Making Techs Cry

[thefuturepharmD]

That explains it all.

Seriously though, if you back off too much, at some point you will be enabling her bad behavior. Not every issue needs to be pushed, but not pushing any issues will contribute to her special snowflake status.

My husband once had a teenage employee claim he was harassing her after he told her she needed to button her top shirt button. She had been unbuttoning to show cleavage in an effort to get tips. She fessed up to the whole thing being payback, but now he is paranoid about harassment claims. He later had an employee coming in to work in a store he managed wearing skin tight and nearly see thru leggings sans underwear. Apparently you could see everything. This store had no dress code, people who worked there were always showing each other their private piercings and discussing sex and stuff. No one was a prude. It was in a rough area of town with some sketchy people and the employees sometimes worked alone. Still, he was too chicken**** to say anything. He made the owners wife talk to her when she came to town like 10 days later. It irritated me because I felt like his responsibility was to manage and protect his employees, not wait 10 days for someone else to deal. Meanwhile all the registered sex offenders were ogling this girl. My point is, some things you can't let go out of a sense of fear. If you are not willing to manage your employees, it then becomes a problem with your behavior, not just theirs. My perspective, anyway.

I'm barely even on this site that much. I didn't feel the need to reply to every little post because I was busy. And for you to compare what the man said to talking about a specific type of cat just goes to show that you do not get it. Agree to disagree, but you can't tell someone that they shouldn't feel some type of way just because you don't get it.

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[CetiAlphaFive]

One time my PIC at target nearly started crying when he was writing me up.

 

[lord999]

Ok... I change it guys/gals.

But one has to admit adding the race of the individual in question was unnecessary...

Oh that depends. When you write civil service EEO responses, that goes into the points system for whether it goes to OPM or not.

That explains it all.

Seriously though, if you back off too much, at some point you will be enabling her bad behavior. Not every issue needs to be pushed, but not pushing any issues will contribute to her special snowflake status. My point is, some things you can't let go out of a sense of fear. If you are not willing to manage your employees, it then becomes a problem with your behavior, not just theirs. My perspective, anyway.

(Nice to see you, bananaface!)
It's a bad situation. On one hand, you do want to call out bad behavior, but tyrannical bosses were a fact of life. On the other hand, the protections that we extend to workers are often abused in these situations. I used to be like you, but now I would probably behave much more passively like your husband if I did not have secondary review. I had to be trained out of dealing with employee problems on the spot because of the liability issues and labor relations actually being a threat.

That's why a lot of interviewing when you try to hire help is all about "are they good people" because the way the employment protections work, you can't necessarily be aggressive about dealing with problems. It's why contract work is such a thing now, because it saves on the HR and legal costs of sacking bad workers.

You shouldn't be friends with your employees, but you should be friendly to them. You can't criticize an employee in the heat of the moment short of a patient care matter (and even then there are protocols) and sometimes you cringe at the bad behavior, but the employee gets no feedback when they are passed over for promotion or raises without any knowledge where the system is then rigged against them without an opportunity to improve. It's impossible to get a job, but once you do, it's just as impossible to involuntarily lose it (and yes, this even includes chain pharmacies). It's not ok to get angry and yell at an idiot pharmacist, but it's ok to get even by setting them up to make an atrocious career-ending mistake by scheduling them with the wrong support staff.

It's navigating those contradictions which is part of the real *work* of our profession as well as figuring out how to dispense 400 fills with 8 pharmacist hours and 12 tech hours (generous nowadays).

 

[Abby Atwood]

I feel like he was pretty crystal clear with what he was saying.
He was pretty clearly saying that males should be cautious in dealing with female coworkers because of a rare female privilege when it comes to sexual harassment & HR issues.

There have been coworkers that I wouldn't dare go somewhere alone with.

To be fair to female workers, it was a story about that employee's inappropriate response to a group of coworkers who were accusing her of sleeping around. I don't think most male workers would be accused of sleeping with their boss just because they accepted a ride to a train station. The story also ended with an accusation that she lied and slept her way into a supervisor position.

Sexual harassment is an expected part of the job when you are female; it can cause a lot of stress. Patients often cross lines verbally and occasionally will cross lines physically with female employees. I often find myself making decisions about confronting these patients vs. ignoring the situation. I know that if I confront a patient, I might make them uncomfortable about using the pharmacy in the future. I have to think about how that discomfort will affect the care of that particular patient.

Supervisors can be a bit oblivious to this type of thing. While I was on my APPE rotations last year, I had a preceptor tell me off because I didn't thank a patient for to some pretty intense and kind of gross flirting. I was warm and professional with the patient, but I ignored the compliments because they were kind of creeping me out. My preceptor came up to the counter and told me to tell him "thank you." I also had a different supervisor tell me "it's fine" when I told them that a patient was making me uncomfortable. The patient regularly stopped by the pharmacy counter to sing popular songs with my name inserted into the lyrics. That patient later grabbed me and kissed me on the cheek after I administered a vaccination. Despite the escalation, I chose to not bring it up again because there's no point. I wasn't hurt, I just had someone's saliva all over the side of my face.

If you work with a female person in a position involving customer service that has not told you about sexual harassment on the job, you are working with a female person who has experienced sexual harassment and then kept it to themselves. We aren't all out there crying wolf.

This totally isn't meant to offend. It's pretty long though, so it might be meant to bore a few people

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

To be fair to female workers, it was a story about that employee's inappropriate response to a group of coworkers who were accusing her of sleeping around. I don't think most male workers would be accused of sleeping with their boss just because they accepted a ride to a train station. The story also ended with an accusation that she lied and slept her way into a supervisor position.
Sexual harassment is an expected part of the job when you are female; it can cause a lot of stress. Patients often cross lines verbally and occasionally will cross lines physically with female employees. I often find myself making decisions about confronting these patients vs. ignoring the situation. I know that if I confront a patient, I might make them uncomfortable about using the pharmacy in the future. I have to think about how that discomfort will affect the care of that particular patient.
Supervisors can be a bit oblivious to this type of thing. While I was on my APPE rotations last year, I had a preceptor tell me off because I didn't thank a patient for to some pretty intense and kind of gross flirting. I was warm and professional with the patient, but I ignored the compliments because they were kind of creeping me out. My preceptor came up to the counter and told me to tell him "thank you." I also had a different supervisor tell me "it's fine" when I told them that a patient was making me uncomfortable. The patient regularly stopped by the pharmacy counter to sing popular songs with my name inserted into the lyrics. That patient later grabbed me and kissed me on the cheek after I administered a vaccination. Despite the escalation, I chose to not bring it up again because there's no point. I wasn't hurt, I just had someone's saliva all over the side of my face.
If you work with a female person in a position involving customer service that has not told you about sexual harassment on the job, you are working with a female person who has experienced sexual harassment and then kept it to themselves. We aren't all out there crying wolf.
This totally isn't meant to offend. It's pretty long though, so it might be meant to bore a few people

To be fair to female workers, it was a story about that employee's inappropriate response to a group of coworkers who were accusing her of sleeping around. I don't think most male workers would be accused of sleeping with their boss just because they accepted a ride to a train station. The story also ended with an accusation that she lied and slept her way into a supervisor position.

Sexual harassment is an expected part of the job when you are female; it can cause a lot of stress. Patients often cross lines verbally and occasionally will cross lines physically with female employees. I often find myself making decisions about confronting these patients vs. ignoring the situation. I know that if I confront a patient, I might make them uncomfortable about using the pharmacy in the future. I have to think about how that discomfort will affect the care of that particular patient.

Supervisors can be a bit oblivious to this type of thing. While I was on my APPE rotations last year, I had a preceptor tell me off because I didn't thank a patient for to some pretty intense and kind of gross flirting. I was warm and professional with the patient, but I ignored the compliments because they were kind of creeping me out. My preceptor came up to the counter and told me to tell him "thank you." I also had a different supervisor tell me "it's fine" when I told them that a patient was making me uncomfortable. The patient regularly stopped by the pharmacy counter to sing popular songs with my name inserted into the lyrics. That patient later grabbed me and kissed me on the cheek after I administered a vaccination. Despite the escalation, I chose to not bring it up again because there's no point. I wasn't hurt, I just had someone's saliva all over the side of my face.
If you work with a female person in a position involving customer service that has not told you about sexual harassment on the job, you are working with a female person who has experienced sexual harassment and then kept it to themselves. We aren't all out there crying wolf.
This totally isn't meant to offend. It's pretty long though, so it might be meant to bore a few people

Yeah, I've kicked people out of the pharmacy for being inappropriate with female techs.
Thank goodness my ETL-AP was a cool ass dude at. He always had my back.

At my current pharmacy we always have line of sight to the door where we all have equal time to meet them at the counter, my techs know to go to the back and ask me to get register if it's someone they're uncomfortable with.


Please note, the following only applies to me, I am in no way victim shaming/blaming, and I recognize my genetic privilege by being a powerfully built 6'3" person:

If anyone, including a sweet old granny, ever tried to cross a line physically with me, I'd respond with an appropriate amount of force. Uninvited physical contact is never ok.

Unrelated PS:
My wife once attempted to grab a Hari Krishna guy by the throat before I intervened once on the 3rd street promenade in Santa Monica where she worked.
He'd aggressively invaded her personal space

EDIT:
I forgot to note that I checked with my wife, and she also checks her 5'11" height privilege.

 

[BMBiology]

When I was working as an intern, this female tech would grab my butt. Of course the pharmacists all giggled.


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[Abby Atwood]

When I was working as an intern, this female tech would grab my butt. Of course the pharmacists all giggled.


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That sucks. I'm sorry that happened to you :/

 

[MrBonita]

Do not make friends or try to be too nice at your job especially with women... I once had a black female colleague I used to drop off at the train station after work accuse me of making passes at her... I never knew what was going on until I heard about it from other co-workers and confronted her about it.. She apologised and said she had to say something to defend herself when people thought there was something going on between us... I just could not believe my ears. I threatened to report her to HR but she begged me ..She lied/slept her way to becoming a supervisor and ending ended up getting almost everyone fired....

I feel bad you had such an experience but it seems depressing when we live in a world where we let someone walk in the dark when they can be given a simple ride.

 

[bananaface]

I'm barely even on this site that much. I didn't feel the need to reply to every little post because I was busy. And for you to compare what the man said to talking about a specific type of cat just goes to show that you do not get it. Agree to disagree, but you can't tell someone that they shouldn't feel some type of way just because you don't get it.

Not to be ironic or anything, but I have no idea what you are talking about. Cats, metaphors, and feelings seem unrelated to my response to the OP.

 

[bananaface]

(Nice to see you, bananaface!)
It's a bad situation. On one hand, you do want to call out bad behavior, but tyrannical bosses were a fact of life. On the other hand, the protections that we extend to workers are often abused in these situations. I used to be like you, but now I would probably behave much more passively like your husband if I did not have secondary review. I had to be trained out of dealing with employee problems on the spot because of the liability issues and labor relations actually being a threat.

Nice to see you too!

The point I was going for was basically that unless we are working alone, we have a professional responsibility to manage people. Calling out bad behavior isn't the goal - modifying the behavior is. We all have ways to do that within the culture of our organization. If we just give up on managing our subordinates, we aren't doing our jobs effectively and even if we think we are covering our asses, we may be leaving our butt cheeks out to be spanked for something an unchecked subordinate does while we are supervising them.

 

[Thankyou2017]

Buying them food doesn't mean jack ......

I respectfully disagree with my life experience.

I still remember the food my manager bought for us every Wednesday, free delivery from local mom and pop food shop. That was 10 years ago. I have been fully supporting this manager for the troubles in life for the last 10 years.

I still remember the shrimp my manager bought for us that New Year time. An old manager gave me 20 dollars to get shrimp from buffet restaurant nearby for the whole crew. I have been looking out for his interest and had full intention to give automatic pass to his 2 children if they came to my store as pharmacy intern.

I still remember the candy the other manager gave out once in a while...and the food from other people....I like food..

I guess I have good memory then for I now create good memory by buying foods for my crew, too.. at a lot of places I float too...

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

I was unlucky enough to start at a location where the temporary PIC, a young Indian guy four years out of school, still living at home with his folks, would buy the techs four to five extra large pizzas every week and quite often two times a week. They loved him. As a single mother with brand new humongous loans I could not accommodate this $400 to $800+ a month expense. They did not like me.

I respectfully disagree with my life experience.

I still remember the food my manager bought for us every Wednesday, free delivery from local mom and pop food shop. That was 10 years ago. I have been fully supporting this manager for the troubles in life for the last 10 years.

I still remember the shrimp my manager bought for us that New Year time. An old manager gave me 20 dollars to get shrimp from buffet restaurant nearby for the whole crew. I have been looking out for his interest and had full intention to give automatic pass to his 2 children if they came to my store as pharmacy intern.

I still remember the candy the other manager gave out once in a while...and the food from other people....I like food..

I guess I have good memory then for I now create good memory by buying foods for my crew, too.. at a lot of places I float too...

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

I was unlucky enough to start at a location where the temporary PIC, a young Indian guy four years out of school, still living at home with his folks, would buy the techs four to five extra large pizzas every week and quite often two times a week. They loved him. As a single mother with brand new humongous loans I could not accommodate this $400 to $800+ a month expense. They did not like me.

Whoa whoa whoa,

Why did you feel the need to specify that he was Indian?

 

[owlegrad]

With respect, I doubt not buying food is what made them not like you. I had plenty of managers I really liked that never bought me food.

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[CetiAlphaFive]

I've only bought staff pizza and stuff on birthdays, etc...

At Target, I was always a fan of getting them Chick Fil A since it was so close.

Not to be ironic or anything, but I have no idea what you are talking about. Cats, metaphors, and feelings seem unrelated to my response to the OP.

They meant to reply to me, but totally missed and quoted your post somehow.
Thus, my Nick Cage gif.

The situation is pretty bananas, I'd say.

 

[Michael_Scott]

So I don't know if I am looking for commiseration or just posting this for entertainment value, but I had something crazy happen today at work. We were busy and had a bunch of prescriptions that needed to be filled STAT. Two of my techs were in a corner chatting so I went over and told them to please concentrate on filling the STATs. I didn't think I was rude or condescending or mean/unprofessional in any way, I just wanted them to focus on work. Immediately one of them starts making excuses for why she is chatting and I reply that it's fine, I just need everyone to focus on getting the STATs out of the way. She went back to work and I considered the matter closed. No big deal, we've all been there, right? I know I have had some bosses tell me to get back to work and I never thought twice about it.

So later in the day when our Pharmacy Director comes in she proceeds to go to her IN TEARS about how she doesn't feel like she can do anything right and how I make her feel unappreciated, etc etc. I actually thought that me and this tech get along great and as far as I know this is the only issue she has ever had with me. And not to get too petty, but I am by far one of the most helpful pharmacists at work, I go way out of my way to treat the techs well, buy them pizza, help them put drugs back on the shelf, etc etc. All I could think was, is this grown ass woman for real right now?!

Anyway maybe I need to start a blog but I figured someone here might get a kick out of this or think to themselves "Well at least I am not the only one". LOL

the curse of retail. you may be a good boss but the stress of retail gets on your techs...But you also need to understand, people handle stress and emotions very differently.
You don't need to apologize but hopefully you can talk it out (if you ever have time that is..)

 

[owlegrad]

the curse of retail. you may be a good boss but the stress of retail gets on your techs...But you also need to understand, people handle stress and emotions very differently.
You don't need to apologize but hopefully you can talk it out (if you ever have time that is..)

Nope, not retail. LTC. No stress.

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[trailerpark]

My RX Manager never buys us food. He's white BTW.


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[CetiAlphaFive]

My RX Manager never buys us food. He's white BTW.
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One of the pies I bought my techs was white. The rest were pepperoni.

We checked the pizza's privilege

 

[folkster]

As a 2017 grad going straight into management in a few weeks, this thread stresses me the f*ck out

 

[owlegrad]

As a 2017 grad going straight into management in a few weeks, this thread stresses me the f*ck out

Good luck! It's not all that bad tbh. If you have a good team at a store that isn't too bad you might even be able to enjoy it.

 

[6GodPharm]

As a 2017 grad going straight into management in a few weeks, this thread stresses me the f*ck out

Its not bad, you have more potential to move up (if you want to) and make more money/bonuses. Your main concern will be training your staff and getting them to do things the way you want. As far as being "friends" with techs I don't agree with. You're at a different tier. I consider friend being hanging out outside of work, texting regularly about stuff not about work. I treat all my techs the same and fairly. You will get yourself in trouble once you start friending people and going to movies and **** with these people. Go to work and be a boss and you'll be alright. As far as the food thing goes I don't really do that either. Me and the store manager took the team as a whole out once as a appreciation of hard work (top 3 store in the Area). Other than that go to work and get stuff done. Have fun at work but that doesn't mean you're friends. I have a great relationship with my team as their boss, but I don't consider any of them my friends, I wouldn't put any in my Myspace top 8 back in the day lol

 

[Dred Pirate]

As a 2017 grad going straight into management in a few weeks, this thread stresses me the f*ck out

going into management as a new grad (assuming you are younger, in your 20's) can be difficult - I did it, and hated it.

When you have more experienced Rph's you have to walk a fine line between respecting them, but also being assertive enough to deal with any BS you get. You have to earn their respect as well in order to get them on your side,

Good luck

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

going into management as a new grad (assuming you are younger, in your 20's) can be difficult - I did it, and hated it.

When you have more experienced Rph's you have to walk a fine line between respecting them, but also being assertive enough to deal with any BS you get. You have to earn their respect as well in order to get them on your side,
Good luck

Yeah, you basically have to be an aggressive type A personality to survive as a new grad PIC.

If you're passive, the district manager is just gonna cram their hand waaaaaay up your ass and use you as a puppet.

 

[Sparda29]

I feel bad you had such an experience but it seems depressing when we live in a world where we let someone walk in the dark when they can be given a simple ride.

I was the dingus for a pharmacy for a while when people found out I refused to give a ride home to a female clinical pharmacist who was my immediate supervisor. Normally, I would have given her a ride. The problem was that I had hotboxed in the car the night before and the car reeked of pot, thus I wasn't giving a supervisor a ride in a car that reeks of weed.

 

[owlegrad]

I was the dingus for a pharmacy for a while when people found out I refused to give a ride home to a female clinical pharmacist who was my immediate supervisor. Normally, I would have given her a ride. The problem was that I had hotboxed in the car the night before and the car reeked of pot, thus I wasn't giving a supervisor a ride in a car that reeks of weed.

The sparda we know and love!

Now Drink!

 

[Ackj]

When I was working as an intern, this female tech would grab my butt. Of course the pharmacists all giggled.


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And that was before the $700 belt!

 

[folkster]

going into management as a new grad (assuming you are younger, in your 20's) can be difficult - I did it, and hated it.

When you have more experienced Rph's you have to walk a fine line between respecting them, but also being assertive enough to deal with any BS you get. You have to earn their respect as well in order to get them on your side,

Good luck

Yeah, you basically have to be an aggressive type A personality to survive as a new grad PIC.

If you're passive, the district manager is just gonna cram their hand waaaaaay up your ass and use you as a puppet.

I'm actually almost 40, wasted youth and all that. I have about 10 years of managerial experience (albeit in a different field) from before I decided to go to college that I feel will serve me well. I am nervous about the responsibilities I'll have piled on to finding my way as a new pharmacist, but I'm confident in my abilities to navigate the "people" side of managing, so I guess that helps!

 

[Wickett]

Yeah, you basically have to be an aggressive type A personality to survive as a new grad PIC.

If you're passive, the district manager is just gonna cram their hand waaaaaay up your ass and use you as a puppet.

I agree...I came out of school straight into a PIC position last year. Fortunately for me, I am a bit older than most new grads and had managed employees pre pharmacy school. Also, being a largely built male had some inherent advantages. It was a bit like being a new inmate in prison....you have to show no weakness or older techs, staff pharmacists, etc will run right over you. It's definitely a delicate balance between fostering a positive work environment and being assertive as to how you want things.

 

[Son_Goku]

way

Nope, not retail. LTC. No stress.

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How does LTC pay compared to CVS?

 

[owlegrad]

How does LTC pay compared to CVS?

It doesn't.

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[Modest_anteater]

Please be careful, she knows what's she's doing by making a public display of psuedohumiliation and I have seen this sort of thing escalate very quickly with consequences for the "abuser". I wouldn't blow that off, and I would explain this to the Pharmacy Director your side of the story and that was not intentional. That aside, this should probably make you think about how you judge people at work. Not to make you more cynical, but the difference between our customers and ourselves isn't as large a gap as we would like to believe.

I do think and agree with the above is that she could be projecting other issues as well and you just happen to be the literal fall guy for it.

dude this is workplace politics. She threw you under the bus. I would be careful around what you say to her and be very PC and watch your behavior around her. Don't give her more ammunition to use against you.

 

[Modest_anteater]

Not sure why you felt the need to mention that she was a black female.

Yeah, I found this piece of information to not add much to the narrative.

 

[owlegrad]

I did it again! Different tech though. I sent back two scripts because the tech didn’t fill them the way I told her to. She basically begged me to let it go this time and she wouldn’t do it again blah blah blah. I told her no because I had told her how to do it before she filled the prescription and hadn’t done it that way so now she would have to redo it.

She threaten to quit on the spot and when that didn’t deter me she broke down in tears. I seriously wonder if I am some kind of monster and just don’t realize it!

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

I did it again! Different tech though. I sent back two scripts because the tech didn’t fill them the way I told her to. She basically begged me to let it go this time and she wouldn’t do it again blah blah blah. I told her no because I had told her how to do it before she filled the prescription and hadn’t done it that way so now she would have to redo it.

She threaten to quit on the spot and when that didn’t deter me she broke down in tears. I seriously wonder if I am some kind of monster and just don’t realize it!

But was she white?

LOL

 

[owlegrad]

But was she white?

LOL

Lol I thought we might get a little further before we resorted to making it about race this time. But yes, she is white. At this point I wonder if I could be accused of reverse racism since I only make the white techs cry (most of our techs are black or Hispanic).

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

Lol I thought we might get a little further before we resorted to making it about race this time. But yes, she is white. At this point I wonder if I could be accused of reverse racism since I only make the white techs cry (most of our techs are black or Hispanic).

Ignoring direct commands is a huge pet peeve tho, so I can understand.

I just can't understand why an adult human would ever cry at work

 

[GypsyHummus]

Lol. Watch, next week you are gonna be dragged into HR for a harassment complaint.

I did it again! Different tech though. I sent back two scripts because the tech didn’t fill them the way I told her to. She basically begged me to let it go this time and she wouldn’t do it again blah blah blah. I told her no because I had told her how to do it before she filled the prescription and hadn’t done it that way so now she would have to redo it.

She threaten to quit on the spot and when that didn’t deter me she broke down in tears. I seriously wonder if I am some kind of monster and just don’t realize it!

 

[owlegrad]

Lol. Watch, next week you are gonna be dragged into HR for a harassment complaint.

I preemptively submitted a statement to my boss and his boss so at least if something does come of it they won't be caught off guard.

 

[johnpharm01]

So I don't know if I am looking for commiseration or just posting this for entertainment value, but I had something crazy happen today at work. We were busy and had a bunch of prescriptions that needed to be filled STAT. Two of my techs were in a corner chatting so I went over and told them to please concentrate on filling the STATs. I didn't think I was rude or condescending or mean/unprofessional in any way, I just wanted them to focus on work. Immediately one of them starts making excuses for why she is chatting and I reply that it's fine, I just need everyone to focus on getting the STATs out of the way. She went back to work and I considered the matter closed. No big deal, we've all been there, right? I know I have had some bosses tell me to get back to work and I never thought twice about it.

So later in the day when our Pharmacy Director comes in she proceeds to go to her IN TEARS about how she doesn't feel like she can do anything right and how I make her feel unappreciated, etc etc. I actually thought that me and this tech get along great and as far as I know this is the only issue she has ever had with me. And not to get too petty, but I am by far one of the most helpful pharmacists at work, I go way out of my way to treat the techs well, buy them pizza, help them put drugs back on the shelf, etc etc. All I could think was, is this grown ass woman for real right now?!

Anyway maybe I need to start a blog but I figured someone here might get a kick out of this or think to themselves "Well at least I am not the only one". LOL

I would be very careful if I were you. I was terminated from a job with this being the justification. The statements by others on this thread ring true. In reality you were trying to supervise the staff for business reasons, BUT YOU WERE ACTUALLY DISCIPLINED BY THE TECH. The message is if you do something they don't like, your tech will complain and that complaint will be taken as fact on face value. Keep doing things they don't like and this will be persist and, especially if there are multiple complainers, you will be gone.

You would think that corporate would side with you as you are just trying to get the work done, but they won't. They don't care. Here are the way they see positions:

Pharmacist: burden. Expensive, slows down sales with verification, counseling etc. What tech types and fills is good enough. Would rather get rid of RPh. Best pharmacists are fast and completely corporate, do all the work including what the techs don't want to do. Store managers loathe RPhs. The companies only need us for our license and could care less about us otherwise.

Technician: invaluable provides customer service, does all the work, makes the pharmacy operate.

Most pharmacists I worked with never said anything to the techs, never supervised. From strictly a corporate standpoint, this is smart. But it leads to techs being constantly late, no showing, yelling, counseling, being rude to customers, not working, making errors and not caring. They are never managed so most do whatever they can get away with. I have had techs yell at me when the dm was there, lp was there. nothing done. Had techs stand around and talk, not work and the dm came over to me another rph and told us to do their work (f1). My manager, a long time company employer, but new pharmacist and a corporate favorite clashed with a senior tech who had a long (10+ years) history of yelling. Shes still there, he left. Corporate would not support him even though he did everything they asked.

You will notice they don't yell and fight with the store managers and dms. They would be gone tomorrow.

So be very careful, decide if and how you will supervise, document everything, don't buy into their allegations (so don't repeat that you made them cry, it supports them), in fact call them out and don't back down when questioned by management. Good luck

 

[Slippers]

What? Seriously???? These techs are going to have to talk to some rude as heck customers. As in, people who scream profanities at you, threaten to call corporate or sue you for miniscule reasons, and call you a f***ing liar because you refuse to give illegal emergency supplies of controlled substances and they swear to the lord the other pharmacist said it was okay.

Crying just because they got told to re-type a script or because you told them to focus on waiters? What a joke! Re-typing the script doesn't even affect the tech in any way, other than them needing to print out 400 more sheets of paper with the label...

Had I been one of those techs, I'd probably be a bit flustered by being called out, but it wouldn't bother me beyond that...and I consider myself a fairly sensitive person. That's totally PATHETIC that you have to worry about losing your job because the tech thinks that being told to do her job properly is abuse, apparently.

 

[owlegrad]

What? Seriously???? These techs are going to have to talk to some rude as heck customers. As in, people who scream profanities at you, threaten to call corporate or sue you for miniscule reasons, and call you a f***ing liar because you refuse to give illegal emergency supplies of controlled substances and they swear to the lord the other pharmacist said it was okay.

Crying just because they got told to re-type a script or because you told them to focus on waiters? What a joke! Re-typing the script doesn't even affect the tech in any way, other than them needing to print out 400 more sheets of paper with the label...

Had I been one of those techs, I'd probably be a bit flustered by being called out, but it wouldn't bother me beyond that...and I consider myself a fairly sensitive person. That's totally PATHETIC that you have to worry about losing your job because the tech thinks that being told to do her job properly is abuse, apparently.

Not retail so they don't have to deal with customers. I am convinced they have absolutely no clue how good they have it.

Also just to be nit picky it wasn't that it was typed wrong it was that she had not filled it the way I told her to (think of a production tech that doesn't flag a label on a unit of use package after being told to do so as an analogy).

 

[Deja]

Not retail so they don't have to deal with customers. I am convinced they have absolutely no clue how good they have it.

Also just to be nit picky it wasn't that it was typed wrong it was that she had not filled it the way I told her to (think of a production tech that doesn't flag a label on a unit of use package after being told to do so as an analogy).

it might be the way you are saying it... you do sound like a smart ass (or dingus) even on this forum sometimes haha

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

I would be very careful if I were you. I was terminated from a job with this being the justification. The statements by others on this thread ring true. In reality you were trying to supervise the staff for business reasons, BUT YOU WERE ACTUALLY DISCIPLINED BY THE TECH. The message is if you do something they don't like, your tech will complain and that complaint will be taken as fact on face value. Keep doing things they don't like and this will be persist and, especially if there are multiple complainers, you will be gone.

You would think that corporate would side with you as you are just trying to get the work done, but they won't. They don't care. Here are the way they see positions:

Pharmacist: burden. Expensive, slows down sales with verification, counseling etc. What tech types and fills is good enough. Would rather get rid of RPh. Best pharmacists are fast and completely corporate, do all the work including what the techs don't want to do. Store managers loathe RPhs. The companies only need us for our license and could care less about us otherwise.

Technician: invaluable provides customer service, does all the work, makes the pharmacy operate.

Most pharmacists I worked with never said anything to the techs, never supervised. From strictly a corporate standpoint, this is smart. But it leads to techs being constantly late, no showing, yelling, counseling, being rude to customers, not working, making errors and not caring. They are never managed so most do whatever they can get away with. I have had techs yell at me when the dm was there, lp was there. nothing done. Had techs stand around and talk, not work and the dm came over to me another rph and told us to do their work (f1). My manager, a long time company employer, but new pharmacist and a corporate favorite clashed with a senior tech who had a long (10+ years) history of yelling. Shes still there, he left. Corporate would not support him even though he did everything they asked.

You will notice they don't yell and fight with the store managers and dms. They would be gone tomorrow.

So be very careful, decide if and how you will supervise, document everything, don't buy into their allegations (so don't repeat that you made them cry, it supports them), in fact call them out and don't back down when questioned by management. Good luck

LOL, you just sound like an extremely weak willed professional with poor communication and management skills.
I have literally shouted in techs' faces in the corporate setting when they tried to undermine me.

Those kinds of techs who pull immature bull**** like that only understand brutal intimidation.

 

[Charcoales]

Hard situation, I'm a new lowly staff so I let tech do whatever they want, if I don't like something I tell my rxm or senior staff rph discretely if they want to do anything... usually they want me to just hang tight and do nothing to stir the pot. Our pharmacy is in a really bad neighborhood and they are afraid of scaring off tech if we are strict

 

[owlegrad]

it might be the way you are saying it... you do sound like a smart ass (or dingus) even on this forum sometimes haha

Well I am trying to be as unbiased as possible and I realize that making a tech fill a script EXACTLY the way you tell them to can seem a bit much. But if I tell a tech to do something and they don’t so I give them back the script to redo it the way I told them I don’t expect tears in response. It’s not a rational response. Just bad mouth me in the break room to other techs or pharmacists, techs these days are spoiled.

 

[Sabril]

I have literally shouted in techs' faces in the corporate setting when they tried to undermine me.

Those kinds of techs who pull immature bull**** like that only understand brutal intimidation.

+1. Humans are born with an innate fear of loud sound. Some manage to stay that way and understand only that for the rest of their lives.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

+1. Humans are born with an innate fear of loud sound. Some manage to stay that way and understand only that for the rest of their lives.

Yup.
I'm a big minority too.

Once you turn on the monkey brain fear response in a 5'4" female, their brain won't let them forget it, no matter how ****ty their upbringing and attitude is.

 

[DondeEstaElBano]

Reading through this thread has made me very grateful for my Navy techs. Crying? Pshhh. I can’t even imagine.

 

[johnpharm01]

LOL, you just sound like an extremely weak willed professional with poor communication and management skills.
I have literally shouted in techs' faces in the corporate setting when they tried to undermine me.

Those kinds of techs who pull immature bull**** like that only understand brutal intimidation.

I was actually one of the only RPhs who would say anything, most would just pass the buck.

Was working side by side with rx manager, customer getting verbally assaulted by tech and asking for management and rx manager did nothing.
Was working side by side with different rx manager, tech in lobby counseling and about to check blood pressure when I interrupted him.

How can you manage when you don't have authority to hire, fire, write up, give raises, send home the techs? You have no formal authority. Years back at the same job, a formal complaint was filed against me for sending an insubordinate tech home. Same place years later the dm came in and counseled me telling me I was not a technicians supervisor as I countered the board regs which require a pharmacist to supervise a tech and for a pharmacist to approve who is in the dispensing area.

If I had to resort to yelling at someone as intensively as you have, that person should be let go.

Truth is good techs are very important to a pharmacy but they are hard to come by. They don't want to work in the same crappy environment like us. So we get anybody the company is going to hire and all of they are pharmacy experts. At my last job, owner hired tech. Told me tech did not report to me. Tech was given basic duties order drugs, file records of receipt, check outdates, fill rxs. He did nothing close to right. F'ed up my inventory, F'ed record keeping, made verification longer due to missfills, pissed off customers and was aggressive toward me. This is retail pharmacy.