taking vacation time in retail

[pntbutter]

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Ok so i was talking to a friend of mine whose been working as a pharmacist in retail for 4 or 5 years now and she was telling me that it is very hard for her to take vacation. She said it has to be planned at least a year in advance and only i think 2 or 3 pharmacist in the store's state can be on vacation at a time. I was just wondering if this is common for retail pharmacists or if this is just her specific store?

 

[Old Timer]

I get three weeks of vacation every year and use it when I want to use it. If I don't use it all, I get a check the following February....

 

[Allure]

I think it is true. My preceptor's been with CVS for almost 10 years and he said that he has to request a year in advance if he wants to go in the summer and he doesn't always get it because a lot of other pharmacists have been there even longer than him, so they always get it first, but if it's January or February, then he can request almost anytime.

 

[Old Timer]

I think it is true. My preceptor's been with CVS for almost 10 years and he said that he has to request a year in advance if he wants to go in the summer and he doesn't always get it because a lot of other pharmacists have been there even longer than him, so they always get it first, but if it's January or February, then he can request almost anytime.

What part of the country are you in. I submit my summer request in January or February and I have not been denied once in the seven+ years I have been with CVS.

 

[pharmdinfl]

Ok so i was talking to a friend of mine whose been working as a pharmacist in retail for 4 or 5 years now and she was telling me that it is very hard for her to take vacation. She said it has to be planned at least a year in advance and only i think 2 or 3 pharmacist in the store's state can be on vacation at a time. I was just wondering if this is common for retail pharmacists or if this is just her specific store?

I haven't had a problem so far. Requests for week-long vacations for the following year starts in October for us ....you rank your favorite weeks....results are posted in November. You may also add a comment about why you are requesting a particular week off (i.e. wedding, honeymoon, etc) and you might get preference for that week over someone else.

Our scheduler tries to only let each person get one week of their vacation in the summer because the summer is popular since a lot of people have children they want to take trips with.

As for taking random weekends/days of during the year, I've never had my request denied for that either. As a side note, I'm a "floater" pharmacist and since I don't work regularly anywhere, they don't have to find someone to cover my shift when I'm off. 🙂

We are a fully staffed district though, so that may also be why it's much easier for all of us to take days off.

 

[pntbutter]

I found it strange that her vacation time seems to be state regulated. I mean why limit the number of pharmacists that can be on vacation at one time when there are so many? seems silly to me

 

[StallionRx]

Where do you guys work?

I told my scheduler about 1 and 1/2 weeks in advance Id be out for about a week and had no problem. My partner left for 2 weeks on about 3 weeks notice and it was back to back with my 1 week leave.

 

[Allure]

What part of the country are you in. I submit my summer request in January or February and I have not been denied once in the seven+ years I have been with CVS.

I'm not too far away from where you are and there is a CVS/Walgreens at every block, literally!! The store I was at is a 24-hour with 5 pharmacists. I don't work for CVS, so I don't really know much about the company, but that's what my preceptor told me and he is also the manager.