Walgreens vs. CVS

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amt811

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Having worked as a tech for both companies (currently at CVS), which company do you think is better to work for as a pharmacist?

I prefer working at CVS as a tech, but I feel like Walgreens was better if you're a pharmacist. CVS almost feels like slavery (for the pharmacists at least) sometimes.

Any idea of how the work schedule differs for Pharmacists between Walgreens and CVS? What schedule could a recent graduate who just gets hired be expected to work for CVS vs. Walgreens? And does one typically pay better than the other?

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Having worked as a tech for both companies (currently at CVS), which company do you think is better to work for as a pharmacist?

I prefer working at CVS as a tech, but I feel like Walgreens was better if you're a pharmacist. CVS almost feels like slavery (for the pharmacists at least) sometimes.

Any idea of how the work schedule differs for Pharmacists between Walgreens and CVS? What schedule could a recent graduate who just gets hired be expected to work for CVS vs. Walgreens? And does one typically pay better than the other?
I have worked for both as a Pharmacist and just enjoyed my times with CVS better. Now if I were you I would visit the stores(CVS and WAGS) in the city that you work in and see how they are staffed. Call each store during different times of the day and see how long it takes for someone to answer the phone.
I do know the shifts are different- I don't think WAGS have 14 hour shifts where as CVS if you work in a non 24 hour store chances are you might work a 14 day shift or two- but CVS does allow the staff to make their own schedule.
However, one big thing you may look at is WAGS just lost their contract with Express Scripts effective 1-1-2012 so rest assure that WAGS will be cutting back on tech hours and perhaps even cutting back on store hours to make up for the loss revenue- keep in mind that CVS will pick up a great deal of those "scripts" from Express Scripts especially if it's an area where the CVS and WAGS are right across from each other- which would lead to more volume for the CVS stores which should equate to more tech hours at that CVS. Now I am speaking basically from the area I work in- the CVS tends to be better staffed than the WAGS in terms of techs- but you are going to have to do your own research in your market to see if that holds true.
 
I have worked for both as a Pharmacist and just enjoyed my times with CVS better. Now if I were you I would visit the stores(CVS and WAGS) in the city that you work in and see how they are staffed. Call each store during different times of the day and see how long it takes for someone to answer the phone.
I do know the shifts are different- I don't think WAGS have 14 hour shifts where as CVS if you work in a non 24 hour store chances are you might work a 14 day shift or two- but CVS does allow the staff to make their own schedule.
However, one big thing you may look at is WAGS just lost their contract with Express Scripts effective 1-1-2012 so rest assure that WAGS will be cutting back on tech hours and perhaps even cutting back on store hours to make up for the loss revenue- keep in mind that CVS will pick up a great deal of those "scripts" from Express Scripts especially if it's an area where the CVS and WAGS are right across from each other- which would lead to more volume for the CVS stores which should equate to more tech hours at that CVS. Now I am speaking basically from the area I work in- the CVS tends to be better staffed than the WAGS in terms of techs- but you are going to have to do your own research in your market to see if that holds true.

While for the past few years, CVS have been staffed well vs Walgreens in my area, we are now on plans where there is no flexing allowed. The market is bad... This might mean a full time time tech in many stores around holiday seasons.
 
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While for the past few years, CVS have been staffed well vs Walgreens in my area, we are now on plans where there is no flexing allowed. The market is bad... This might mean a full time time tech in many stores around holiday seasons.
No flexing of hours wow- just curious what District/ city do o work? I never heard of no flexing of hours I hope that's not something a Supervisor/DM told you to pad their numbers- because obviously if you are doing more scripts you naturally have more hours. Every Pharmacy has a projected budget and I find it hard to believe that if you are beating the budget based on scripts that they wouldn't let you flex up- makes no sense- what would be the purpose of the PIC to increase sales if he/she wasn't rewarded with flex hours?
 
No flexing of hours wow- just curious what District/ city do o work? I never heard of no flexing of hours I hope that's not something a Supervisor/DM told you to pad their numbers- because obviously if you are doing more scripts you naturally have more hours. Every Pharmacy has a projected budget and I find it hard to believe that if you are beating the budget based on scripts that they wouldn't let you flex up- makes no sense- what would be the purpose of the PIC to increase sales if he/she wasn't rewarded with flex hours?

I believe it is an area thing. Our area didnt do a good job controlling hours in the beginning of the year and now we have to pay for it even if we did do a good job controlling it the entire year.
 
Having worked as a tech for both companies (currently at CVS), which company do you think is better to work for as a pharmacist?

I prefer working at CVS as a tech, but I feel like Walgreens was better if you're a pharmacist. CVS almost feels like slavery (for the pharmacists at least) sometimes.

Any idea of how the work schedule differs for Pharmacists between Walgreens and CVS? What schedule could a recent graduate who just gets hired be expected to work for CVS vs. Walgreens? And does one typically pay better than the other?

In my area, recent pharmacy graduates are not being guaranteed hours at WAGs, they are floating around the district to get 30ish/week.
 
I think WAGS is better to work at both as a pharmacist and tech because the computer system is much better and workflow much more efficient.

However, as mentioned above, the fact that WAGS just lost the contract with Express Scripts may mean that workflow at WAGS may get crazier because of cutting of tech hours and possibly even pharmacist hours......so who knows.
 
I think WAGS is better to work at both as a pharmacist and tech because the computer system is much better and workflow much more efficient.

However, as mentioned above, the fact that WAGS just lost the contract with Express Scripts may mean that workflow at WAGS may get crazier because of cutting of tech hours and possibly even pharmacist hours......so who knows.
I respectively disagree- WAGS system is more advanced I will grant you that- but I have been told it crashes a lot- also Insurances runs smoother on RxConnect than WAGS system- prime example- if you have a person who has a COB where it's Medicaid and another 3rd party- it's difficult as hell to get it to go through on WAGS system and a simple click on RXconnect it goes through- actually dealt with that issue last week and the agent from Medicaid even mentioned that WAGS software has a glitch that makes it difficult to split bill.
Also, if you have a CVS side by side with a WAGS and they are doing the same volume- RXconnect allows you to clear the queue far quicker than WAGS system- when I worked for WAGS I remember the labels printing out automatically whereas with RXConnect if you have 1 or 2 strong people in production you can clear the queue in no time.
One final thing- if you happened to be blessed and work at a slow CVS or if you are a Pharmacist at a busier CVS and you have some awesome techs and they have cleared your queue and got you caught up at least with CVS you can take a break/read a magazine and don't have to worry about verifying another stores prescriptions like you do with WAGS so I don't know how you can say the workflow at WAGS is better.
 
The COB thing sometimes glitches, but overall, it is not too bad. What button do you press for CVS to get it to do a COB? I did an IPPE there but do not remember.

Does CVS usually have 1 or 2 people in production? At the store I worked at, there were 1 or 2 techs at a time, so no one person worked in production exclusively.

Well, at WAGS, I like how they split up the data review and final verification. At CVS, I didn't like how there was just 1 final verification of drug accuracy and data review all at the end, so if the tech typed in the data wrong, you'd have to go back and fill the prescription again (if drug was wrong or quantity wrong). Also, I didn't like how you had to re-verify the prescription that was in the waiting bin after an insurance modification.

I will admit: not having to verify for other stores is a plus at CVS.
 
The COB thing sometimes glitches, but overall, it is not too bad. What button do you press for CVS to get it to do a COB? I did an IPPE there but do not remember.

Does CVS usually have 1 or 2 people in production? At the store I worked at, there were 1 or 2 techs at a time, so no one person worked in production exclusively.

Well, at WAGS, I like how they split up the data review and final verification. At CVS, I didn't like how there was just 1 final verification of drug accuracy and data review all at the end, so if the tech typed in the data wrong, you'd have to go back and fill the prescription again (if drug was wrong or quantity wrong). Also, I didn't like how you had to re-verify the prescription that was in the waiting bin after an insurance modification.

I will admit: not having to verify for other stores is a plus at CVS.

From personal experience, walgreens employee's seem happier than cvs employee's. Wag's computer system is very efficient and very good in general, I think its much more pharmacist friendly than cvs' computer system. Most of the employee's that leave walgreens for cvs has been usually do to location, wags won't transfer them out to more popular areas. In a way, I am glad I work for wags, b/c cvs pharmacist seem overwhelmed by all the ESRX transfers. I know this might mean trouble for wags later, but just riduculous if the r.ph. doesn't even have time for a copy.
 
I respectively disagree- WAGS system is more advanced I will grant you that- but I have been told it crashes a lot- also Insurances runs smoother on RxConnect than WAGS system- prime example- if you have a person who has a COB where it's Medicaid and another 3rd party- it's difficult as hell to get it to go through on WAGS system and a simple click on RXconnect it goes through- actually dealt with that issue last week and the agent from Medicaid even mentioned that WAGS software has a glitch that makes it difficult to split bill.
Also, if you have a CVS side by side with a WAGS and they are doing the same volume- RXconnect allows you to clear the queue far quicker than WAGS system- when I worked for WAGS I remember the labels printing out automatically whereas with RXConnect if you have 1 or 2 strong people in production you can clear the queue in no time.
What are you talking about?

It's easy to split bill. You put one plan primary and the other plan secondary with a "Y" in the COB field.
SDL coupons suck, but COBs are a piece of cake.

Again, what are you talking about?

You can print labels ahead, too. You just highlight the items in the work que by pressing "control" and then hit "print". The fact that labels print out automatically just prevents someone from leaving a bunch of scripts stacked in the que for the next shift. 👍

It's not rocket science.

Does CVS usually have 1 or 2 people in production? At the store I worked at, there were 1 or 2 techs at a time, so no one person worked in production exclusively.
Right...
 
The COB thing sometimes glitches, but overall, it is not too bad. What button do you press for CVS to get it to do a COB? I did an IPPE there but do not remember.

Does CVS usually have 1 or 2 people in production? At the store I worked at, there were 1 or 2 techs at a time, so no one person worked in production exclusively.

Well, at WAGS, I like how they split up the data review and final verification. At CVS, I didn't like how there was just 1 final verification of drug accuracy and data review all at the end, so if the tech typed in the data wrong, you'd have to go back and fill the prescription again (if drug was wrong or quantity wrong). Also, I didn't like how you had to re-verify the prescription that was in the waiting bin after an insurance modification.

I will admit: not having to verify for other stores is a plus at CVS.
Actually let me clariffy you actually type in BP which means BYPass Payer and it will automatically bill Medicaid.
yes- there are some CVS that have 2 people in production it just depends on how you have it staffed- you are correct with WAGS- once it's typed before a label prints out it must be checked by the Pharmacist- there's good and bad to t so it just really depends- yes CVS you do have to re-verify- but the good thing is it add another check point.
Also, correct e if I am wrong but at WAGS doesn't the system pretty much dictate the time to give the person- whereas with CVS it's at the discretion of the person typing. The WAGS that's near does about a thousand less than my store and I constantly have heard various complaints that WAGS typically give customers longer wait times even though they have less volume- but could be other factors.
 
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What are you talking about?

It's easy to split bill. You put one plan primary and the other plan secondary with a "Y" in the COB field.
SDL coupons suck, but COBs are a piece of cake.

Again, what are you talking about?

You can print labels ahead, too. You just highlight the items in the work que by pressing "control" and then hit "print". The fact that labels print out automatically just prevents someone from leaving a bunch of scripts stacked in the que for the next shift. 👍

It's not rocket science.

Right...
I can only tell you from what I experienced and from having 2 techs who work at my store who came from WAGS- both have said that the workflow is set up where scripts just constantly print out all through the day I believe on the hour- where they both have said at CVS you can print out whenever you want- also I know I am not crazy but I do remember WAGS workflow doesn't encourage you to print out labels ahead of time- for example if you got labels that are do tomorrow- they don't want you going in the queue and printing them out far in advance.
Also, I have heard that the got rid of it- but the Will Call was a joke at WAGS- you basically fill prescriptions that the MD may or may not call back on.
Also if it means anything to you- both have said CVS ScriptPro is much better than WAGS Parada. However, once again based on my experience I have seen so many customers come to CVS and say WAGS told them it would be a 2 hour wait- the same prescriptions would take us 15 minutes- I promise you unless we have registers or computers down- there will never be a customer who walks up to my store and if they have 3 script or less that wouldn't be out in 15 mins or less- can't say the same about WAGS.
 
From personal experience, walgreens employee's seem happier than cvs employee's. Wag's computer system is very efficient and very good in general, I think its much more pharmacist friendly than cvs' computer system. Most of the employee's that leave walgreens for cvs has been usually do to location, wags won't transfer them out to more popular areas. In a way, I am glad I work for wags, b/c cvs pharmacist seem overwhelmed by all the ESRX transfers. I know this might mean trouble for wags later, but just riduculous if the r.ph. doesn't even have time for a copy.
Well there might be some truth you are going to get different perspective from different people so there's no right or wrong answer- it's almost like asking what's better a BMW/Mercedes??? You will get different answers depending on who you ask- but I actually look forward to the ESRX- it will me more volume to me- but in the long room it will mean I can hire one or more techs who are looking for work. I have seen threads about people saying the CVS in their area are not allowing flexing up with hours and if you are a CVS PIC and you are doing more volume and not allowed to use more tech hours based on your increase in your hours than you are a fool.
Bottomline my Sup would never say to me- Hey you are doing about 300 more scripts than what you are budgeted but you can't hire anyone - that will never fly in my world. Fact of the matter is you are allocated certain tech hours based on projected scripts and if you exceed those projections than either you have a boat load of hours that goes wasted every week or you hire someone and give someone unemployed a job and you also improve workflow and customer service- it's a no brainer.
 
I can only tell you from what I experienced and from having 2 techs who work at my store who came from WAGS- both have said that the workflow is set up where scripts just constantly print out all through the day I believe on the hour- where they both have said at CVS you can print out whenever you want- also I know I am not crazy but I do remember WAGS workflow doesn't encourage you to print out labels ahead of time- for example if you got labels that are do tomorrow- they don't want you going in the queue and printing them out far in advance.
Also, I have heard that the got rid of it- but the Will Call was a joke at WAGS- you basically fill prescriptions that the MD may or may not call back on.
Also if it means anything to you- both have said CVS ScriptPro is much better than WAGS Parada. However, once again based on my experience I have seen so many customers come to CVS and say WAGS told them it would be a 2 hour wait- the same prescriptions would take us 15 minutes- I promise you unless we have registers or computers down- there will never be a customer who walks up to my store and if they have 3 script or less that wouldn't be out in 15 mins or less- can't say the same about WAGS.
Oh, dear. You just keep digging a bigger hole for yourself. 😳

What do you think overnight pharmacists are for? To F4 and clear the work que.

I don't know what Will Call is, so yeah, that must have been a while ago.

We don't have a Parata. It was replaced with a Yuyama! 😍 As far as I know, Parata machines are being phased out. The new machine makes up for the 0.9% pay raise. :laugh:

If you wanted to serve "fast food", you should have applied at McDonald's. 🙄
 
Oh, dear. You just keep digging a bigger hole for yourself. 😳

What do you think overnight pharmacists are for? To F4 and clear the work que.

I don't know what Will Call is, so yeah, that must have been a while ago.

We don't have a Parata. It was replaced with a Yuyama! 😍 As far as I know, Parata machines are being phased out. The new machine makes up for the 0.9% pay raise. :laugh:

If you wanted to serve "fast food", you should have applied at McDonald's. 🙄
I am not digging a hole- what about stores that don't have over night pharmacist- I assume you are a Pharmacist that if you get off at 9pm- you wouldn't verify anything with a time period after 9pm- At my location we basically all try to help one another and so far we are doing a great job helping each other- the day/evening Pharmacist tries to do as much as they can to lighten the load for the over night pharmacist and the Over night pharmacist does as much as he can to lighten the load for the daytime pharmacist it's called teamwork.
Again I don't want to make an issue and say I am right and you are wrong because it's all about perspective- if you love the WAGS system than God bless you- I like the CVS workflow and the system and that's all I can say- in terms of fast food comparison- if it takes you a freaking hour to fill a pain medication or a z-pak than we will keep getting customers who are fed up with Walgreens wait time and thank us for getting their meds done in a timely manner- again I am pretty sure there are some WAGS that offer excellent service but I am mainly speaking from my perspective.
 
Re: workflow at Walgreens -

1. Labels automatically print out one hour before the promised time so that you don't have to go in and manually do it. If you don't have any labels to fill the system will print out ones that are due at a later time. You ARE supposed to go in and print ahead as time permits. In non-24 hour stores the work queue is supposed to be completely cleared before leaving for the night. I work at a busy 24-hour store where the overnight pharmacist will fill most of the labels that are due the next day, but I fill ahead as far as possible time permitting.

2. Prescriptions are never filled that a doctor may or may not call back on. That's completely false information.

3. As stated earlier I work in a busy 24-hour store and we have absolutely no problem filling prescriptions in 15 minutes. When we can't it's not a workflow issue. It's a staffing issue. Any Walgreens that is regularly telling people 2 hours is either unnecessarily understaffed or the people that work there are lazy - again, nothing to do with workflow. I can fill a prescription for a Z-pak in about 30 seconds.
 
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Re: workflow at Walgreens -

1. Labels automatically print out one hour before the promised time so that you don't have to go in and manually do it. If you don't have any labels to fill the system will print out ones that are due at a later time. You ARE supposed to go in and print ahead as time permits. In non-24 hour stores the work queue is supposed to be completely cleared before leaving for the night. I work at a busy 24-hour store where the overnight pharmacist will fill most of the labels that are due the next day, but I fill ahead as far as possible time permitting.

2. Prescriptions are never filled that a doctor may or may not call back on. That's completely false information.

3. As stated earlier I work in a busy 24-hour store and we have absolutely no problem filling prescriptions in 15 minutes. When we can't it's not a workflow issue. It's a staffing issue. Any Walgreens that is regularly telling people 2 hours is either unnecessarily understaffed or the people that work there are lazy - again, nothing to do with workflow. I can fill a prescription for a Z-pak in about 30 seconds.
Thanks for clearing that up- I agree-if a store is not running smoothly regardless of the retail chian it's usually staffing- also how long have you been with Walgreens?
I am 100% sure that at one time they had a Will Call area- basically it was select medications that were actually filled and pretty much waiting on the MD to call and approve- actually as I was typing this message I got a pm that stated Walgreens abandon that practice but it was something that was required to do- also glad to know that you fill as many scripts as possible because that's what I do at my location I work at a very busy 4300 script a week store- normally when the night pharmacist comes in- he/she finishes whatever is left in the queue- at 12am our Ready fill scripts get loaded in the queue- those are all maintenance meds that will be due for pick up in 3 days- amongst other things the night pharmacist does Return to stock, cycle counts- fills our automated machine and fill scripts as they come in-
 

Rxnupe, since you are so involved with CVS what do you think about the future. I know the dispersing pharmacy model wont be able to sustain itself for a long time so what is CVS doing to prepare. I asked the same question to the regional manager that came to my school and the answer was very puzzling.
He told us that they have some ideas on what they think the future will be like. He said one of the most supported ideas was a model where a tech will be trained just to deal with insurance issues, than they will have a nutritionist in the pharmacy to consult on nutrition (?????) and the pharmacist will be in an office-like room seeing patients one on one. I am not sure what any of these means but this model sounds more or less like what Walgreen is testing in some places so it will be very interesting.

Also i asked him the question if pharmacist will ever be displaced and he said he didnt think so because on the research they have done even thought its the law, many patient come to the pharmacy because the pharmacist is looked as trusting professional and than works as a huge incentive for patient to come to the store.

So RXnupe as a CVS supporter i just want to know what you think of the future of community pharmacy and retail stores.
 
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For Wags, the newer stores all have consulting rooms. My home store was an acquisition. We do have a separate room for consulting, immunizations, and tests. We are CLIA-waived and an ICE store. I have immunized pneumonia, flu, Zostavax, and MMR. No one has really asked for one of the blood tests, yet.
For most people, they like having the pharmacist in the actual pharmacy. It gives them a sense of security.
 
Rxnupe, since you are so involved with CVS what do you think about the future. I know the dispersing pharmacy model wont be able to sustain itself for a long time so what is CVS doing to prepare. I asked the same question to the regional manager that came to my school and the answer was very puzzling.
He told us that they have some ideas on what they think the future will be like. He said one of the most supported ideas was a model where a tech will be trained just to deal with insurance issues, than they will have a nutritionist in the pharmacy to consult on nutrition (?????) and the pharmacist will be in an office-like room seeing patients one on one. I am not sure what any of these means but this model sounds more or less like what Walgreen is testing in some places so it will be very interesting.

Also i asked him the question if pharmacist will ever be displaced and he said he didnt think so because on the research they have done even thought its the law, many patient come to the pharmacy because the pharmacist is looked as trusting professional and than works as a huge incentive for patient to come to the store.

So RXnupe as a CVS supporter i just want to know what you think of the future of community pharmacy and retail stores.
Very good question- honestly I don't buy into that scenario that you gave perhaps they will have it at "select" stores and select areas- but I think the future of the business all depends on the economy- but let's say the economy will eventually rebound- unless something drastically changes I think CVS will concentrate more on "numbers" which is what I don't like.
As far as what I don't like about CVS- I would like a better training system and better pay rate for techs- a better pay rate would attract and maintain better technicians. CVS should IMO do one of the following either limit the programs they have intact or hire more pharmacist because honestly the wear and tear and the expectations are very difficult.
You are absolutely right that despite improvement there are still people who would rather talk to a pharmacist rather than a computer. Now what floated around at one of my meetings that supposedly was in the "works" was a program similar to Walgreens POWER- where prescriptions get filled at a central location and that phone calls actually get sent to a central location and the only time the phone will actually ring in the pharmacy is if they want to speak to a specific person. I don't think the Pharmacist will get place in order to do that you are going to have to pay off members of the BOP who I can't see letting that happen- what I might see happening in the next year is CVS getting rid of a lot of over night shifts-I saw a lot of 24 hour stores become non 24 hours and it was strictly to cut back on payroll.
 
I am not digging a hole- what about stores that don't have over night pharmacist- I assume you are a Pharmacist that if you get off at 9pm- you wouldn't verify anything with a time period after 9pm- At my location we basically all try to help one another and so far we are doing a great job helping each other- the day/evening Pharmacist tries to do as much as they can to lighten the load for the over night pharmacist and the Over night pharmacist does as much as he can to lighten the load for the daytime pharmacist it's called teamwork.
Again I don't want to make an issue and say I am right and you are wrong because it's all about perspective- if you love the WAGS system than God bless you- I like the CVS workflow and the system and that's all I can say- in terms of fast food comparison- if it takes you a freaking hour to fill a pain medication or a z-pak than we will keep getting customers who are fed up with Walgreens wait time and thank us for getting their meds done in a timely manner- again I am pretty sure there are some WAGS that offer excellent service but I am mainly speaking from my perspective.
We have to do 15 minute waiters like everyone else. It's just impossible to do twenty of them at once, for example, so the wait time gets longer. If a patient is sitting in the store, and I mean waiting for their prescription, then they will get their medicine faster than just about anyone else. But they have to be waiting for it.
To act like "15 minutes or less" is some kind of law is ridiculous. If someone can wait in the ER for 5 hours, what's another 5 or 10 minutes or even an hour?
 
Wags 20 mins or less crew checking in 👍 But if we go over we don't give you a gift card 🙄 Oh and my store avg ~ 1k/day and still hit under 20 mins avg wait :meanie:
 
We have to do 15 minute waiters like everyone else. It's just impossible to do twenty of them at once, for example, so the wait time gets longer. If a patient is sitting in the store, and I mean waiting for their prescription, then they will get their medicine faster than just about anyone else. But they have to be waiting for it.
To act like "15 minutes or less" is some kind of law is ridiculous. If someone can wait in the ER for 5 hours, what's another 5 or 10 minutes or even an hour?
I agree with you on that principle- I hate when people who have been in the ER for hours and get pissed f they have to wait 15 to 20 minutes- I have had people bitch about 20 minutes wait time- I also once had a lady who had 11 prescriptions she wanted to wait we told her it would be 30 to 45 minutes- she had a fit and wanted our corporate number- I laugh inside when they want our corporate number- do they think corporate is going to make me type them any faster? I am at a high volume store and 30 to 45 minutes for 11 prescriptions to me is a blessing.
Also, people who want to rush you and tell you they need the med right away and than you look at the date on the rx and it was given to over a week ago really annoy me.
 
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