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Yes I would leave immediately, unfortunately with those stores you can't help the customers as much as you would like to.
How Did You Escape Retail?
- Thread starter croquemonsieur
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Yes I would leave immediately, unfortunately with those stores you can't help the customers as much as you would like to.
It's not what you're saying bro...it's how you're saying it. Make sure to create all your online usernames with "manager" or "rxm" in it too...you'd want everyone to know that they're speaking to mr. big pharmacy manager man. Don't forget to begin your conversations and phone calls by announcing your title too...gosh...people gotta know right? It's almost like you've turned OP's question and this thread into an opportunity to brag about yourself.....
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There's that nerve and one of the excuses, but sorry "bro" just telling the truth not bragging.
Just look at the title, escape retail. This job is cake why would anyone need to escape?
See..the point of this thread was to answer "HOW" pharmacists can escape retail. It was going fine until you showed up and started speculating on "WHY" people are doing it. There are many reasons to do it. Yes, some people hate retail. Others want to develop themselves professionally and progress into new practice settings. You came in here...nose high and little pinky out...and called people lazy for not knowing how to motivate their staff and imposed on them the reason you think they want to leave or how your excellent management skills made all the difference in the world and that you should be emulated.
Well there's also a place for that...I propose that you should create your own thread where we can join in to praise you. It will be on point and not a distraction for the other people who are here on this thread contributing their experiences and stories. A man of your reputation and accomplishments surely deserves his own thread and fan base.
I mean if you're shy...and humble...I volunteer to create the thread for you. I will title it "Mr. Big Pharmacy Manager Man."
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Do you set the metrics and flu shot goals for your pharmacy?
Can you opt out of programs/protocols/initiatives if you see that they're not working?
I do. I can.
I was an "executive pharmacist" at Target.
Do you know how many times I flew on a private jet or made executive decisions?
Never.
If I never actually preformed the job of an actual executive, was I ever actually an executive?
A rose is a rose by any other name.
A dandelion is still a dandelion, no matter how much it enjoys enforcing corporate policy on the hourlies.
EDIT: I do wonder how often you identify yourself as doctor vs manager.
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LOL
So mister big shot here cannot handle the real stores that are high volume
Come work where i work my friend. The land of oxy, tech call outs and ridiculous volume
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Lot of nerves hit here.
It's going to happen when you go off topic to praise yourself. Like I said...if your eminence would allow it...I will open a separate thread where we can join in to praise you...and you only.
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Its interesting how people get so worked up over something a person they've never met said.
Look if you feel you do a good job then I'm not talking about you but after 16 years, I use to help fix stores, I've seen it all.
It's amazing that you're still going at it. This is not the thread nor the place to praise yourself. That's the point everyone is making. If you want to brag about yourself...do it in your own thread.
I am not the one that you were arguing with originally. I was just merely passing by and saw these childish comments of yours and had to say something. I don't have a stake in your debate with the other poster.
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Then stop responding, like I just said I'm just some random person giving my observation on why people struggle in retail. If people think I'm just full of myself and clueless so be it but don't get so worked up over it.
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To address the original poster's question:
I was happy at Target, but decided to leave corporate retail when i found out about the CVS takeover.
Not only is the company crap, I came to realize that pharmacists have a responsibility to refuse to participate in practices/policies that are bad for the profession.
That, and I think corporate is going to continue getting exponentially worse as saturation increases.
I was happy at Target, but decided to leave corporate retail when i found out about the CVS takeover.
Not only is the company crap, I came to realize that pharmacists have a responsibility to refuse to participate in practices/policies that are bad for the profession.
That, and I think corporate is going to continue getting exponentially worse as saturation increases.
No one asked for your observation on that matter...it's off topic and does not address the question of the thread. Please stop talking about yourself...I came in here just for that...to point that out. As for getting worked up over...I feel that you're much more worked up over it than I am...having to defend yourself from multiple posters.
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The job IS easy. I love my job, and I love retail, and I love my store/team/customers... But some days I hate it. It's not b/c the job is difficult, but there are certain things you can't control in retail that really frustrate you, regardless of how well your team is managed (I'm talking primarily payroll and staffing, which leads to being overworked and potentially more issues, or poor pay for your techs which lead to turnover).
To say people hate retail b/c they're not good/struggle at it is unfair.
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You seem obsessed with me.
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The struggle is the biggest reason though for new pharmacists. With Walgreens they have 10 days of training. If you've had zero experience with retail, you could say that isn't enough training but really it is. Being uncomfortable with all the rejections/interactions is what slows them down and once they get behind they never catch up and they become frustrated.
If you've been working retail and still find the experience horrible after a few years then you have to ask yourself what could possibly be wrong because the way things are set up works for a high majority of the stores.
Are there bad days? Sure, sometimes it seems like everyone has an insurance issue. Well call back your dh to help and keep chugging along.
I know....that's why i'm proposing a separate thread just for you...I'll gather up all your fans. We'll spread tales of your great triumph and how you overcame while others were too lazy to do so.
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OK guys, enough please. Be the bigger person and let the other guy have the last word. Let's get back on topic please.
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Sorry sometimes they make it too easy that you have to keep aggravating them.
I'm done now until I have to defend retail again.
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Target pharmacy is going downhill fast. They were bleeding money so they sold it off to CVS which is trying to right the ship but they too are hemorrhaging money. Look for Target to close all its pharmacies with in 5 years. Most of the target pharmacies are doing sub 80 scripts a day and they need at least 120 to break even.
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I wish I had techs and a staff pharmacist to train and talk to. The turnover is insane because the work environment and "labor budget" allows for like 45 hours of pharmacist pay and 10 hours of tech pay a week. Then I get DM's down my throat for using too many hours. So I gladly cut back the tech hours and have zero pharmacist overlap. Then get DM's down my throat for not meeting quotas. Then I gladly bump up the tech hours...
Not a pleasant cycle. Be thankful your store falls in the 1.2%. Retail pharmacy can really be a great place to work if you're lucky enough to be in your situation. But when people who have never stepped foot in a pharmacy are in control of the pharmacy it leads to bad outcomes.
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It's a result of garbage leadership.
They stopped caring about having strong leaders, and started promoting every idiot that could spout whatever buzz words are popular at headquarters.
Also- CVS purchased Rx files and patients, not pharmacies.
The only ones who fooled themselves into believing that were the Rx BPs
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I forgot to point out that this is wrong for Target pharmacies.
Might be true for CVS Target hybrid
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Regarding the OP's original question, I just left WAG (full-time that is) and got a pretty cool Mail-Order gig. I was with WAG since 2005, first as a front-end manager, then pharmacy intern, then staff rph, then RxM for past 14 months.
Retail has changed a lot, and the stress and lack of work/life balance was getting old after a while. I was driving 40 minutes to my store, now I'm only 15-20 minutes from my current job. Furthermore, I have a set schedule; M-F 9-6ish, no weekends, no holidays, 1hr lunches, two 15 min breaks, 4 weeks PTO year 1, OT pay at 1.5x hourly rate, competitive salary, $1000 raise per state license I obtain, no phones, no insurance, no flu shots, etc, etc. It's an entry-level position, but I'm completing my M.S. at UF right now and there is room for promotions and advancement in the next few years. I'm staying on as per-diem basis only at WAG, but I'll play that by ear and see how long I want to continue with that.
Anyhow, there are potential opportunities out there, just have to be willing to be patient and almost likely take a small paycut too in order to get out of retail. Have a solid resume, work on your interview skills, network and keep searching.
Retail has changed a lot, and the stress and lack of work/life balance was getting old after a while. I was driving 40 minutes to my store, now I'm only 15-20 minutes from my current job. Furthermore, I have a set schedule; M-F 9-6ish, no weekends, no holidays, 1hr lunches, two 15 min breaks, 4 weeks PTO year 1, OT pay at 1.5x hourly rate, competitive salary, $1000 raise per state license I obtain, no phones, no insurance, no flu shots, etc, etc. It's an entry-level position, but I'm completing my M.S. at UF right now and there is room for promotions and advancement in the next few years. I'm staying on as per-diem basis only at WAG, but I'll play that by ear and see how long I want to continue with that.
Anyhow, there are potential opportunities out there, just have to be willing to be patient and almost likely take a small paycut too in order to get out of retail. Have a solid resume, work on your interview skills, network and keep searching.
I cannot emphasize enough to new grads that this is the type of job you should be searching for, regardless of what type of pharmacist you are, if you want to kick the stress and just be able to enjoy life. Constantly fighting for specialist positions while working yourself to the bone, never having time off, and always getting abused was not the path for me.
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LOL, I've decided that if I ever do return to retail, I'm going to be that stereotypical lazy, difficult RPh.
You know, the guy that somehow doesn't have to do vaccines, never takes the shifts that they call him to do, and totally ignores metrics but never gets written up
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I just got a recruiter call for a hospital position - I am a retail rph who graduated in '11 and have no hospital experience. They said that wasn't a deal breaker. Downside is that it was in an undesirable area and the pay wasn't great. I turned it down because the pay cut was too much but if you really wanted out you could probably get something like that. At least you would get some experience and would end up with a resume that wouldn't be immediately discarded by a better hospital/non retail setting.
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Know a guy that did exactly this in CA. Quit retail, worked in sh1t hole hospital for less than a year in BFE for $58/hr (no experience retail new grad), and move back to metro hospital as soon as he found another job at $66. Happy ending.
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In any other state (besides CA), hospital pharmacist wage of $58/hr would be considered pretty good... right? Hell I'd be happy with $58/hr...
It seems that the more metro and populated areas are paying less these days, because all of the new grads want to work/live there.
Totally, $58/hr would be pretty nice. The big teaching hospital nearby starts out at $47.9/hr.
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I think people tend to undervalue the merits of their PharmD, and if they were to look around, they'd find that breaking out is easier than they think. You have a medical doctorate in a sea of bachelors and masters degree graduates. There would be many firms that would at least take a look at you if you were to present your resume in the right way and build up a requisite skillset on the side.
A primary barrier to doing this is information assymmetry. It's hard to know what you don't know, and if someone or something were to clue you in on how to look and how to prepare it becomes much easier.
Case in point: I worked for a grocery store manager in his mid-50s who had never worked outside retail. For all intents and purposes, his career was in twilight. When the pharmacy chain closed, he was beside himself because he didn't find another pharmacy willing to hire him, especially in the tri-state's saturated market. He asked around for advice from people who knew and deep dove all the resources he could about reconfiguring his resume/cover letter, contacting people, etc and landed a job in a small pharma company doing clinical trial development (recently had his one year anniversary there). If he can do it, so can anyone else.
Another case: I knew another pharmacist who was fed up with working in retail. What he did was look at pages like these: http://biopharmguy.com/index.php and these: http://biopharmguy.com/links/company-by-location-clinical-research.php, looked at job requirements and responsibilities, tailored his activities outside work (volunteering) and modified his resume accordingly to fit job specifications. Then, he drew up an Excel sheet and hammered away, eventually joining a CRO.
I just want to put this out there for those who are looking desperately, in case it helps or encourages. Find resources that will point you to the right direction, and be determined to search high and low for openings - easier said than done, but certainly reasonable and definitely possible. People may say these stories aren't the norm - and they aren't - though I argue that it's not for lack of ability, but for lack of information.
A primary barrier to doing this is information assymmetry. It's hard to know what you don't know, and if someone or something were to clue you in on how to look and how to prepare it becomes much easier.
Case in point: I worked for a grocery store manager in his mid-50s who had never worked outside retail. For all intents and purposes, his career was in twilight. When the pharmacy chain closed, he was beside himself because he didn't find another pharmacy willing to hire him, especially in the tri-state's saturated market. He asked around for advice from people who knew and deep dove all the resources he could about reconfiguring his resume/cover letter, contacting people, etc and landed a job in a small pharma company doing clinical trial development (recently had his one year anniversary there). If he can do it, so can anyone else.
Another case: I knew another pharmacist who was fed up with working in retail. What he did was look at pages like these: http://biopharmguy.com/index.php and these: http://biopharmguy.com/links/company-by-location-clinical-research.php, looked at job requirements and responsibilities, tailored his activities outside work (volunteering) and modified his resume accordingly to fit job specifications. Then, he drew up an Excel sheet and hammered away, eventually joining a CRO.
I just want to put this out there for those who are looking desperately, in case it helps or encourages. Find resources that will point you to the right direction, and be determined to search high and low for openings - easier said than done, but certainly reasonable and definitely possible. People may say these stories aren't the norm - and they aren't - though I argue that it's not for lack of ability, but for lack of information.
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