walgreens

[nikei3ball]

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i was just hired by walgreens as an intern at 4 hours a week (dont have time bc im a student). i worked for 2 weeks and i just got a phone call saying their over-budget and cut my hours down to 2 hours/ week. is that messed up?

 

[StallionRx]

2 hours a week...haha.

Messed up, but typical move from the big companies.

 

[pharmtastic]

Where do you live?? That's kinda strange. I live in the Bay Area, CA and my Walgreens store always wants me to work more. Especially because interns (at least in my area) are paid by the district so the store basically has you working for free there.

 

[ageldred]

Maybe you could ask them if you could do 4 hr shifts every other week? Or ask them to transfer you to another store.

 

[jawnly211]

hahaahaaah

that really sucks

yea, where are you located? they blow my phone off the hook because the techs always call off

interns are now budgeted into the tech hours.......it wasn't always the case though........i think it changed pretty recently

 

[nikei3ball]

im in nj

 

[twester]

i was just hired by walgreens as an intern at 4 hours a week (dont have time bc im a student). i worked for 2 weeks and i just got a phone call saying their over-budget and cut my hours down to 2 hours/ week. is that messed up?

Welcome to Walgreens, where the bottom line means more than patient care and safety, in my experience.

To their credit, they do endow a large number of scholarships for pharmacy students (usually handed out through a school's scholarship committee). I think that's pretty cool, but that's about the only thing I like about the company.

Use this opportunity to learn everything you can about retail pharmacy. Come up to speed quickly and try to pick up time at different stores if you can. You might just impress a pharmacy manager and get offered a better gig.

Remember your experiences with Walgreens, though, when it comes time to job hunt as a new graduate. Maybe you'll accept a position. Maybe you won't...

 

[StallionRx]

interns are now budgeted into the tech hours.......it wasn't always the case though........i think it changed pretty recently

Same with CVS.

Interns were paid out of a separate account and wouldnt impact tech hours. Come summer of 07, they told us their was no more money in the account 🙂laugh:, yea right) and wed be paid from store hours. Typical move from corporate to minimize extra help and save a few dollars.

 

[monsterbrain]

I've been at Walgreens for over 2 years, and they just keep getting cheaper and more petty. The most recent dictate? They refuse to expense kleenex for the pharmacy. If we need to blow our noses, we can use those rough, brown paper towels or TP in the bathroom. This would be fine if only we HAD TIME to leave the pharmacy to blow our noses! We are also the proud owners of a .99 hole punch and are forced to use a plastic expandable file with a ripped side (this I discovered when I picked it up and all 75 insurance reports fell out onto the floor).

Let's see...what else isn't allowed? Oh yeah, no personal items in the pharmacy (including on our person). No cell phones in the store; they must be kept in our cars. Yeah right, I'm going to leave my $400 iPhone in my car so someone can break in and steal it. Forget it, they can just write me up. No radios, no mfg bottles on the filling counter (after you have filled from them), all employee purchases ONLY at the cosmetics counter (where you can never find anyone), blah, blah, blah.

But I'm not bitter or anything 😉

 

[McZyprexalynn]

If you want to work more hours, get on some pharmacy manager's good side. Try to be flexible and work hard when you're there. My manager always makes sure I get enough hours (granted we never have enough techs and I was a tech there for 5 years before pharmacy school).

I've been at Walgreens for over 2 years, and they just keep getting cheaper and more petty. The most recent dictate? They refuse to expense kleenex for the pharmacy. If we need to blow our noses, we can use those rough, brown paper towels or TP in the bathroom. This would be fine if only we HAD TIME to leave the pharmacy to blow our noses! We are also the proud owners of a .99 hole punch and are forced to use a plastic expandable file with a ripped side (this I discovered when I picked it up and all 75 insurance reports fell out onto the floor).

Let's see...what else isn't allowed? Oh yeah, no personal items in the pharmacy (including on our person). No cell phones in the store; they must be kept in our cars. Yeah right, I'm going to leave my $400 iPhone in my car so someone can break in and steal it. Forget it, they can just write me up. No radios, no mfg bottles on the filling counter (after you have filled from them), all employee purchases ONLY at the cosmetics counter (where you can never find anyone), blah, blah, blah.

But I'm not bitter or anything 😉

This totally is an individual store thing for the most part and not a corporate policy. We are always expensing things out in the pharmacy. Tissues, hand sanitizer, etc. I just replaced our 3 hole punch because the old one fell apart. You wouldn't be able to hear a radio in my store, so that's pretty much a moot point (though we do have one somewhere).

Don't you have lockers? We're not supposed to have personal belongings in the pharmacy (though everyone does anyhow), but they should give you a locker to keep your purse and cell phone in (and if they do, how would they ever know if your phone is in your purse). I can understand why they don't want cell phones in the pharmacy/on the floor because many people seem to think it's okay to take calls on your cell phone while you're working, but there's no reason why they can't let you leave them in your locker.

 

[monsterbrain]

McZ: Actually it is a district thing for us here. Our Pharmacy Mgr rolls his eyes every time we get yet another rule emailed or written on the office dry/erase board. Yes, we have lockers...my choice is one 8-inches above my head or one I can't get open without a screwdriver. So I don't carry a purse and just keep my debit card in my pocket. I hide my phone back in the files where district personnel won't even look (hahaha). So silly.

The radio was a small clock radio sitting behind the in-window computer monitor (where patients could not see it and wasn't in the way of filling); and when our new district beeotch came in, she threw it away in the trash. Threw it away! The radio's owner decided she didn't want to dig it out, so that was that.

Another thing: how is it that McDonad's drive-thru employees get to wear headsets, some even wireless, but we have to hold that damn phone receiver up against our shoulder for 8 hours at a time? I never had back problems until we changed from the speaker to the phone system.

Ok, so after all of this, I'm not really miserable. I have a love/hate relationship with that place. It's just those little things that could make a job wayyyyy easier. Hell, I'd volunteer $0.25 per hour pay if they would just give me music, kleenex, and a head set, oh and my own clicky sharpie!! I'm just sayin.

 

[mrblah]

I worked for walgreens as a tech for 6 years, and I wish I can have those 6 years back. I will never give Walgreens a nickel of my money. I will never recommend anyone to shop there or work there. If Walgreen's went out of business tomorrow..... I wouldn't miss them. The day I got accepted to pharmacy school, was the day I quit.

http://www.jobvent.com/companyBrowse.php?CompanyID=207 give you a good idea of what it is like working at Walgreens, pharmacist or not. They are too greedy, too big, and too old fashion.

Actually, i think this is where most retail pharmacy is heading: towards the dumps

 

[SPharmN]

I've been at Walgreens for over 2 years, and they just keep getting cheaper and more petty. The most recent dictate? They refuse to expense kleenex for the pharmacy. If we need to blow our noses, we can use those rough, brown paper towels or TP in the bathroom. This would be fine if only we HAD TIME to leave the pharmacy to blow our noses! We are also the proud owners of a .99 hole punch and are forced to use a plastic expandable file with a ripped side (this I discovered when I picked it up and all 75 insurance reports fell out onto the floor).

Let's see...what else isn't allowed? Oh yeah, no personal items in the pharmacy (including on our person). No cell phones in the store; they must be kept in our cars. Yeah right, I'm going to leave my $400 iPhone in my car so someone can break in and steal it. Forget it, they can just write me up. No radios, no mfg bottles on the filling counter (after you have filled from them), all employee purchases ONLY at the cosmetics counter (where you can never find anyone), blah, blah, blah.

But I'm not bitter or anything 😉

Speaking of their pettiness, they don't spare those $.99 plastic forks in the employees' breakroom. You have to buy them in the front, unless you got a really cool store manager!

 

[McZyprexalynn]

Walgreens has some ****ty policies, but overall it depends more on the people you work with than the company as a whole. I don't have any particular loyalty to Walgreens, but I've worked there for 5 years, and overall, they've treated me pretty well, but I would be out the door if I had to deal with the things some people mention.

It makes a difference here because my DM is my former pharmacy manager. He was the manager at our store since it opened, so he can't really complain about the way things are. The radio that we have somewhere is likely his. We have plastic forks in our break room - and paper plates and napkins and coffee. We have a big box of Walgreens pens. I have a Sharpie and a highlighter in my pocket, plus there are several floating around.

I don't understand why WAG has the crappy phones at the drive thrus. I refuse to do the phone between the shoulder and the ear thing anymore. I have back problems, and just being at work aggravates them. I do a lot one handed. I have actually submitted a suggestion through their suggestion system (and mentioned how bad that posture is for your neck/back), but I doubt anything will come of it.

 

[monsterbrain]

Wow McZ - you have a great environment. We have no napkins, paper plates, forks (i bought my own box once but only everyone else used them), coffee, etc., etc., etc. I bought my very own sharpie with my very own money and don't let anyone else use it.

But what I do have is great pharmacy manager who will give me all the hours I want and the exact same schedule every week I also have a company that gives me vacation time (virtually unheard of for part-timers), paid for my CPhT classes/test, and gives me a good salary (compared to CVS) with a guaranteed raise every year. I also have many, many great patients I know by name, who intentially come to the pharmacy during my shifts, and give us candy and rave about us to management. Finally, I work with some of the greatest, most compassionate, funny, intelligent, etc., etc., etc., pharmacists on this planet.

So like I said, it is a love/hate relationship. Thanks for helping me to remember the positives!