Tom Ryan, Ceo of CVS

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Aznfarmerboi

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I have always preached that CVS is better than Wags since it was Wags that started drive thru, powers, slower stores verifying for busier stores, etc. This is a news article on Tom Ryans. A good read. I chuckled when they said he made a lot of mistakes such as him opposing drive thrus or how they were worried he wouldnt be a good CEO because he didnt have the degree and almost failed out of pharmacy school because of organic chemistry.

http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9852930

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haha well dang, so that's what the triple-S scores lead to last year... $5M bonus! No wonder the DM's shove that up our rectums daily.

other than that, good read overall.
 
Who would have thought, the CEO of CVS is an idiot. Organic chemistry? He's not qualified to tutor pre-pharms let alone head a pharmacy chain. This only confirms all my beliefs about him.

Also, lol that he gets part of his bonus via SSS. So basically he got millions of dollars via fraud. Nice.
 
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Who would have thought, the CEO of CVS is an idiot. Organic chemistry? He's not qualified to tutor pre-pharms let alone head a pharmacy chain. This only confirms all my beliefs about him.

Also, lol that he gets part of his bonus via SSS. So basically he got millions of dollars via fraud. Nice.

He's managed to turn a regional chain into a healthcare empire, so I don't think "idiot" is necessarily the best category to put him in.

He's also on the BoD for one of the few banks that's actually managing to do alright right now.

I'd much rather have Tom Ryan as a CEO than someone who has never been a practicing pharmacist at all. Even that small bit of knowledge of what it's like in the trenches may pay off some day.
 
He's managed to turn a regional chain into a healthcare empire, so I don't think "idiot" is necessarily the best category to put him in.

He's also on the BoD for one of the few banks that's actually managing to do alright right now.

I'd much rather have Tom Ryan as a CEO than someone who has never been a practicing pharmacist at all. Even that small bit of knowledge of what it's like in the trenches may pay off some day.

sadly it has no benefit for the pharmacists that work at CVS that have to deal with unsafe working conditions on a daily basis
 
I think its safe to say that CVS is above rite aid right now. My CEO bought 30 bazillion stores in Brooks Eckard at about the worse time in financial history since the time when each state had its own currency
 
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They're only "unsafe" if you let them become that way. You can't blame the system for your own shortcomings.

well that's just the dumbest thing ive heard all day...our own shortcomings...that's just asinine...
 
They're only "unsafe" if you let them become that way. You can't blame the system for your own shortcomings.

dumb dumb dumb...how can't you blame the system? Jesus, 2 drive thrus, 2 drop off windows, 3 pick up counters, production and 1 pharmacist and 3 techs and a few cahiers...you do the math genius...and dont forget those god awful phones ringing every 20 seconds...Oh yeah, my shortcoming prevent me from doing my job efficiently...you wanna now how i get through my day...i dont give a --ck about payroll...if i need coverage, you better believe someone is getting overtime...Oh yeah...PCI calls, ready refill...yeah, cant blame the system...go study kinetics or something...
 
They're only "unsafe" if you let them become that way. You can't blame the system for your own shortcomings.

I see you go to Buffalo...Why dont you ask professor Fiebelkorn what he thinks of your statement...im sure he'd love to tell you about chain pharmacies...
 
...you wanna now how i get through my day...i dont give a --ck about payroll...if i need coverage, you better believe someone is getting overtime...Oh yeah...PCI calls, ready refill...yeah, cant blame the system...go study kinetics or something...

This is what I meant, sorry if it came off poorly. You have the ability to work in a safe environment in the manner you see fit. My comments were directed at the people who roll over and die whenever they're confronted with a difficult scenario.
 
This is what I meant, sorry if it came off poorly. You have the ability to work in a safe environment in the manner you see fit. My comments were directed at the people who roll over and die whenever they're confronted with a difficult scenario.

When you're confronted with a difficult scenario, start breaking or bending rules, which is something my boss is afraid to do with tech hours. Our bins are overflowing because we are filling so much stuff but people just aren't picking their stuff up.

CVS has done nothing for this problem, and hasn't given us bigger bins to put the prescriptions in.

11 scripts/tech hour, get the hell out of here.

If we're gonna be doing 1500 scripts/week, personally I think that we should have 200+ tech hours if we actually are going to be able to counsel.
 
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They're only "unsafe" if you let them become that way. You can't blame the system for your own shortcomings.

You pretty clearly have no idea what life is like, do you? Tell me what you'd tell your wife and kids if you came home one day jobless because you fought for "safe" conditions by scheduling more tech hours than CVS considers appropriate and they canned your ass unexpectedly.

It shouldn't be wrong to fill prescriptions safely, but CVS creates just such an environment.
 
You pretty clearly have no idea what life is like, do you? Tell me what you'd tell your wife and kids if you came home one day jobless because you fought for "safe" conditions by scheduling more tech hours than CVS considers appropriate and they canned your ass unexpectedly.

It shouldn't be wrong to fill prescriptions safely, but CVS creates just such an environment.

Honestly, The DM and PS leave us alone. We are consistantly 300-400 rx's over budget, we're avg 2700-2900 rx's weekly. Our PCI's calls get done, and they just stay away from us. We dont go over in Rph hours, but we will use whatever tech help we need. There not gonna can my rear end over that. We are budgeted 280-290 tech hours, we use 300-320 hrs weekly...
 
Honestly, The DM and PS leave us alone. We are consistantly 300-400 rx's over budget, we're avg 2700-2900 rx's weekly. Our PCI's calls get done, and they just stay away from us. We dont go over in Rph hours, but we will use whatever tech help we need. There not gonna can my rear end over that. We are budgeted 280-290 tech hours, we use 300-320 hrs weekly...

Are you taking flex into account?
 
When you're confronted with a difficult scenario, start breaking or bending rules, which is something my boss is afraid to do with tech hours. Our bins are overflowing because we are filling so much stuff but people just aren't picking their stuff up.

CVS has done nothing for this problem, and hasn't given us bigger bins to put the prescriptions in.

11 scripts/tech hour, get the hell out of here.

If we're gonna be doing 1500 scripts/week, personally I think that we should have 200+ tech hours if we actually are going to be able to counsel.
its amazing how much you whine about your job. You have all the answers to everything related to pharmacy, yet you do nothing about your problems. If its that horrible of a job, why not quit and do something else?
 
Are you taking flex into account?

yes, with flex we should be at 280 or so. sorry, this company just doesn;t take into account PA's, md calls, and people who just wanna talk on the phone. The problem is that i just dont have enough techs for the hours, believe it or not! My lead tech gets OT all the time. Being on the south side, many techs from other stores come, work a week or so, and then never come back. So my partner and I just do what we gotta do to survive...
 
yes, with flex we should be at 280 or so. sorry, this company just doesn;t take into account PA's, md calls, and people who just wanna talk on the phone. The problem is that i just dont have enough techs for the hours, believe it or not! My lead tech gets OT all the time. Being on the south side, many techs from other stores come, work a week or so, and then never come back. So my partner and I just do what we gotta do to survive...

2800 scripts per week & 2 pharmacists??????

You are getting screwed.....
 
When you're confronted with a difficult scenario, start breaking or bending rules, which is something my boss is afraid to do with tech hours. Our bins are overflowing because we are filling so much stuff but people just aren't picking their stuff up.

CVS has done nothing for this problem, and hasn't given us bigger bins to put the prescriptions in.

11 scripts/tech hour, get the hell out of here.

If we're gonna be doing 1500 scripts/week, personally I think that we should have 200+ tech hours if we actually are going to be able to counsel.

Bro, 200 hours? Even I think that's excessive. 1500 rx's per week? Id say no more that 170 hours. thats 1 tech hour for every 9 rx's. thats what i run at. 1 tech hour for every 11 rx's is ridiculous. but if you got 200+, thats 1 tech hour for every 7 rx's or so. If you need that much tech help, theres a problem in your work flow. But im not there to observe, so im just speculating.
 
2800 scripts per week & 2 pharmacists??????

You are getting screwed.....

Yeah, no kidding. Ive asked for a third rph, but that never happened. We have 190 rph hours and my partner and i just overlap. We run that place pretty good, we help each other. We have gone to overlap on mondays only, sonce one monday we did 720 rx's! The rest of the week we just work 6 hour shifts, we split the 12 hour days. It works out great. We get our ass kicked for 6 hours only, not 12:)
 
I stay at this store cause the customers and i are very close!
 
Yeah, no kidding. Ive asked for a third rph, but that never happened. We have 190 rph hours and my partner and i just overlap. We run that place pretty good, we help each other. We have gone to overlap on mondays only, sonce one monday we did 720 rx's! The rest of the week we just work 6 hour shifts, we split the 12 hour days. It works out great. We get our ass kicked for 6 hours only, not 12:)

What a joke...sounds like typical CVS hell. I thought you were moving on to greener pastures? What happened?
 
I don't really get what is so wrong with CVS. I have worked in multiple stores in 3 different states and have never had a problem. I also have worked for Target and interned at Sav-On. Those were horrible. I work hard and expect people around me to, and I think it is rather easy.:xf:
 
I don't really get what is so wrong with CVS. I have worked in multiple stores in 3 different states and have never had a problem. I also have worked for Target and interned at Sav-On. Those were horrible. I work hard and expect people around me to, and I think it is rather easy.:xf:

It just depends on the store.
 
i think a lot of it depends on your direct upper management also. Dr. M do you get support from your DM and Sup.
 
It just depends on the store.

Definitely try again for a 3rd pharmacist lol. A store where I worked at have 2 pharmacists on shift at any point Monday to Thursday. Friday varies but they have an overlap mid-day. One guy covers the weekend every other week.
 
its amazing how much you whine about your job. You have all the answers to everything related to pharmacy, yet you do nothing about your problems. If its that horrible of a job, why not quit and do something else?

Oh really, what do you suggest I do to fix this problem other than me suggesting to the pharmacy manager to have more techs working.

We're getting by with the system we have, but if someone like the lead tech calls out sick (has happened 2 fridays in a row), the pharmacy is SCREWED because the other tech is computeraphobic. Come to think of it, 170 tech hours would be good.

Personally, I'd like to be able to take my breaks. I come in 10AM-6PM (Sat), and the other guy is there from 11AM-4PM. It is just nonstop work until 2-3PM, and there are no breaks possible at that time. Optimally, I should take my break at 3PM, what ends up happening is, I leave for 1/2 hour, come back, and the pharmacy is being overrun, and then it is non-stop busy, the other guy leaves, things get crazier, and finally wind down around 530PM.

Then we have learned to rapidly clean up from 530PM-545PM before the hoards start coming in around closing time.

It's doable but it would be a hell of a lot EASIER if we had more techs.
 
You tell us how it is pharmacy student. When the system does not allow you enogh time, staff or resourses to work saftly you bet you ***** you can blame the system.

hallelujah, i didn't even see that part. lol @ pharmacy student

maybe they can talk when they spend one day behind the bench running the show... or actually earn that Pharm.D first
 
hallelujah, i didn't even see that part. lol @ pharmacy student

maybe they can talk when they spend one day behind the bench running the show... or actually earn that Pharm.D first

i agree. it is so easy to talk when you dont actually have to deal. i think everyone needs to understand that each store is dependent on every person that works there and every person in their management staff. you can't judge any company by a personal experience until you have worked for multiple areas in different volumes.
try to think that you understand an entire company by a single experience with a lazy RPH. :thumbdown:
 
i think a lot of it depends on your direct upper management also. Dr. M do you get support from your DM and Sup.

they r never around. They only come around if PCI calls arent getting done or if ready fill is low, its a joke. My partner and I just make do...We r good, but damn we r tired.
 
Oh really, what do you suggest I do to fix this problem other than me suggesting to the pharmacy manager to have more techs working.

We're getting by with the system we have, but if someone like the lead tech calls out sick (has happened 2 fridays in a row), the pharmacy is SCREWED because the other tech is computeraphobic. Come to think of it, 170 tech hours would be good.

Personally, I'd like to be able to take my breaks. I come in 10AM-6PM (Sat), and the other guy is there from 11AM-4PM. It is just nonstop work until 2-3PM, and there are no breaks possible at that time. Optimally, I should take my break at 3PM, what ends up happening is, I leave for 1/2 hour, come back, and the pharmacy is being overrun, and then it is non-stop busy, the other guy leaves, things get crazier, and finally wind down around 530PM.

Then we have learned to rapidly clean up from 530PM-545PM before the hoards start coming in around closing time.

It's doable but it would be a hell of a lot EASIER if we had more techs.

If your lead tech is calling out sick, then moral is low. Get a new LEAD tech. Sounds harsh, but my lead tech is there all the time and works hard, sniffles or no sniffles. We get very very very few call outs, Everyone comes to work...
 
That would be a solution but I'm not so sure if one tech can suggest to the pharmacist to fire another tech.

your pharmacist needs to see this!!!!!!!!! im not saying fire them, but it seems like the store needs structure in scheduling and attendance.
 
your pharmacist needs to see this!!!!!!!!! im not saying fire them, but it seems like the store needs structure in scheduling and attendance.

I'd think so. I've worked at 5 different CVS stores. Almost all of them make the schedules 3 weeks in advance, that way if people can't make it or something, the worker, the pharmacist, and the district coordinators have 3 weeks to find coverage. My home store is the only store who's Rx manager makes the schedule on the Friday or Saturday prior to the new week. (He'd be making the schedules for week starting February 22 on February 20th or 21.)

Only thing is that he uses an 8 day schedule, starting on a Sunday and ending on a Sunday. For example, that debacle that happened last Sunday could have been avoided if he made the schedule 3 weeks ago (asides from the fact that I should have never been scheduled for a Sunday). I'll never call out sick unless I am on my deathbed, I went in one time when I had rampant bronchitis, and the pharmacist was the one who suggested I go home (I guess you don't want someone coughing and wheezing all over the medications.)

My boss seems to be the kind of guy that doesn't take too kindly of criticism or suggestions from subordinates. I'm almost sure he's gonna tell me "how about you keep doing your job and I'll keep doing mine, when you get your own pharmacy you can run it the way you want." I got a similar response to that when I started cleaning up stuff around the pharmacy (I'm a little like Adrian Monk when it comes to clutter.)
 
Just keep putting pressure on him. That's how my old boss was at first but after five years of complaining he finally started letting me schedule the tech hours most of the time.

However once you're actually in charge of something you start to get headaches, especially if anything goes wrong. Heh.
 
I want to know how many pharmacy managers use "worker availability" when making up the schedule. It does make more sense to use it, rather than just scheduling for what you need. For example, one time back when I worked at Radioshack, my boss calls me and asks me where am I, I was supposed to be there 1 hour ago, when I'm in Pennsylvania, lmao!
 
That was something I really tried hard to use was availability. So I would ask everyone for a schedule of when they could work and how many hours they wanted and chugged out a schedule based on that. Adjusted as needed to contend with MD visits or other stuff that comes up.

Works well until your staff get lazy. Of course I would always give myself plenty of OT when the chance came up. Perks of the works!
 
Ill be honest, my partner and I are pretty hard nosed. We dont ask anyone when they can work, unless they have school. Honestly, we dont give a
--ck about the lives of our employees and what they got going on outside of work. We make the schedule, you come to work. They can request time off and 99% of the time it is granted. They come to work, give 110%, and then they go home. They show up on time, they stay late if they have to. With only 2 rphs, there is no room for much error. Have some people quit? yep! but they were new hires. Cant muster our demeanor. We have the same 6 full timers since ive been there, 3 years. Its the part timers that quit. I must say I dont really care what anyone has going on or what they got going on...This is the career they chose and this is their job. They know not to come to me about personal problems at home, or kid problems, or whatever, cause ill just turn around. Harsh? yes, but with 2700-2800 rx weekly, 2 other rphs (nitetime), 6 full timers, and 2 part timers, i just dont have the time or energy to listen to that crap. They know that I truly do care for them; i care for their health and well being, but i just dont care about their outside life; I have a job to do and i tell them I cant do it without them. So, no one calls out sick, no one is late. they stay late if they have too, and we all respect each other...Am i dick head, yeah, I am...HR has been knocking on my door in the past, but im still there, i havent changed...I wont change...The company likes what i bring in terms of profit, and the service is superior...
 
Ill be honest, my partner and I are pretty hard nosed. We dont ask anyone when they can work, unless they have school. Honestly, we dont give a
--ck about the lives of our employees and what they got going on outside of work. We make the schedule, you come to work. They can request time off and 99% of the time it is granted. They come to work, give 110%, and then they go home. They show up on time, they stay late if they have to. With only 2 rphs, there is no room for much error. Have some people quit? yep! but they were new hires. Cant muster our demeanor. We have the same 6 full timers since ive been there, 3 years. Its the part timers that quit. I must say I dont really care what anyone has going on or what they got going on...This is the career they chose and this is their job. They know not to come to me about personal problems at home, or kid problems, or whatever, cause ill just turn around. Harsh? yes, but with 2700-2800 rx weekly, 2 other rphs (nitetime), 6 full timers, and 2 part timers, i just dont have the time or energy to listen to that crap. They know that I truly do care for them; i care for their health and well being, but i just dont care about their outside life; I have a job to do and i tell them I cant do it without them. So, no one calls out sick, no one is late. they stay late if they have too, and we all respect each other...Am i dick head, yeah, I am...HR has been knocking on my door in the past, but im still there, i havent changed...I wont change...The company likes what i bring in terms of profit, and the service is superior...

Only problem with this is, if you put them on the schedule and they are on vacation somewhere, you're pretty much screwed.
 
Ill be honest, my partner and I are pretty hard nosed. We dont ask anyone when they can work, unless they have school. Honestly, we dont give a
--ck about the lives of our employees and what they got going on outside of work. We make the schedule, you come to work. They can request time off and 99% of the time it is granted. They come to work, give 110%, and then they go home. They show up on time, they stay late if they have to. With only 2 rphs, there is no room for much error. Have some people quit? yep! but they were new hires. Cant muster our demeanor. We have the same 6 full timers since ive been there, 3 years. Its the part timers that quit. I must say I dont really care what anyone has going on or what they got going on...This is the career they chose and this is their job. They know not to come to me about personal problems at home, or kid problems, or whatever, cause ill just turn around. Harsh? yes, but with 2700-2800 rx weekly, 2 other rphs (nitetime), 6 full timers, and 2 part timers, i just dont have the time or energy to listen to that crap. They know that I truly do care for them; i care for their health and well being, but i just dont care about their outside life; I have a job to do and i tell them I cant do it without them. So, no one calls out sick, no one is late. they stay late if they have too, and we all respect each other...Am i dick head, yeah, I am...HR has been knocking on my door in the past, but im still there, i havent changed...I wont change...The company likes what i bring in terms of profit, and the service is superior...

How far in advance do you schedule? It seems like you might run into problems if it's less than a month or so ahead of time.

I agree with you, a lot of the techs I've worked with don't necessarily view work as a job per se, more like something that they do on the side. It gets to be incredibly frustrating when someone forgets to mention having to pick their kid up at school and leaves you hanging on a Monday night.

Only time I've ever called in sick was for the hospital I work at, I was scheduled to work in the IV room and was vomiting every half hour. Would not have been the best aseptic technique.
 
Only problem with this is, if you put them on the schedule and they are on vacation somewhere, you're pretty much screwed.

Thats never happened. Never will. Again, workers who have failed to show, well, dont work at that store anymore; and we do the schedule a few days in advance. we dont do the schedule 3 weeks in advance, once u post the schedule, you cant change it. Thats a legal company document. Besides, we use to do it 3 weeks in advance and it caused too many problems. Too much switching and too much confusion. Again, we dont get "screwed"; never happened, never will while we r there...:)
 
How far in advance do you schedule? It seems like you might run into problems if it's less than a month or so ahead of time.

I agree with you, a lot of the techs I've worked with don't necessarily view work as a job per se, more like something that they do on the side. It gets to be incredibly frustrating when someone forgets to mention having to pick their kid up at school and leaves you hanging on a Monday night.

Only time I've ever called in sick was for the hospital I work at, I was scheduled to work in the IV room and was vomiting every half hour. Would not have been the best aseptic technique.

We are very particular about who we hire; are we discriminating? No, not at all. We hire based on who can do simple math under pressure, who is less likely to be insubordinate, and one that wont get upset under pressure...We can weed them out...We pretty much tell our potential hiree what its like at this store and what we expect...We go by their reaction...My partner was in the military so he's pretty damn good at reading people... We look for committment...We dont BS them and tell them how we are at pharmacists...We can be SOBS, but we will respect them...It works for us, so we continue our process...
 
Thats never happened. Never will. Again, workers who have failed to show, well, dont work at that store anymore; and we do the schedule a few days in advance. we dont do the schedule 3 weeks in advance, once u post the schedule, you cant change it. Thats a legal company document. Besides, we use to do it 3 weeks in advance and it caused too many problems. Too much switching and too much confusion. Again, we dont get "screwed"; never happened, never will while we r there...:)


Do you call the workers to tell them when they are on, or is it their job to call you for it?

I guess maybe the workers tell you when they need days off, but with that kind of system in place, it is almost impossible for someone to take a spontaneous vacation. (A lot of times I just decide out of nowhere to go somewhere.)
 
I guess maybe the workers tell you when they need days off, but with that kind of system in place, it is almost impossible for someone to take a spontaneous vacation. (A lot of times I just decide out of nowhere to go somewhere.)

As young people with some disposable income, we have the advantage of being able to drive to Philly for cheesesteaks on a whim. I think spontaneity goes out the window once you hit 40.
 
well that sounds like a fair system...schedule is up 3 weeks in advance, once it's posted, tough ****. that's how it was at my 24h store with 4000+ scripts...there's no other way to run a store and keep it within budget and out of chaos. requests for days off had to occur at least 2-3 weeks out and were generally honored.

If you're a no-show to a shift without a note from the MD, you got written up (fired on the 2nd time); you're free to swap with other people so long as that didn't incur OT (must be approved by the manager). I mean, I was up front with my manager that I could only work M-F...or rather, I didn't want to work weekends, but they were fine with it. If they said no, well...then they said no. No surprises.

I mean if you wanted to take a spontaneous vacation...at least you'll know your schedule in 3 week blocks whether you're on or off a particular weekend, so it's no surprises either way. Granted, I disagree and view work as something that will always be secondary in life in general, I still have a responsibility to my place of work/coworkers.

But yeah that's the key I think...no surprises. So long as that's adhered to (and you're a functional tech, not a dumb one), you've got it down.
 
Do you call the workers to tell them when they are on, or is it their job to call you for it?

I guess maybe the workers tell you when they need days off, but with that kind of system in place, it is almost impossible for someone to take a spontaneous vacation. (A lot of times I just decide out of nowhere to go somewhere.)

Remember there sparda, you're a student; like i said it's different with the students; actually, i dont have any interns; the students i have are pre-pharmacy and ther are usually part-timers; im talking about full-timers who have chosen to be technicians as careers; the part timers still come to work when scheduled; no problems. as for letting them know their schedule, it's their responsibility to call for their schedule. We don't hold their hand. You wanna get paid, you gotta come to work; you gotta know when your scheduled. Harsh, but they are adults.
 
Do you call the workers to tell them when they are on, or is it their job to call you for it?

I guess maybe the workers tell you when they need days off, but with that kind of system in place, it is almost impossible for someone to take a spontaneous vacation. (A lot of times I just decide out of nowhere to go somewhere.)

Bro, most of my techs make $9/hr to $10/hr, have a few kids or are barely making it. There are no spontaneous vacations. My partner and I feed them regularly; its our way of saying thank you. Our system works...it may not work at other stores, but it works here...
 
Remember there sparda, you're a student; like i said it's different with the students; actually, i dont have any interns; the students i have are pre-pharmacy and ther are usually part-timers; im talking about full-timers who have chosen to be technicians as careers; the part timers still come to work when scheduled; no problems. as for letting them know their schedule, it's their responsibility to call for their schedule. We don't hold their hand. You wanna get paid, you gotta come to work; you gotta know when your scheduled. Harsh, but they are adults.

Ah, I understand. Yeah, then you guys have better staffing than us. We only have one tech who does it for a career, she works 9-5 M-F, albeit doesn't have PTCB certification. The other main tech is computeraphobic and basically just puts the order away or does pick up, works 11-4 M-F.

There is one "true" intern, she's a P2 at LIU and works all day Sunday. I'm the P1, work all day Saturday. And then the rest are your pre-pharmacy/pre-medical/high school seniors.
 
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