Surviving the 14 hour shifts

Started by Actinomycin
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Actinomycin

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Any tips to survive the 14 hour shifts will be truly appreciated - I feel like I have been put into a washer and dryer and life completely sucked out of me by the time the day gets over. And its not just the customers - physically it takes a toll on me. I am really tall and dont know if that contributes to my back hurting really bad too. But any and all tips would be really appreciated! And yes, I am trying everything to get out of retail!
 
Suck it up? I don't know what else to tell you. A 14 hour shift at a retail pharmacy is childs play.
 
Think 14 X $55 = $770 for one day's work. Then think about the people who clean s*** houses all day for 1/10 of that. Problem solved 👍
 
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DrPepsi said:
Suck it up? I don't know what else to tell you. A 14 hour shift at a retail pharmacy is childs play.
Click to expand...
Or how about just a step above cruelty? 🙄

8am to 10pm is freakin' ridiculous!!! and only a few retail companies even consider working pharmacists like that ("childs play"???).
It doesn't help the pharmacist at all! It lets the company get away with no overlap and one less head to count... just ridiculous!


To the OP, QUIT!
 
Actinomycin said:
Any tips to survive the 14 hour shifts will be truly appreciated - I feel like I have been put into a washer and dryer and life completely sucked out of me by the time the day gets over. And its not just the customers - physically it takes a toll on me. I am really tall and dont know if that contributes to my back hurting really bad too. But any and all tips would be really appreciated! And yes, I am trying everything to get out of retail!
Click to expand...

find ways to sit when possible and take a lunch break if possible.

Just think you will get more days off....
 
Make sure you buy some good shoes, custom made for you. Like others have said, make sure to have a chair or stool available. Stretch out your back every morning and evening. If you are working 14 hour shifts and you are overweight then you need to address the extra pounds or your knees, back, legs, and feet are all going to go to hell.

I have worked 14 hour shifts at jobs outside of pharmacy and it takes its toll over time. Your entire day becomes dedicated to nothing but work. No time for family, friends, projects, chores, errands, fun, exercise, etc. You just wake up and go to work then go home and go to bed, then the next day you start over...miserable existance🙁
 
rXcmoney said:
Think 14 X $55 = $770 for one day's work. Then think about the people who clean s*** houses all day for 1/10 of that. Problem solved 👍
Click to expand...

It would be almost 1K for a pharmacist I know who works at Wal-Mart.

I've heard that her pharmacy gets 400~500 per day.

Dunno what her hours are.
 
Other than buying comfy shoes there is not much else you can do. Over time your body will just get use to it.
 
crazybob said:
It would be almost 1K for a pharmacist I know who works at Wal-Mart.

I've heard that her pharmacy gets 400~500 per day.

Dunno what her hours are.
Click to expand...

400-500 a day aren't that many. I would fill 350 by myself with the pharmacist and our robot in 9 hours.

Try to sit down during the day when you can because usually it's your legs or feet which usually make you feel like crap. What I do is when I'm standing on the phone, I'll kinda pull out a drawer and set my foot on there. Sure it sounds like a simple thing, but it helps during a long day.
 
DYSF777 said:
Other than buying comfy shoes there is not much else you can do. Over time your body will just get use to it.
Click to expand...

And possibly reduce the length of your life.

phathead said:
400-500 a day aren't that many. I would fill 350 by myself with the pharmacist and our robot in 9 hours.

Try to sit down during the day when you can because usually it's your legs or feet which usually make you feel like crap. What I do is when I'm standing on the phone, I'll kinda pull out a drawer and set my foot on there. Sure it sounds like a simple thing, but it helps during a long day.
Click to expand...

Anything over 200 scripts/day should have 2 pharmacists working at the same time. Sure you could probably do it by yourself if you put 100% effort into getting the scripts in and out, but who the **** is ******ed enough to work like that?
 
Sparda29 said:
Anything over 200 scripts/day should have 2 pharmacists working at the same time. Sure you could probably do it by yourself if you put 100% effort into getting the scripts in and out, but who the **** is ******ed enough to work like that?
Click to expand...

We had a bit of an employee shortage for a while 3 years back. Our days were only like that on Mondays and Tuesday. It dropped to about 200 the rest of the week.

I will say that our saving grace is that 68% of all the scripts come out of the robot, so that definitely saves time.
 
phathead said:
We had a bit of an employee shortage for a while 3 years back. Our days were only like that on Mondays and Tuesday. It dropped to about 200 the rest of the week.

I will say that our saving grace is that 68% of all the scripts come out of the robot, so that definitely saves time.
Click to expand...

the CVS i use to work at was 450-600 daily every day...limited overlap...overlap on mondays for 8 hours and 6 hours on tuesday...sucked...
 
Thanks for all the suggestions and tips!
--> There is no possibility of quitting before I get something else.
--> I know its 770$ and thats why I am doing it. (well actually ~450$ after tax)
--> Are there any particular brand or type of shoes you guys have found to be better for standing the whole day?
 
The bottomline is working 10, 12 and 14 hours without breaks and inadequate staffing is dangerous. After 10 hours I am done physically and mentally.

I am tall as well. I built a false countertop to raise my work surface up to a comfortable level. Lowe's sells couter tops in 4' lengths on up. I bought one in a neutral color and cut it to fit. I made it about 4 inches higher than the standard counter top. It has made a world of difference. I do not get that tightness in my shoulders and upper back from hunching over a conter top that is to low.

Shoes...where do I start? I have been through so many types over the years. The latest thing I have found to work is a shoe called Z-Coil. Yes, the stupid looking shoe with the big spring on the heal. I have been wearing them for 4 months and my back pain is totally gone. They working really well for standing long peiods of time. The coil flexs and bends so you are not in a ridgid locked body positon. I have 2 pairs and they were $270.00 a peice and worth every penny.
 
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I just read you can rub dry ice over a car ding....then blow dry the area to get rid of the dent... has anyone tried it? To make it pharmacy related, does your pharmacy dispense dry ice?

:meanie:
 
Its not that 14 hours is hard persay (i could fill or type all day), but it is hard to concentrate for that long. I just remember that around hour 10 my brain would kind of glaze over. It was then really hard to concentrate when verifying, which scared me. Thankfully we got rid of those shifts round here.
 
I just ordered a pair of reverse heels by Earth shoes. The heel sits lower than the front of the shoe; it's supposed to be more natural, like how you would stand in the grass or on sand, but with a protective sole.

Once I get them in, I'll let y'all know how they work out. 🙂
 
14 hour shift?

why do pharmacy if you working that much, you might as well do general surgery and make more money. sounds freakin terrible
 
PharmDstudent said:
Or how about just a step above cruelty? 🙄

8am to 10pm is freakin' ridiculous!!! and only a few retail companies even consider working pharmacists like that ("childs play"???).
It doesn't help the pharmacist at all! It lets the company get away with no overlap and one less head to count... just ridiculous!


To the OP, QUIT!
Click to expand...

8 to 10 is what you consider "ridiculous"? Hmmm that's odd. With all due respect, are you sure you're a good pharmacist?


Or do you work for the 1861-era pharmacy I like to call CVS?
 
DrPepsi said:
8 to 10 is what you consider "ridiculous"? Hmmm that's odd. With all due respect, are you sure you're a good pharmacist?


Or do you work for the 1861-era pharmacy I like to call CVS?
Click to expand...

pepsi_sucks.gif
 
DrPepsi said:
8 to 10 is what you consider "ridiculous"? Hmmm that's odd. With all due respect, are you sure you're a good pharmacist?


Or do you work for the 1861-era pharmacy I like to call CVS?
Click to expand...
Have you ever heard of quality of life? 😱

Hell no... CVS is the biggest culprit!
 
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It's not like you work 14 hours per day, 4 days a week. In my district right now, nobody does more than 2 per week.


In a store that's open 8-10 week days and 9-6 weekends, it's not hard to work it out. If you work 44 hours per week x 2 weeks its 88 hours. Take away 18 hours for weekends and you get 70 hours. So if you want to do 14's you would only work 5 of the 10 week days. So basically out of 14 days, you would work 7 out of 14 days, That gives you plenty of free time to recover or play hard or do whatever. You could also agree to take less days off and split some days with your partner, trading off so you limit the 14's and add more 7's.

Week One: (51 hours)

  • Sun: Off
  • Mon: 8-10
  • Tue: off
  • Wed: 8-10
  • Thur: off
  • Fri: 8-10
  • Sat: 9-6
Week Two: (34 hours)

  • Sun: 9-6
  • Mon: off
  • Tue: 8-10
  • Wed: off
  • Thur: 8-10
  • Fri: Off
  • Sat Off
If you think that's a bad schedule, so be it. You have 2 three day weekends a month, you don't work more than one 8-10 in a row. The most you work is 3 days in a row. You have 10 week days off per month.
 
PharmDstudent said:
Have you ever heard of quality of life? 😱

Hell no... CVS is the biggest culprit!
Click to expand...

Quality of life? You make it sound like you're working in the oil fields in 120 degree weather. If you aren't working for CVS and you're getting breaks and lunch then you're getting what you deserve. I could very well be in the minority but I just laugh at pharmacists like you. There's no way you can be more than 5 years removed from school.

Anything over 200 scripts/day should have 2 pharmacists working at the same time. Sure you could probably do it by yourself if you put 100% effort into getting the scripts in and out, but who the **** is ******ed enough to work like that?
Click to expand...

When I was in my 20's I worked for an independent that did 300+ a day and I was the only pharmacist. Trust me, it wasn't as bad as you make it out to be.
 
Old Timer said:
It's not like you work 14 hours per day, 4 days a week. In my district right now, nobody does more than 2 per week.


In a store that's open 8-10 week days and 9-6 weekends, it's not hard to work it out. If you work 44 hours per week x 2 weeks its 88 hours. Take away 18 hours for weekends and you get 70 hours. So if you want to do 14's you would only work 5 of the 10 week days. So basically out of 14 days, you would work 7 out of 14 days, That gives you plenty of free time to recover or play hard or do whatever. You could also agree to take less days off and split some days with your partner, trading off so you limit the 14's and add more 7's.

Week One: (51 hours)

  • Sun: Off
  • Mon: 8-10
  • Tue: off
  • Wed: 8-10
  • Thur: off
  • Fri: 8-10
  • Sat: 9-6
Week Two: (34 hours)

  • Sun: 9-6
  • Mon: off
  • Tue: 8-10
  • Wed: off
  • Thur: 8-10
  • Fri: Off
  • Sat Off
If you think that's a bad schedule, so be it. You have 2 three day weekends a month, you don't work more than one 8-10 in a row. The most you work is 3 days in a row. You have 10 week days off per month.
Click to expand...
Every pharmacy doesn't have the schedule. The CVS where I did a rotation had pharmacists coming in for 14 hour days consecutively (at least once a week) every week.

And it doesn't matter if you work a 14 hour day and then have the next day off, because every hour after 8 or 10 hours is doing damage to your body- like going past a threshold point over and over again.
 
Old Timer said:
It's not like you work 14 hours per day, 4 days a week. In my district right now, nobody does more than 2 per week.


In a store that's open 8-10 week days and 9-6 weekends, it's not hard to work it out. If you work 44 hours per week x 2 weeks its 88 hours. Take away 18 hours for weekends and you get 70 hours. So if you want to do 14's you would only work 5 of the 10 week days. So basically out of 14 days, you would work 7 out of 14 days, That gives you plenty of free time to recover or play hard or do whatever. You could also agree to take less days off and split some days with your partner, trading off so you limit the 14's and add more 7's.

Week One: (51 hours)

  • Sun: Off
  • Mon: 8-10
  • Tue: off
  • Wed: 8-10
  • Thur: off
  • Fri: 8-10
  • Sat: 9-6
Week Two: (34 hours)

  • Sun: 9-6
  • Mon: off
  • Tue: 8-10
  • Wed: off
  • Thur: 8-10
  • Fri: Off
  • Sat Off
If you think that's a bad schedule, so be it. You have 2 three day weekends a month, you don't work more than one 8-10 in a row. The most you work is 3 days in a row. You have 10 week days off per month.
Click to expand...

awesome. 😎
 
DrPepsi said:
Quality of life? You make it sound like you're working in the oil fields in 120 degree weather. If you aren't working for CVS and you're getting breaks and lunch then you're getting what you deserve. I could very well be in the minority but I just laugh at pharmacists like you. There's no way you can be more than 5 years removed from school.
Click to expand...
No. You're right. I just graduated, BUT I've been working in a pharmacy since 2004. I've worked for 2 major retail chains and a 500 bed hospital.
 
Been doing 14 hours days for a year. Granted, I have never worked more than 8 hours ever previously to being a pharmacist.

Best I can say is to deal with it.

Wear sneakers.

Get drinks ready on hand.

Food.

Get a stool, buy one if you don't have one. You can have a seat when checking your voicemail.

I hope you have a car to go home.

Marines have it worst.

...

P.S. This is in a slower store, this advice doesn't pertain to people working <250-300 scripts a day.
 
Old Timer said:
It's not like you work 14 hours per day, 4 days a week. In my district right now, nobody does more than 2 per week.


In a store that's open 8-10 week days and 9-6 weekends, it's not hard to work it out. If you work 44 hours per week x 2 weeks its 88 hours. Take away 18 hours for weekends and you get 70 hours. So if you want to do 14's you would only work 5 of the 10 week days. So basically out of 14 days, you would work 7 out of 14 days, That gives you plenty of free time to recover or play hard or do whatever. You could also agree to take less days off and split some days with your partner, trading off so you limit the 14's and add more 7's.

Week One: (51 hours)

  • Sun: Off
  • Mon: 8-10
  • Tue: off
  • Wed: 8-10
  • Thur: off
  • Fri: 8-10
  • Sat: 9-6
Week Two: (34 hours)

  • Sun: 9-6
  • Mon: off
  • Tue: 8-10
  • Wed: off
  • Thur: 8-10
  • Fri: Off
  • Sat Off
If you think that's a bad schedule, so be it. You have 2 three day weekends a month, you don't work more than one 8-10 in a row. The most you work is 3 days in a row. You have 10 week days off per month.
Click to expand...

I prefer the Costco schedule.
Monday: 10AM-7PM
Tuesday: 10AM-7PM
Wednesday: 11:30AM-8:30PM
Thursday: Off
Friday: Off

Saturday: Either 9AM-4PM or 11AM-6PM
Sunday: 10AM-6PM
CLOSED FOR LUNCH BETWEEN 1:30PM-2:30PM

They usually have 6 pharmacists per Costco location so the weekend schedule works in a week 1/2/3 rotation. Same for the weekday schedule.
 
DrPepsi said:
When I was in my 20's I worked for an independent that did 300+ a day and I was the only pharmacist. Trust me, it wasn't as bad as you make it out to be.
Click to expand...

Working for an independent is different from working at CVS. When you're working at CVS, in addition to filling the scripts you have to worry about:

- meeting the quota for the generic substitution program (you have to hound patients and physicians to switch from brands to generic)
- meeting the quota for readyfill (you have to hound patients and convince them to put their maintenance prescriptions on automatic refill, a lot of patients would rather not do this and just call them in when they need them(
- meeting the quota for FlavorRx
- meeting the quota for scanning the ExtraCare card at the registers
- meeting the quota for the SSS scores
- dealing with the district pharmacy supervisor (we rarely talk to this guy at Costco)
- dealing with a ******ed front store manager (at Costco, the front store managers are our friends, when customers go to them to complain, they just laugh at the customers)



This is all extra **** that you're not getting paid for.
 
Sparda29 said:
Working for an independent is different from working at CVS. When you're working at CVS, in addition to filling the scripts you have to worry about:

- meeting the quota for the generic substitution program (you have to hound patients and physicians to switch from brands to generic)
- meeting the quota for readyfill (you have to hound patients and convince them to put their maintenance prescriptions on automatic refill, a lot of patients would rather not do this and just call them in when they need them(
- meeting the quota for FlavorRx
- meeting the quota for scanning the ExtraCare card at the registers
- meeting the quota for the SSS scores
- dealing with the district pharmacy supervisor (we rarely talk to this guy at Costco)
- dealing with a ******ed front store manager (at Costco, the front store managers are our friends, when customers go to them to complain, they just laugh at the customers)



This is all extra **** that you're not getting paid for.
Click to expand...

I worked for Eckerd's a long time ago. Trust me I know what you have to do there and it wasn't that hard. Stop making a molehill out to be a mountain.
 
I work 14 hours all the time... of course it's in the comfort of my home office... early in the morning to past midnight.. but it's not physically taxing rather intellectually stimulating more often than not. It's like a good workout for your brain..
 
Sparda29 said:
Working for an independent is different from working at CVS. When you're working at CVS, in addition to filling the scripts you have to worry about:

- meeting the quota for the generic substitution program (you have to hound patients and physicians to switch from brands to generic)
- meeting the quota for readyfill (you have to hound patients and convince them to put their maintenance prescriptions on automatic refill, a lot of patients would rather not do this and just call them in when they need them(
- meeting the quota for FlavorRx
- meeting the quota for scanning the ExtraCare card at the registers
- meeting the quota for the SSS scores
- dealing with the district pharmacy supervisor (we rarely talk to this guy at Costco)
- dealing with a ******ed front store manager (at Costco, the front store managers are our friends, when customers go to them to complain, they just laugh at the customers)



This is all extra **** that you're not getting paid for.
Click to expand...

If it is your job description and/or it is part of your job, then you are getting paid for it.

Every company has various protocols to follow to help increase cash flows, etc they're just usually in different ways.

One of the things I used to do was explain the reasoning behind requiring some of these things. Take the autofills for instance. The main reason we do them is so you have a sort of stable cash flow that you can rely on. It gives you the ability to count on that fact. Sure some people don't pick them up or don't want them on there, but it's good for the company and it's good for your work flow.

We have several people who get 10+ things a month that we have on auto fill. Is it better that when they come up on autofill we can fill them at our leisure during a slow part of the day or have them call it in and get it ready in an hour?
 
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A few people are acting like this is a competition (i.e. whoever works the longest number of hours is the biggest, baddest pharmacist in town), which is a complete shame. 👎
 
PharmDstudent said:
A few people are acting like this is a competition (i.e. whoever works the longest number of hours is the biggest, baddest pharmacist in town), which is a complete shame. 👎
Click to expand...

I thought it was about people trying to brag that they make more than others do :laugh:

But really, sometimes it seems like people say they work longer hours and talk about how they're so much more tired than everyone else at the end of the day.

If I talk to someone about how I got tired after working 8-9 hours, they might be like "oh yeah? I worked 10 hours today. I'm way more tired buddy" :laugh:
 
phathead said:
If it is your job description and/or it is part of your job, then you are getting paid for it.

Every company has various protocols to follow to help increase cash flows, etc they're just usually in different ways.

One of the things I used to do was explain the reasoning behind requiring some of these things. Take the autofills for instance. The main reason we do them is so you have a sort of stable cash flow that you can rely on. It gives you the ability to count on that fact. Sure some people don't pick them up or don't want them on there, but it's good for the company and it's good for your work flow.

We have several people who get 10+ things a month that we have on auto fill. Is it better that when they come up on autofill we can fill them at our leisure during a slow part of the day or have them call it in and get it ready in an hour?
Click to expand...

At Costco, I do not have any of those quotas and I'm being paid more.
 
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