Coming back after leaving wags

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ancienbon

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I mentioned in post a couple weeks ago about my partner who was leaving Walgreens to go CVS. His last day was last Wednesday, his long day.When i came back on thursday i saw nothing but a big mess.There more about 20 scripts to fill, and nothing was done. The tech told me that he was basically working alone, and the rxm would take multiple naps. Even the store manager caught him sleeping. He did not really care as he was on his last week.
He was supposed to start at cvs yesterday. Yesterday morning i received a surprising phone call. He called me that he is not going to cvs any more, as he has learned lot of things about cvs, and i was right when i advised him not to leave wags for cvs. He went to talk to the rx supervisor who rehired him back. Now he will no longer a pharmacy manager, he will be a staff at another walgreens . Each time i think ABOUT this , i laugh so hard.
 
ancienbon said:
I mentioned in post a couple weeks ago about my partner who was leaving Walgreens to go CVS. His last day was last Wednesday, his long day.When i came back on thursday i saw nothing but a big mess.There more about 20 scripts to fill, and nothing was done. The tech told me that he was basically working alone, and the rxm would take multiple naps. Even the store manager caught him sleeping. He did not really care as he was on his last week.
He was supposed to start at cvs yesterday. Yesterday morning i received a surprising phone call. He called me that he is not going to cvs any more, as he has learned lot of things about cvs, and i was right when i advised him not to leave wags for cvs. He went to talk to the rx supervisor who rehired him back. Now he will no longer a pharmacy manager, he will be a staff at another walgreens . Each time i think ABOUT this , i laugh so hard.
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In retail pharmacy the grass is not greener. It is the same ****ty, dead, drought brown, crab grass and weed infested lawn only in a different location.
 
MountainPharmD said:
In retail pharmacy the grass is not greener. It is the same ****ty, dead, drought brown, crab grass and weed infested lawn only in a different location.
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Agreed.

Costco is the ONLY retail place I haven't heard anything negative about. Everywhere else sucks. 🙁
 
SHC1984 said:
Agreed.

Costco is the ONLY retail place I haven't heard anything negative about. Everywhere else sucks. 🙁
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Costco sucks. One of my most boring places I've ever worked at (from the point of view of an intern). Interns weren't allowed to do doctor calls, counsel, reconstitute. All I did was count pills and work the register.
 
rxlea said:
How big is your sample size? :meanie:
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Have you ever heard anyone make a thread and complained about Costco? I haven't. I have seen PLENTY of Wags and CVS though!

I have also worked at Wags, Target and Walmart...so I do have retail experience and know what is good and what is bad.

Sparda29 said:
Costco sucks. One of my most boring places I've ever worked at (from the point of view of an intern). Interns weren't allowed to do doctor calls, counsel, reconstitute. All I did was count pills and work the register.
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Do you rather have BORING or STRESSFUL/PAINFUL/NERVE WRECKING?

I think BORING is great. I'll take BORING + 120K a year anyday!😀

But PAINFUL? I am not sure about that!
 
SHC1984 said:
Do you rather have BORING or STRESSFUL/PAINFUL/NERVE WRECKING?

I think BORING is great. I'll take BORING + 120K a year anyday!😀

But PAINFUL? I am not sure about that!
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Yeah because all Costco pharmacists do is count pills and work the register. They never call docs or counsel. Soooo boooooring....
 
theres not enough costco locations and rphs to even comment on this board. costco isn't isnt the size of cvs or wags in terms of pharmacy. so we have a member or two here who work for costco. sample size = 1. no body knows unless you work there yourself or you have 200 people telling you the same thing.
 
Publix is another example of a nice less-stress environment to work at. My WAG pharmacist said he used to spend the downtime trading stocks on his phone at work and that he wished he never left for the bonus he was offered, definitely wasn't worth it.
 
SHC1984 said:
Have you ever heard anyone make a thread and complained about Costco? I haven't. I have seen PLENTY of Wags and CVS though!

I have also worked at Wags, Target and Walmart...so I do have retail experience and know what is good and what is bad.



Do you rather have BORING or STRESSFUL/PAINFUL/NERVE WRECKING?

I think BORING is great. I'll take BORING + 120K a year anyday!😀

But PAINFUL? I am not sure about that!
Click to expand...

farmadiazepine said:
theres not enough costco locations and rphs to even comment on this board. costco isn't isnt the size of cvs or wags in terms of pharmacy. so we have a member or two here who work for costco. sample size = 1. no body knows unless you work there yourself or you have 200 people telling you the same thing.
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It's great if you're a pharmacist, not if you're an intern. If you actually wanna learn and reconstitute/compound stuff, take doctor calls, counsel patients, then you should work elsewhere.

As a pharmacist, you can do all that. Costco doesn't care about speed or anything, no need to have stuff filled in 15 minutes, in fact they prefer you take a longer time to fill stuff so the customer walks around in the store longer and buys other things. In NYC, I believe most pharmacists start around $60/hour.

Hours are awesome, you're either working like 930AM-830PM, or 930AM-630PM, or 1130AM-630PM, or 1130AM-830PM. There are usually 2 pharmacists overlapping.
 
owlegrad said:
Costco has a company wide policy against letting their interns do anything above tech work? 😕
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Doubt it's a company wide policy. I think it was just something with those pharmacists at the store I worked at. Thing is, I hate working pick up because I have to go look through the bins for the script and then ring up all their items. Their cash registers were rather archaic.

Best thing about working at Costco is high pay + getting to wear jeans + t-shirt to work, and Costco pizza + hot dogs are ****ing delicious so it's always a nice lunch.

npage148 said:
Sounds like a great use of payroll
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Pharmacy is not a major moneymaker for them. They want people to spend money in the whole store when they come by. A couple of the techs at this store were making like $30/hour since they were there for 10 years.
 
Sparda29 said:
Doubt it's a company wide policy. I think it was just something with those pharmacists at the store I worked at. Thing is, I hate working pick up because I have to go look through the bins for the script and then ring up all their items. Their cash registers were rather archaic.
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That seems liekly to me too, but the conversation up to now made it sound like this applies to all Costcos. :laugh:
 
owlegrad said:
Costco has a company wide policy against letting their interns do anything above tech work? 😕
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Why would any pharmacy student work at Costco, if that is the case? What a joke of a company.
 
Sparda29 said:
Doubt it's a company wide policy. I think it was just something with those pharmacists at the store I worked at. Thing is, I hate working pick up because I have to go look through the bins for the script and then ring up all their items. Their cash registers were rather archaic.

Best thing about working at Costco is high pay + getting to wear jeans + t-shirt to work, and Costco pizza + hot dogs are ****ing delicious so it's always a nice lunch.



Pharmacy is not a major moneymaker for them. They want people to spend money in the whole store when they come by. A couple of the techs at this store were making like $30/hour since they were there for 10 years.
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It was probably a special store level Sparda only policy. I imagine it went something like this......"Anyone who lets this kid touch anything gets fired immediatly."
 
owlegrad said:
Costco has a company wide policy against letting their interns do anything above tech work? 😕
Click to expand...

I was an intern at Walmart and they do NOT allow anyone to count CIIs or touch CIIs except for pharmacist. I thought that was pretty strange.
 
Interns are not above doing tech work. Most of the times when I worked as an intern, I was the only one there as a tech. If they want to pay you $20/hr to ring up someone's Cheeto's with their Lipitor RX, so be it.

I probably would also not allow Sparda to do pharmacist type activities as an intern.
 
KARM12 said:
Interns are not above doing tech work. Most of the times when I worked as an intern, I was the only one there as a tech. If they want to pay you $20/hr to ring up someone's Cheeto's with their Lipitor RX, so be it.

I probably would also not allow Sparda to do pharmacist type activities as an intern.
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Did anyone suggest we are?

I don't make $20/hr at my retail or hospital job. 🙁
 
MountainPharmD said:
It was probably a special store level Sparda only policy. I imagine it went something like this......"Anyone who lets this kid touch anything gets fired immediatly."
Click to expand...

I only got written up for 2 things there.
#1 - I set the air conditioning system to 55 degrees (it was ****ing 110 degrees outside) and forgot to turn it off at the end of the day. System froze up and had to be replaced.

#2 - Placed a C3 script on hold??? Apparently they don't do that at Costco. I've seen it done all the time at CVS.
 
I have done all pharmacist type activities except patient counseling...I haven't done much of it.

You pretty much have to really KNOW the drug and the patient's disease state to counsel them right?

I would not feel confident about counseling on something I am not an expert on.

Can they give me 15 mins to look up stuff in Lexicomp first? :laugh:
 
SHC1984 said:
I have done all pharmacist type activities except patient counseling...I haven't done much of it.

You pretty much have to really KNOW the drug and the patient's disease state to counsel them right?

I would not feel confident about counseling on something I am not an expert on.

Can they give me 15 mins to look up stuff in Lexicomp first? :laugh:
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it doesnt take 15 minutes to look up general info on a drug! takes me like 2 minutes if im not sure. I hve been out of school for 8 years. I have to look up info all the time. Have some confidence in yourself.
 
Doctor M said:
it doesnt take 15 minutes to look up general info on a drug! takes me like 2 minutes if im not sure. I hve been out of school for 8 years. I have to look up info all the time. Have some confidence in yourself.
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What do you tell the patient though?

"sorry, give me 2 minutes to look it up first. Be right back!" lol....

I need some confidence in patient counseling for sure!
 
SHC1984 said:
What do you tell the patient though?

"sorry, give me 2 minutes to look it up first. Be right back!" lol....

I need some confidence in patient counseling for sure!
Click to expand...

Well, obviously, if you are filling the rx, you look up the info before you approach them. If the patient asks you a question, and you do NOT know, then you be honest and say, you know, im really not sure. Let me look it up for you. Most patients appreciate your honesty. Better to look it up, than tell them wrong info.
 
SHC1984 said:
What do you tell the patient though?

"sorry, give me 2 minutes to look it up first. Be right back!" lol....

I need some confidence in patient counseling for sure!
Click to expand...

Come on SHC, not every pharmacist knows everything!!!
 
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