Feel like I'm working in a pressure cooker--please give me another idea!

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Snowflake45

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I have been a tech with CVS for 4 years, and for the most part, it's been alright. Suddenly, corporate pressure is on, and it is HORRIBLE. We have been told that our store is "on the chopping block" because of KPM, SSS, etc. If our scores don't improve, all Rph and techs will be fired.
We have been told to tear off SSS surveys and take them home and do them, pass them out to family/friends/neighbors, etc. Even our DM said this. We HAVE to greet drive-thru and answer telephone withing 20 seconds, and our tech hours have been cut.
Today was a NIGHTMARE. We had a few techs but EVERY TIME I try to do something, it is lane 1, one pharmacy call, lane 2. With one tech at drop-off and one at pick-up, and one at production, everyone tried to handle everything but it just fell apart. I would be on the phone with a patient, and then hear LANE 1, and the pharmacist would freak out "ANSWER THE PHONE!!" so I would grab ANOTHER phone and answer drive-thru, then get back to my original phone call. Plus PCQ calls (medication adherence reminders)..I felt like I was working at McDonald's during lunchtime. I literally could not go three seconds without being interuppted by the phone. ALL. DAY. LONG. And the few times that it got past a second ring, the pharmacist panicked.
I HATE working like this. The problem is I'm a part-time student, and I need to be able to work weekends/nights to get in my full-time hours. Can anyone suggest any jobs that pay around $12 an hour? I would love to work hospital but can't work a rotating schedule because of my classes. I was so stressed out today I just wanted to strangle someone. Our pharmacists are completely on edge because they fear they are losing their jobs. I really have to find something else because I feel like it's only a matter of time before I really screw up a Rx and I don't want any of my pharmacists or any patients to suffer for that...I am just not built for this type of pressure-cooker environment, but I have bills to pay. What else can I do?
Please offer me some suggestions....please...I have been searching job ads and got my resume updated (some management experience at a restaurant, mostly being a pharmacy tech) but haven't found anything yet.
 
I'm just curious, are you planning on going to pharmacy school eventually? Because if you are and you want to stay in pharmacy, the economy is tough right now, but maybe you can look into mail order pharmacy if there is one in your area
 
No, I'm not going into pharmacy...I'm going into something else, I have about 2 years of school left. I WISH we had a mail-order pharmacy. We are a pretty good sized city but no mail order place here.
 
Snowflake45 said:
I have been a tech with CVS for 4 years, and for the most part, it's been alright. Suddenly, corporate pressure is on, and it is HORRIBLE. We have been told that our store is "on the chopping block" because of KPM, SSS, etc. If our scores don't improve, all Rph and techs will be fired.
We have been told to tear off SSS surveys and take them home and do them, pass them out to family/friends/neighbors, etc. Even our DM said this. We HAVE to greet drive-thru and answer telephone withing 20 seconds, and our tech hours have been cut.
Today was a NIGHTMARE. We had a few techs but EVERY TIME I try to do something, it is lane 1, one pharmacy call, lane 2. With one tech at drop-off and one at pick-up, and one at production, everyone tried to handle everything but it just fell apart. I would be on the phone with a patient, and then hear LANE 1, and the pharmacist would freak out "ANSWER THE PHONE!!" so I would grab ANOTHER phone and answer drive-thru, then get back to my original phone call. Plus PCQ calls (medication adherence reminders)..I felt like I was working at McDonald's during lunchtime. I literally could not go three seconds without being interuppted by the phone. ALL. DAY. LONG. And the few times that it got past a second ring, the pharmacist panicked.
I HATE working like this. The problem is I'm a part-time student, and I need to be able to work weekends/nights to get in my full-time hours. Can anyone suggest any jobs that pay around $12 an hour? I would love to work hospital but can't work a rotating schedule because of my classes. I was so stressed out today I just wanted to strangle someone. Our pharmacists are completely on edge because they fear they are losing their jobs. I really have to find something else because I feel like it's only a matter of time before I really screw up a Rx and I don't want any of my pharmacists or any patients to suffer for that...I am just not built for this type of pressure-cooker environment, but I have bills to pay. What else can I do?
Please offer me some suggestions....please...I have been searching job ads and got my resume updated (some management experience at a restaurant, mostly being a pharmacy tech) but haven't found anything yet.
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Sorry you have to work under those conditions, makes me so glad I passed up a job offer with CVS...

When I was in school, I worked at a restaurant as a server and averaged about $18-$20 an hour from my tips and hourly wage. I didn't work in a pharmacy during school. I think working a tip based job makes the most money without a degree.
 
CVS is not getting any better. Look for other opportunities especially if you are not planning to go to pharmacy school. Get out before it gets you.
 
Wow, that sounds terrible. I have no suggestions about anywhere else to work, but there are things you can do to make your life easier. When a phone rings, all you have to do is pick it up and say, "Hold please". 20 second timer is satisfied. Triple S is what it is. Rip it off and call it in. Or rip it of and give it to your good customers. Or just write the number 5 next to the phone number and let people know you only get credit for 5's. Most people would never guess that anything less than a perfect score is failing.

Do you use the workflow assignment board? If the workflow is disorganized than getting anything done is going to be tough. Everyone needs to work efficiently. Teamwork is key. I know nothing about your store at all. But I will say that in general stores that go way over budget and complain when hours get cut often suffer from employees that just do not use the tools at their disposal to make their lives easier. Alternatively you can call it playing the game, but the point is you don't have to kill yourself to get the work done, you just have to know how to work to the metrics. It's relatively easy once you know how. A big part is just following policy and workflow. Do you sign people up for readyfill? That alone eliminates so much work down the line.

I hope you find a better job! :luck:
 
This is going to sound crazy, but my store has been a challenge or trending store for the better part of three years (even with 6 different staff pharmacists cycling through). One of the gimmicks we run when we want to get SSS scores up is to do "Take 5 for 5s." We buy (well, store-supply) a bag of fun sized Take 5s and have a bunch of little neon green label stickers on each one with the phone number to call. Every time someone gets a survey thing, we give them a piece of candy while we give a little spiel about calling in and giving us 5s. Unfortunately, my store has bigger problems than can be solved by candy, but when we push for this, our scores usually go up for a few months. Might be a short-term solution for you?
As for the other stuff, I feel your pain :-/
 
owlegrad said:
Wow, that sounds terrible. I have no suggestions about anywhere else to work, but there are things you can do to make your life easier. When a phone rings, all you have to do is pick it up and say, "Hold please". 20 second timer is satisfied. Triple S is what it is. Rip it off and call it in. Or rip it of and give it to your good customers. Or just write the number 5 next to the phone number and let people know you only get credit for 5's. Most people would never guess that anything less than a perfect score is failing.

Do you use the workflow assignment board? If the workflow is disorganized than getting anything done is going to be tough. Everyone needs to work efficiently. Teamwork is key. I know nothing about your store at all. But I will say that in general stores that go way over budget and complain when hours get cut often suffer from employees that just do not use the tools at their disposal to make their lives easier. Alternatively you can call it playing the game, but the point is you don't have to kill yourself to get the work done, you just have to know how to work to the metrics. It's relatively easy once you know how. A big part is just following policy and workflow. Do you sign people up for readyfill? That alone eliminates so much work down the line.

I hope you find a better job! :luck:
Click to expand...

This is part of our problem. We can't just answer and say "hold please" because the pharmacists tell us not to and our DM/pharmacy sup call stores to check that we are using proper greeting *CVS Pharmacy, this is Bianca, how can I help you* or whatever, and that we are just not putting people on hold. As for workstation board, I personally am a huge believer in it but our pharmacists won't follow it. They make it out but they make the cards for like "2-6 pm" or "6-10 pm" no matter what the schedule is..so you may be "on the board" at 2 pm if you aren't scheduled til 4 pm, or you may be on there til 6 even if you leave at 4...so it doesn't work. I have showed them how to do it but they won't. Two of our techs are LAZY. One of them actually trained a girl and told her "if you pretend to be on the phone you don't get asked to do stuff"..?? It is a huge problem but they haven't fired them..Not sure why.

As for the candy bars and the spiel, I would LOVE to do that but if we get caught giving a survey to a customer we get in trouble. We are supposed to do them so we are GUARANTEED that they are taken and we get 5's, as we have "no room for error"..?? So I'm supposed to spend my own time running around to different phones making calls so someone else gets their bonus. Ugh.

I have never waited tables but I am going to check with some restaurants. Thanks for yall's input...I think part of the problem is CVS' structure and part of it is my particular store/district. Taking SSS surveys is against corporate policy so that's my district's problem.
 
Snowflake45 said:
Two of our techs are LAZY. One of them actually trained a girl and told her "if you pretend to be on the phone you don't get asked to do stuff"..?? It is a huge problem but they haven't fired them..Not sure why.
I have never waited tables but I am going to check with some restaurants. Thanks for yall's input...I think part of the problem is CVS' structure and part of it is my particular store/district. Taking SSS surveys is against corporate policy so that's my district's problem.
Click to expand...

Whether you plan on working at CVS or not the key is to try to get out of there as soon as you can. Look for a security gig, that way you can get paid while studying. Waiting tables is decent money but it is a lot like working at CVS. Being a waiter/waitress is a lot of Bull$hit, it's a race against the clock like CVS is, Customers complain all the time and are very nasty just like CVS. One thing about restaurants is that people are actually asked to pay money for food so you don't get the "IS IT FREE??? IS IT FREE???" from the welfare leaches all day long.
 
Snowflake you have come to the right place to receive advice about CVS. Rest assured that the problem is not you or the pharmacists or even the lazy techs. Since the failed merger of CVS and Caremark they have used a leadership style referred to as Pacesetting. This is where the pacesetter (CEO) is so focused on their goals that they can appear to not care about the people they rely on to achieve those goals. It is an effective tool when used for short periods of time or in moderation. When it is used to excess it usually results in increased anxiety for the team (company) and failure. To be a successful business you must do around 5 things very well. The way CVS measures 30+metrics results in staff not being able to prioritize. Read some of the threads on here about CVS. No one likes working for them unless they are taking 60mgs of Prozac a day or drinking excessively. I recommend you seek employment as a waitress. Working the fry station at McDonald's beats working for CVS.
 
I loathed being a waitress but I would loathe what you're describing more (sounds like my Eckerds days). I waitressed 10 years ago and made about $20/hr.

That is not pharmacy, that is hell. I don't know what it will take for retail to change. It's not like that at every company and it wasn't always like that. Makes me sad 🙁
 
This type of leadership will only lead to patients being harm due to errors. The CEO is not on the hook. The pharmacist is ultimately responsible. That's something you have to live with the rest of your life. Whatever, I am not going to be irresponsible and make mistakes. No job is worth it.
 
I have some insight on Larry as he rose through the ranks on the east coast which is where I now practice. He was well known for being an "axe man" as a DM and then RM. Tom Ryan was considered to be a people person and generally well liked whereas Larry is feared.
 
Anyone else notice CVS has been very strict on being on-time? I know several people that got laid off because they were late.
 
SWSF said:
Anyone else notice CVS has been very strict on being on-time? I know several people that got laid off because they were late.
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Being late multiple times is unacceptable. It is disrespectful to the employer and shows you really do not care. I used to be a manager at a small restaurant and I fired a few folks over them not being able to simply show up on time. People are counting on you to show up at a particular time and as a professional you should be able to do that, plain and simple. If you can not handle doing that I would fire your ass.
 
PumpkinSmasher said:
Being late multiple times is unacceptable. It is disrespectful to the employer and shows you really do not care, fire their ass! I used to be a manager at a small restaurant and I fired a few folks over them not being able to simply show up on time.
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No one is saying that is acceptable. I was more curious as to why all of the sudden.
 
SWSF said:
Here's the leadership team:

http://info.cvscaremark.com/our-company/leadership-team

According to Forbe's: Larry Merlo, the CEO, made close to $11 million last year. He's making the big bucks at the employees' and patients' expense.
Click to expand...

A generic compilation of profiles of old dying white men, with one or two female fillers to mock gender balance, who in this case do not look far off from men.
 
Do you have an In-N-Out Burger near you? ...starts at $10/hr, a little below your $12, but have you ever seen the kids who work there? Seriously, they're all happy and polite, like Stepford kids. A much better environment than that CVS nonsense you're putting up with, and an easy low-stress way to put some money in your pocket while you're focusing on school.
 
If I were you I'd get the hell out while you are still sane. That sounds absolutely horrific and since you have no intention of pursuing pharmacy as a career I would jump ship. Nobody should have to work in an environment like that.
 
Where is Rxnupe at? Come on buddy dont let me down. Tell us how great CVS is and how everyone should stop bashing them. Here is another first hand account of how ****ty the company is.
 
Snowflake45 said:
I have never waited tables but I am going to check with some restaurants. Thanks for yall's input...I think part of the problem is CVS' structure and part of it is my particular store/district. Taking SSS surveys is against corporate policy so that's my district's problem.
Click to expand...

I would start off looking for a job at a buffet, those are pretty easy and simple. Just serve their drinks and buss the tables. The customers get their own food, so no need to learn the menu and worry about the bill.
 
I worked at a CVS that sounds a little like yours. Super stressful, crazy busy, everyone is on edge.

I went back to an old job as a food delivery driver after about 6 months, and I have not regretted it at all. IMO, food delivery rocks. I make min. wage hourly + tips (which usually match hourly wage), making out with about $15/hr. The on the job training is quick and simple. I have hundreds of words for how much I love this job, but I'll just say it's awesome.

FWIW, I work for a locally owned and operated restaurant where I work. I have never worked at Pizza Hut/Papa John's, and I think people that work at corporate chain pizza places have similar experiences to people that work at corporate chain pharmacies (dealing with ridiculous demands from big wigs, continually working short staffed etc...).

It has been a perfect job for me as a FT student (flexible scheduling), and it has not held me back at all. Just something to think about.
 
MountainPharmD said:
Where is Rxnupe at? Come on buddy dont let me down. Tell us how great CVS is and how everyone should stop bashing them. Here is another first hand account of how ****ty the company is.
Click to expand...

lol you beat me to calling out rxnupe mountain. Man these cvs hate threads are increasing... I love it!! Spread the cvs hate!!
 
It makes me sad to read threads like this. How did pharmacy change so quickly? I wonder what pharmacy will be like in 10,20,30 years from now. How is CVS getting away with this?
 
Great news!!! I had applied for a PRN job at a hospital a while back, and they called me and told me I got the position. It pays $13 an hour to start and $15 an hour after 3 months of training. The director of the pharmacy said I can have as many hours as I want because they are making a lot of upgrades and using their main techs for other things for the next several months. He is going to work with my school schedule.
I am SO EXCITED 🙂 I already went and ordered a couple of pairs of scrubs.
 
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