i just got accepted to pharmacy school but i hate working in the pharmacy

[pharmacistforever]

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ok I have been working in cvs for a year and half now.I really hate my job.I hate that people are rude and ignorant about everything we do. I hate that I don't get paid as much as i should. I hate that I have to do million things for a minimum wage salary.I am ethnic and my parents somehow pushed me to pursue a career in pharmacy. I dont know if I should accept the offer from the pharmacy school that i just got into. I hate the responsibility of the job and that you can lose your job because you dispensed one wrong medication. i feel like I can do a lot of things in my life as long as I like what i am doing. i understand that pharmacy is not all about chain retail but i honestly dont know. I dont want to be stuck with 200k loans just because i wanna make my parents feel better. I have already accomplished a lot in my life. I am just so unsure about the next step. most of the pharmacists in cvs hate the guts of their jobs. i dont want to be fricking miserable for the rest of my life. I worked so hard to get to this point ,I am a believer in hard work and i don't mind working hard. I just want to be happy.

 

[monkey24]

find something you truly enjoy doing! if you dont like it now, how are you gonna spend the next 20 or 30 yrs of your life working as a pharmacist?? also, being 200k in debt is no joke. if tuition was cheaper, i would go for it... but dont invest in something that you wont be happy doing.

best of luck to you!

 

[deleted390966]

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[pharmacistforever]

anymore feedback ?

 

[MrPrePharm]

anymore feedback ?

Don't let one experience in a retail pharmacy setting turn you away from the entire field. There are vastly different experiences to be encountered in hospital, clinical, and specialty pharmacy environments.

I work for a chain, and while I love the nature of my job, I am frustrated and stressed by the lack of tech hours, inability to take a break or lunch even when working 10 hour shifts, poor pay rate, abuse from customers, etc. It is not uncommon for me to have two phones pressed to my ears while ringing out customers, performing data entry, and running between fill station and drive-thru. The other day we filled over 520 scripts with only two techs and one pharmacist for most of the day. What I've learned is not that I dislike pharmacy, but that I dislike the working conditions my company has established. .

 

[PharmtoCS]

anymore feedback ?

Study computer science. You won't have to deal with the verbal abuse in chain retail, you'll get paid far more relative to the student loans you must take out, job growth in the field is much faster than in pharmacy, and the work environment is much better.

 

[deleted390966]

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[rederza]

Yeah don't because chances are you're gonna land yourself in retail anyways.

 

[PharmDCandidate2014]

^ ^ Let me complete your sentence, and give credit to @ExpressMaiL:

Yeah don't because chances are you're gonna land yourself in retail anyways...working for $35/hour.

 

[oldstock]

^ ^ Let me complete your sentence, and give credit to @ExpressMaiL:

Yeah don't because chances are you're gonna land yourself in retail anyways...working for $35/hour.

when school No. 200 opens (ka-ching), I think it is when we see wage/salary hits 20s range 🙂

 

[lisinopril]

If you hate pharmacy job + 200K+ plus if you go for Pharm.D + no job prospect in future = GET OUT NOW!

 

[pharmacistforever]

its a scarey thought

 

[MrPrePharm]

The fact that his parents push him into Pharmacy is enough to NOT pursue Pharmacy.

\

Late response, but I've been "pushed" by parents into things I've ended up loving. Sometimes people need an initial push to take them out of their comfort zone. That said, my point wasn't that you should be pressured into pursuing pharmacy, just that you should refrain from judging an entire entire field based on one experience in a single retail setting.

Even if retail does provide the most opportunity for employment, different companies and even locations/managers might provide a setting that you find more enjoyable. And if you really don't want to work in retail, and are willing to relocate, etc, you will find a job outside of retail, although it may require effort and time.

That said, you'll need to decide if pharmacy is something that you honestly want to do based on your own goals. Parents may be pushy, but if you told them you would be miserable in the profession, would they honestly still want you to do it?

 

[VP_Pharm2004]

You sound a lot like me when I was considering pharmacy. All I have to say is.... DO NOT DO IT!!

Do something that will make you truly happy.

 

[pulathomas51]

Hopefully this isn't too late, I have had a long (5 year) battle of withdrawing from pharmacy school and then attempting to get back in. During this time I had some serious thinking and also got a job at a big chain pharmacy. I absolutely loathe retail, personally I am now more equipped to inform my grandparents on which Medicare coverage plan is right for them instead of the important things. However, instead of giving up and choosing a different field because I truly do love the field of pharmacy, I got creative. I am currently on track to get my Pharm. D and MPH(masters in public health). My goal with this degree is to help engineer vaccines and inform the general public as a practioner, the importance of vaccinations. It may seem far fetched, but I have actually had really good luck with government agencies informing me of the importance and unique qualities a pharmacist with a masters in public health could bring to the table.

Now I know this is weird/extremely unique, but desperate times call for innovations, not giving up. If you truly want to use your love of science and drugs and everything that comes along with pharmacy, then do it. Get creative, read scientific journals and look at how many of the authors are Pharm. D's.

Just a thought, good luck in whatever you choose.