Which chain is best

[tlh908]

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I have recently been looking for internship opportunities at different chains and I was wondering what opinions are concerning the best retail chain to intern for and possibly have a career at. In other words - what store is the Cadillac of retail? There are many options to chose from and I would like to here opinions......

 

[INevrLearn]

Target, though not a traditional chain such as CVS/Eckerd/Walgreen, is by far THE BEST chain I have had experience with. I'll spare everyone my soap-box on why CVS is an evil empire.... but Target is definitely the way to go. If you want specifics, feel free to send me a message. (They should pay me for this 🙂 )

Matt

 

[tlh908]

I have been offered an intern position at CVS and would love to hear why they are the evil empire. It seems like they are big and national which means you have a lot of mobility. You have me really curious now.....

 

[INevrLearn]

are you on instant messenger? my rants about CVS would be SO much easier that way..... I'm INevrLearn ....

 

[Dr JPH]

Walgreens.

I used to work for Rite Aid.

Trust me. Go with Walgreens.

 

[INevrLearn]

I will admit that Walgreen is new to my area, and may be experiencing growing pains there... but overall... it looks like a dollar store...

 

[pharming]

I hav worked for CVS in the past and things are not that bad there. Some people like to run them into the ground since they are so big.

 

[INevrLearn]

I worked for CVS for almost 7 years (and at least in my area of the world) it IS that bad.

 

[tlh908]

Here is a twist - I want to hospital pharmacy eventually. Is worth working at CVS to get intern hours or should I try to get straight into a hospital? Where I am there are not a lot of hospital positions open so that makes it difficuly.....

 

[INevrLearn]

Retail pharmacy is something you either hate, love, or tolerate until you find a new career or have a heart attack. If you're absolutely sure that you want to go into hospital pharmacy, then yes yes YES. Don't waste your time with retail... it will only serve to make you a more bitter and jaded person for no reason.

 

[loo]

😛

Walgreen's is the best. State of the art equipment and Rph's are your bosses--not idiot corporate types. Happy Harry's (chain in Delaware, eastern Md) is also excellent. Supportive corporate environment, but computer system is less than state of the art. CVS sucks-enough said! NEVER work for Rite Aid-unethical and hires some pretty "bottom-of the barrel" pharmacists. Of course, this is strictly my opinion.

loo

 

[loo]

😡

BTW, I worked for CVS more than ten years. I finally quit after putting up with enough BS from corporate idiots who had no idea what was going on in the trenches.

loo

 

[tlh908]

It is interesting to hear what people have said about CVS. I did take their offer for an internship although I haven't started yet. But from what I can tell CVS has been really accomodating. They let me start whenever and are very flexible. Plus they gave us a really nice internship salary. Maybe CVS is extra nice in this region, I don't know. Wednesday after finals they are even throwing a party for us!

Maybe I will wake up some day and agree with you all, but for now it is helping me get my hours.....

 

[loo]

tlh908:

There are some great Rph's who work for CVS. I've never worked with finer folks in the world! Just watch out for the higher-ups! They will promise you the world and not deliver. Good luck on your internship!

loo

 

[Dr JPH]

Rite Aid kisses the pharmacists butts because CVS has major game and can drag them off.

Walgreens expects you will stay with them, so they are a little bit rougher on you...particularly the newbies.

 

[INevrLearn]

Originally posted by tlh908
It is interesting to hear what people have said about CVS. I did take their offer for an internship although I haven't started yet. But from what I can tell CVS has been really accomodating. They let me start whenever and are very flexible. Plus they gave us a really nice internship salary. Maybe CVS is extra nice in this region, I don't know. Wednesday after finals they are even throwing a party for us!

Maybe I will wake up some day and agree with you all, but for now it is helping me get my hours.....

Beware the "CVS is Great" party LOL

They throw our back-to-school party every year at the beach, and of course, take a few minutes of the DJ's time to tell us why CVS is so great and blah blah blah. I agree with what some of the others have said.... I have worked with some of the BEST pharmacists in the world at CVS. The people in the stores are great.... the CORPORATION sucks. They will cheat you in a heartbeat (the RPh's just won a big legal battle against them in that respect) and they're as conducive to personal and career growth as a bullet to the head.

 

[tlh908]

CVS threw us a big holiday party last night right after finals. They employ the largest number of interns in our class so it was a big party - they didn't seem to mind to spend all the money. Plus they brought it in 2 recruiters and a distric manager to butter us up on how much you can expect to make and tell us how good CVS is, etc. If CVS wants throw parties like this, I don't think anyone will mind......

INevrLearn, I think there have been a lot of companies who recently were sued for unfair employment practices, from Walmart to Radio Shack to the mentioned pharmacies. With the lawsuits settled, shouldn't this improve working conditions?

 

[Dr_Rx2003]

I am not qualified to answer which chain is the best, but it seems like the previous posts have answered your question(I cautiously question the validity of some of the previous posts). It is true: I "hear" that everyone is working for Walgreens(It seems like what is attracting them is money and easy-to-use computer system and company's stability).

 

[Nocsag56]

INevrLearn hit the nail right on the head.

"Retail pharmacy is something you either hate, love, or tolerate until you find a new career or have a heart attack."

BUT, I think everyone has to go through it at least once (even for a short while) - to find their answer.

 

[INevrLearn]

Originally posted by tlh908
CVS threw us a big holiday party last night right after finals. They employ the largest number of interns in our class so it was a big party - they didn't seem to mind to spend all the money. Plus they brought it in 2 recruiters and a distric manager to butter us up on how much you can expect to make and tell us how good CVS is, etc. If CVS wants throw parties like this, I don't think anyone will mind......

INevrLearn, I think there have been a lot of companies who recently were sued for unfair employment practices, from Walmart to Radio Shack to the mentioned pharmacies. With the lawsuits settled, shouldn't this improve working conditions?

One would think that to be the case.... I can't really answer that one because I don't work for CVS anymore. (and I'm about 5 notches down on the Stress-O-Meter now that finals are over, so I'm not as big on my "CVS Sucks" soap box.--- but don't get me wrong... they still suck.) My question is this-- Why would one WANT to work for a company, conditions bettered or no, that ended up in such a law suit? There are plenty of companies out there who don't rip their employees a 'new one' on a daily basis.... Why not go with someone you can trust (more or less?)
(Of course... who really knows which company you can trust? GEEZ... I need to go to church or something... I've been watching too much X-Files again 🙂 )

Just a thought....

And Happy Generic/Non-Religiously Affiliated/Politically Correct/Sure-To-Please-Everyone-And-No-One-At-The-Same-Time HOLIDAYS!!!! 😀