Are there any HAPPY pharmcists?

Started by firework
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RxMTM said:
I've met a number of people that would rather be working than on vacation. This shows that these people made a best career choice for themselves. They do something that feels like vacation every day.
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My parents are like this, and I think I picked it up from them as well. It has nothing to do with loving your job though; some people are just wired to want to work. My mom has always had two jobs sense before I was born. Workaholics I guess you could say. I am well on my way to do the same. I don't do well with too much free time, I would much prefer to work than have time to myself. I guess you could say work is my hobby? I like making money, but it's not really even about money (not entirely anyone). :laugh:

Edit: Page 2! I don't know why we play this game...
 
Back when I was living at home, I had times where I just wanted to be at work instead of going home. It really depends on the person though.
 
I am definitely one happy pharmacist when I am within the ivory tower "an impractical often escapist attitude marked by aloof lack of concern with or interest in practical matters or urgent problems - from webster". But of course I am disgruntled, angry and depressed when I step outside that impractical world into a real pharmacy.
 
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SHC1984 said:
If pharmacy don't really turn out right I will just find another job. It's not like pharmacy is something I really want to do anyways. It's just a job that I feel that was tolerable to me
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Ever considered that maybe this is showing through in your interviews, and maybe that's why you don't have a job?

Just a thought....
 
Welcome to the pharmacy world. The beef here is that pharmacy is a decent profession, most independent pharmacists enjoy and love their jobs. why? because they have control. Job satisfaction is not about how much money you make It's about who has the final say. Face it , the profession has been degraded and lost its professionalism once big chains and supermarkets took over, we were transitioned from professional innovative caring owners to a bunch of hourly licking sticking workers controlled by a bunch of corporate scumbags who, if left to them would sell vicodin by the pound.

As far as predicting the future, I have no idea if any surplus or shortage exists. The only thing I am sure about is that corporations keep pushing to make it easier for foreign grads to get licensed. The number of licensed pharmacists will undoubtfully exceeds the demand within few years, given the recent recession. Mr cvs and Mr walgreens will capture that opportunity and reduce your wage.

My advise to you is to find a job and work very hard, not just in the pharmacy, but build a name, make connections, visit your neighboring physicians, build your name not your company's name, be innovative, don't waste an opportunity to have lunch with a fellow pharmacist, be a member of your state pharmacy association, keep educating yourself. That would make a lot harder for Mr corporate to get rid of you.

I admit it, my generation was lazy and we welcomed the big bonuses and the double time and lost our connections. It is time for pharmacists to step up or soon enough it will be too late.

I am a happy pharmacist, though.
 
Rodos said:
Welcome to the pharmacy world. The beef here is that pharmacy is a decent profession, most independent pharmacists enjoy and love their jobs. why? because they have control. Job satisfaction is not about how much money you make It's about who has the final say. Face it , the profession has been degraded and lost its professionalism once big chains and supermarkets took over, we were transitioned from professional innovative caring owners to a bunch of hourly licking sticking workers controlled by a bunch of corporate scumbags who, if left to them would sell vicodin by the pound.

As far as predicting the future, I have no idea if any surplus or shortage exists. The only thing I am sure about is that corporations keep pushing to make it easier for foreign grads to get licensed. The number of licensed pharmacists will undoubtfully exceeds the demand within few years, given the recent recession. Mr cvs and Mr walgreens will capture that opportunity and reduce your wage.

My advise to you is to find a job and work very hard, not just in the pharmacy, but build a name, make connections, visit your neighboring physicians, build your name not your company's name, be innovative, don't waste an opportunity to have lunch with a fellow pharmacist, be a member of your state pharmacy association, keep educating yourself. That would make a lot harder for Mr corporate to get rid of you.

I admit it, my generation was lazy and we welcomed the big bonuses and the double time and lost our connections. It is time for pharmacists to step up or soon enough it will be too late.

I am a happy pharmacist, though.
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👍
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
I'm happy as hell.

Mostly because "career" is about #57 on my list of things that make me satisfied about my life.

Am I happy about my career? Right now, obviously, no...but whatever...WVU is undefeated...pizza is still delicious...Dave and Buster's is still open...so much more to life than work...
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Yeah!! Someone who get's it.
 
eeyore spice said:
Ever considered that maybe this is showing through in your interviews, and maybe that's why you don't have a job?

Just a thought....
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Nah...I was interview by Walgreens and Target and they both hired me....People usually like me when they first meet me in person and I am usually very good at interviewing, but for some reason in May I called around and many chains flat out told me they were not hiring. Maybe I should have walked into the pharmacy instead...but I usually prefer just calling around so I don't have to move! :laugh:
 
SHC1984 said:
Nah...I was interview by Walgreens and Target and they both hired me....People usually like me when they first meet me in person and I am usually very good at interviewing, but for some reason in May I called around and many chains flat out told me they were not hiring. Maybe I should have walked into the pharmacy instead...but I usually prefer just calling around so I don't have to move! :laugh:
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Lazy! :laugh:

But really, it's much easier to talk to a person if you can see their faces and their body language while having a conversation.

Did you try independent pharmacies? You could have asked the pharmacists at school to use their connections.

Also, if you say that you want to work only during the summer and then quit before school starts, they're gonna be less likely to hire you.

I once almost had an inpatient job, but they didn't want to hire me if I was just going to work only for the summer.
 
Ackj said:
And don't attempt Atomic Bomb or Glutton Challenges, amirite?
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Why don't you blog about it?

Won't be doing those anytime soon. I barely have time to scratch my ass this year, let alone hit up the gym regularly, so I need to really be strict with my diet.
 
crazybob said:
Lazy! :laugh:

But really, it's much easier to talk to a person if you can see their faces and their body language while having a conversation.

Did you try independent pharmacies? You could have asked the pharmacists at school to use their connections.

Also, if you say that you want to work only during the summer and then quit before school starts, they're gonna be less likely to hire you.

I once almost had an inpatient job, but they didn't want to hire me if I was just going to work only for the summer.
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I am going to called Walgreens in Jan b/c they told me they hire people for just the summer time only. Last year I called too late and all the spots were gone.

If I can't work at Walgreens then I will just volunteer at a hospital. I need some hospital experience. I know nothing about hospitals. LOL...
 
SHC1984 said:
I am going to called Walgreens in Jan b/c they told me they hire people for just the summer time only. Last year I called too late and all the spots were gone.

If I can't work at Walgreens then I will just volunteer at a hospital. I need some hospital experience. I know nothing about hospitals. LOL...
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If you're talking about the internship program, you'll have to interview and it'll be competitive.

from the way you talk about businesses and the job market, I figured you'd say something about hospitals :laugh:
 
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crazybob said:
If you're talking about the internship program, you'll have to interview and it'll be competitive.

from the way you talk about businesses and the job market, I figured you'd say something about hospitals :laugh:
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Yeah I figure it would be competitive. I think the lady on the phone told me they would only hire about 5 to 10 interns for the summer this year. Which isn't very many at all. She told me to call back on Jan to make sure they will be hiring so they might not be at all. Do you know any other retail chains that have internship programs? So far walgreens is the only retail that I know of that have that sort of arrangement in which the intern only works during the summer time.

I want hospital experience b/c I really don't want to do retail when I graduate. I do not mind hospital or mail order, but I do NOT want retail. :laugh:
 
I think Walgreens is the only summer internship program I've heard of. There may or may not be others out there.

SHC, do you not want to work at independents either? IMO, I think being an independent pharmacist might make someone a happier pharmacist.
 
DYSF777 said:
Yes, they are just too busy enjoying their life to post on this site.
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Its Z said:
I'm happy by nature and I'm a pharmacist.

There have been pharmacy jobs I wasn't happy with before. Those were typically routine driven positions. The jobs I enjoy require creativity.

I love my job and I'm a happy pharmacist.
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I may be responding late as hell, but I'll chime in in agreement to both DYSF (whatever the hell that means) and Z.

I freaking love my job b/c I made the decision to love my life even more.

My job right now in the prospective future allows so much room for creativity and I am surrounded by peers who encourage it (now obviously there are the routine-loving "it's how we've always done it, type of people). I think I work about 70-80 hours a week, but when I'm home, I'm home.
 
crazybob said:
I think Walgreens is the only summer internship program I've heard of. There may or may not be others out there.

SHC, do you not want to work at independents either? IMO, I think being an independent pharmacist might make someone a happier pharmacist.
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I looked at one independent compounding pharmacy for the summer but they were not hiring. They wanted to hire me for the fall and I didn't want to work then. LOL...

I figure independent pharmacys were more on a budget so it would be harder to get a job there...but I can try more when the summer time comes around.

I really want to work for the Walgreens internship program though b/c they only want me around the summer time!
 
SHC1984 said:
I looked at one independent compounding pharmacy for the summer but they were not hiring. They wanted to hire me for the fall and I didn't want to work then. LOL...

I figure independent pharmacys were more on a budget so it would be harder to get a job there...but I can try more when the summer time comes around.

I really want to work for the Walgreens internship program though b/c they only want me around the summer time!
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There are independent pharmacies that may be willing to hire you just for the summer. But that's more likely to happen if you live somewhere for the summer and then move back to a place close to school in the fall.

For example,

if you were going to school in LA but you lived in SF for the summer and asked the owner at an independent in SF if you could work there for the summer, you might get a job just for the summer. Then when you move back to LA for school, you wouldn't have to work during school. Then if you went back to SF for the summer again, they might let you work there another summer.

I said 'they might' because not all managers would be willing to do something like this.
 
crazybob said:
There are independent pharmacies that may be willing to hire you just for the summer. But that's more likely to happen if you live somewhere for the summer and then move back to a place close to school in the fall.

For example,

if you were going to school in LA but you lived in SF for the summer and asked the owner at an independent in SF if you could work there for the summer, you might get a job just for the summer. Then when you move back to LA for school, you wouldn't have to work during school. Then if you went back to SF for the summer again, they might let you work there another summer.

I said 'they might' because not all managers would be willing to do something like this.
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Yeah, I thought about that too...but will I make enough money to justifed this move? I will look around my area for independent pharmacies...but I am not sure if its worth it finaincially to move to another area for the summer...
 
it depends on what industry you work. This is what I have noticed from least to most happy pharmacists:

retail < hospital < independent < industry, managed care
 
"I am still looking forward to being a licensed pharmacist. I don't regret so far, because, A, the pay is good, even given the predicted job saturation, still better than being, say, a scientist. B, I don't mind repeating the same tasks day in and day out, I don't feel bored when most other people do.

Am I too navie here?

My only worry is, I am a little overweighted, the consequence: my feet are working really hard. Don't know the long term consequence on the overall health state. I am doing my best on eating healthy."

No you're not naive. You have found a profession that is a good fit for your temperament. I was a scientist but I really enjoy being a retail pharmacist, much better pay, stress level about the same. However you need to be more active physically now, it gets harder when you are working.
 
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everything is a trade off. What's best for you is what you would consider most important. As one poster said, she doesn't mind the same repetitive task while others won't last in the same position. Retail is usually the most horrific based on what my friends and collegues tells me but my present salary is what my retail friends earned ~7-10 years ago. So if money is priority one to you then retail is most likely your top pick. A retail friend tried hospital her first year from school and she found it as stressful as retail but chose retail because of the huge pay difference and she has no regrets since she's compensated for it. I work hospital and started ~25K below retail and after 10 years in hospital and specializing, my salary was ~10K below new grads entering retail. Now I work in research and my salary started off lower than my last hospital position and I did not have a raise in last 3 years, not even a COLA. Hospital was extremely stressful since I worked in understaffed city hospitals so we each must do ~1.5 to 2 persons workload so the pharmacy can stay afloat with MD and RN calling us nonstop but one thing I can say is I never woke up and not wanted to go to work despite the stress. Don't get me wrong, I love vacations, daysoff and sleeping in but I actually have collegues that hated their jobs that they dread going to work. I enjoy enough aspects of my job that I still have enthusium for it after almost 20 years; I don't have the apathy I see from most of my collegues. That's the tradeoff for me...significantly less money than retail but enough for me to be comfortable and less diverse and not as clinical as hospital but a lot less stressful. If I can get more of the clinical aspect and better pay then I guess I would have my ideal job.
 
HaloKing said:
There are some HOT RNs in my joint...
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Not at my place. They are all overweight and old. But the PA students and the nutrition students on the other hand....

jacklikes.gif
 
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Nope but it does say this:
"But today, likely for the first time in history, the overfed outnumber the underfed by a large margin: There are 1.6 billion overweight and obese people worldwide, and 1 billion going hungry."
 
SHC1984 said:
there would still be 30K sign on bonuses
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I actually found a hospital that was offering exactly this! :scared: It was in a medium sized city in Illinois; don't remember which one, but how terrible a place must that be to work at if they need to do this?
 
I'm pretty happy with my job... Despite me always being stressed and busy. When you come from a background picking cherries at minimum wage for 16 hours a day you are pretty much happy to take any job that pays well...
 
Momus said:
"I Hate Fat People"
http://www.menshealth.com/men/weigh...eac?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

No really... Why can't they just eat 1500-2000 calories instead of 3000-4000 calories to turn themselves to a troll... lack of self control!? >_> Each one of us is paying $500/year to the tax man for their health care!
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a few hundred calories a day extra adds up.

not everyone has good access to healthy food. I live in a neighborhood where without a car, all I would be eating is fried chicken and mexican stand stuff. seriously besides burger king this is all that is available. I cant imagine how i would be eating if i was caring for several kids, had a disability, or couldn't afford fruits and vegetables.
 
Are you from China?

SHC1984 said:
I am going to called Walgreens in Jan b/c they told me they hire people for just the summer time only. Last year I called too late and all the spots were gone.

If I can't work at Walgreens then I will just volunteer at a hospital. I need some hospital experience. I know nothing about hospitals. LOL...
Click to expand...
 
rph3664 said:
I actually found a hospital that was offering exactly this! :scared: It was in a medium sized city in Illinois; don't remember which one, but how terrible a place must that be to work at if they need to do this?
Click to expand...

That is a shock...and I wouldn't work there either...cuz I will be worry about the work conditions too! lol....
 
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