens to get a tech fired . she complained and the assistant manager gave her a25 dollars gift card for being rude to the pharmacy staff. the only good thing about pharmacy is the pay

 

[Its Z]

Page 1