My experience so far as a pharmacy clerk...

Hi there. I started working as a pharmacy clerk at CVS pharmacy about a month ago. I've managed to learn the basics of operating the cash register, receiving prescriptions from customers, refills, and working together with the pharmacists and techs. So far, I have to come to enjoy several aspects of my job, mostly the fact that I've been learning a lot about what many of the drugs are used for, but more importantly, I've been able to see for myself what retail pharmacy is all about. For all those people out there who believe all pharmacists do is pill counting, boy are you wrong! Though I look forward to my work, I honestly have to say I feel completely inexperienced, incompetent, and plain stupid sometimes. There are many times I just feel out of control because I don't have a very dominant and assertive personality. Retail pharmacy is very stressful, it is as a clerk anyway, and I tend to get very anxious and nervous when I have to deal with a line of about 8 to 9 customers who are looking forward to get their scripts filled and dashing out of the pharmacy as quickly as possible. I find it quite challenging and unpleasant to have to multitask with so many different people at one time. I feel the environment is very fast paced and have a hard time trying to get things done very quickly. Usually, when a customer comes to me with a script, I try to gather his/her relevant information (such as insurance/coverage, if he/she has been to this pharmacy before, and I try to make sure the medication is in stock) as efficiently as possible, but the majority of the times, there is some sort of obstacle that delays me in finishing with one person and moving on to the next. All of a sudden, I have someone coming to me out of no where asking me if the skin lotion they're looking for in aisle 5 is on sale, someone else who is not even on the line vehemently demanding from me why his insurance company did not cover his medicine or why the copayment is $83, and other dimwitted people who do not realize there is one freaking line and not two. I lose my focus in these situations and become stressed because I am not a robot, i do not have 6 ears to listen and answer to everyone's questions or pleas on spot, and why in the hell should i know if that skin lotion they're looking for or the carton of milk is on sale? I lose focus, the customer remains in line waiting because the tech can't find the medicine or it's not available, and before i know it, five minutes have passed and i still have 7 more people in line. On top of all of this, the majority of people seem to have trouble with their insurance policies and other forms of coverage and they constantly nag me, the pharmacist, the tech, etc... about why this and why that with the cost of medicine....excuse me, but i find it extremely irritating and a waste of time for them to ask me why they have to pay so much money. I've been doing fairly well lately because the pharmacists have told me to relax and take my time even if i see a long line because it's better to go at my own pace rather than make a mistake, but unfortunately, today was not such a pleasant day. There was a line of about 6 people and when helping one of them, i had to ask the pharmacist a question about a medication and when i told the customer to wait a minute, the manager saw me and told me "Get back to the line and assist the customer...you've been having these long lines for a while lately..." This really aggravated me because i was trying to find out some important information and i can't leave the customer waiting for a second? How am i supposed to help that customer then? The manager is rushing me and even though i have not made any serious mistakes throughout the month, guess what? Within 1 minute of listening to the store manager's comment, i swore my blood pressure went up from the added pressure, and gave a medication to the wrong patient....it turns out two people had the same last name, and because i was being rushed, i made a mistake...thank God the woman caught it and returned. When I was going at my slower, but steadier pace, i did not make such a serious mistake. I do not like and simply cannot be rushed. Who in the hell does this manager think he is and who do some of these patients think they are? Do they think we are handing out cotton candy or Whopper juniors? It really seems this way and it's driving me crazy...after all these experiences and today, i'm starting to doubt myself and if i should do pharmacy. I like the field, i definitely have the grades, and interviewed, but i feel completely incompetent and based on my performance and the fact that i am not such a robotic and extremely fast person, i fear that i will be a terrible pharmacist (then again, the pharmacy clerks have the grunt work compared to the pharmacist). Can you believe some customers have asked me AND the pharmacists questions such as "Are these medicines fresh?" What are we selling, some kind of potato or other vegetable? These patients are just plain stupid and have no idea apparently that these are chemical substances that can AND WILL kill you if not dispensed with care. I really think the manager is making a big mistake in rushing me or anyone. To make matters even worse, half the time, I cannot even read the horrible, illegible chicken scratch writing the MDs write and once again, feel mediocre as a clerk because i can't understand what medication is indicated. I feel terrible about everything and though i am very interested in how drugs work and love chemistry and all the sciences, i truly am doubting myself about my ability to thrive in such a fast paced environment as a pharmacist in the future.

RxChick said:

I remember reading the first few posts on this thread a little while back and not continuing because I couldn't relate. Well I got a job at Walgreens recently and wow do I understand this or what. I have been in the pharmacy for about four days and I feel like a *****. I love filling though. At the store I work at there is no specific rotations for the techs or anything. You sort of see what needs to be done and get on it. So when its really slow and a label prints out, in my mind I am fighting with the other tech to fill it. Lol. I really enjoy filling and the majority of my time the last four days have been spent filling. But other than that I feel totally stupid. I also started at the register and got to ring up a few customers. I am not really receiving any formal training. I just ask questions and they will answer them. I heard some stores have special cash register training. I wish Walgreens did that. I had some trouble with it. I can do simple things like ring up a customer who is paying by credit card and cash. But if they ask me questions on insurance and tell me to cancel an item after I have totaled it, I am lost. I have answered a handful o f phone calls and scanned one or two prescriptions. I haven't really got to enter a whole prescription by myself. I got to do part of one but not the whole thing by myself. I hope I become more comfortable soon and learn everything. It doesn't feel all that great not knowing anything. I hate asking them questions only because I have been getting a feeling that they get annoyed. This is just my store I am talking about. I have no problem asking for help outside of work or anything just at my store I see them looking at me annoyed when I ask questions. Am I learning too slow for someone who has been there for four days?

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Hey, Serene. I've been working in retail pharmacy for almost three months by now (started in late January) and I posted about my experience about a month into my job. I can tell you that what you're going through now is normal. It's ok not to know everything because you've only been there four days. Four days is honestly not enough to know everything. As a matter of fact, despite the almost 3 months or so i've been working, I still don't know everything either. There's always something new to learn. I get the most important duties of my job done, but there's always something new to learn in one way or another. So, don't feel stupid or *****ic. At drop off, whenever the patient hands you a prescription, try to decipher the hieroglyphics the doctor has written for a medication. If you do not know where that medication is stocked, if it has a generic, or if it's a cream, ointment, gel, tablet, liquid, or eye drops, ask the tech or the pharmacist to see if it's available. It is absolutely normal, for example, not to know where something is. I know where most medications are, but not all...sometimes it comes as a generic or it's a lotion and i don't exactly know. Just ask away regardless of your perception of how the pharmacist/tech feels. By the way, you might be mistaken in your perception of how the pharmacist or tech feels when you ask questions. Considering how you feel incompetent, you might be misled into believing the other employees feel you're incompetent and get annoyed with you. Get over that and you'll start learning with time. I am confident you'll do well. By the way, the fact that you're working in a retail pharmacy before you even start pharmacy school this fall will give you an edge because just think about the other students who have never stepped foot inside a pharmacy...imagine how incompetent, foolish, and stupid they're going to feel at first when pharmacy school starts. Those of us, like you and me, who obtain experience will not know everything surely, but we will have the benefit of experience and having an idea of how things work in a pharmacy. Think of that.