I have stated many times my pet peeve over people who come to the drive thru with broken windows and thus have to get out of their car and then walk up to the window. Its always the same damned people every goddamn time.
Today I was granted some redemption. You see one of our repeat offenders was standing at the window waiting for her beloved Lortab. The clerk gave it to her and I watched her turn back to her car to get in. Only problem is she locked the door... with the keys in the ignition... and the car on.
Needless to say I grabbed my little back of Cheez-its, pulled up a chair and watched this hilarity. I could have helped her. I decided though that since this woman for the last two years has been too lazy to park her car and actually walk in the store for her Lortab, that I deserved this opportunity. I sat there for a good ten minutes giggling to myself. It was then that it dawned on her that the passenger side door was open and she went on her merry little way.
Call me an asshole, but damn did that make my day.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Autism - MMR Vaccine Debate
I love how the media manages to put a spin on just about everything. The Avandia story was funnier than hell as they were throwing that drug under the bus, yet nothing was said about its cousin Actos. Strange how that works. Anyways unless you have lived under a rock for the past two months, there have been several reports in the mass media suggesting that the MMR vaccination that children receive can cause autism. For those of you who have not read the story, please feel free to have a drink while you read this.
First off Autism is mainly a genetic disorder affecting as many as ten separate genes. You cannot catch it when someone sneezes on you or when you eat undercooked meat. There are environmental factors which can effectively increases the chances for autism, but those usually only effect the fetus and even then only during selected periods. Even those with a genetic disposition to the disorder sometimes need a type of tipping mechanism to actually cause the disorder propagate.
What is being suggested in that article is that the MMR vaccination that this particular girl received caused her to develop autism. It is also stated that she had a disposition for the disorder already. The vaccination could have merely been what caused her condition to deteriorate more rapidly than would have naturally occurred. It is also equally possible that she never would have developed autism without that said vaccination.
Now what I find funny is how the media and other groups are spinning this into this big web of evil vaccinations. I have read about groups who are suggesting that this is proof that we are messing with the human genome and that this is the price we will pay. So I thought I would clear this up with one simple statement.
THERE IS NO CORRELATION BETWEEN MMR VACCINATIONS AND AUTISM.
None whatsoever. The study that is often reported came from a study from a Wakefield group in England during 1998. In it the study suggested that there was a possible connection between autism rates and MMR vaccinations. This study, however, was flawed in its conclusion. It caused a drop in MMR vaccinations rates in England of up to 50%. Shortly there fter there was the first reported cases of a death from measles in decades. Two years later the report trickled over to the US and a similar outcome appeared. In Indiana there was an outbreak of measles which affected 34 children, 32 of which had not been vaccinated per choice of their parents.
People argue that since autism diagnosis's rose 550% over a five year span, that surely we must be doing something to cause such a rapid increase in autism! What is neglected is during that time span we developed far better techniques to diagnosis the disorder. We were finding it and treating it much earlier. We also discovered that about one-third of autism children and adults also suffer from epilepsy. Instead of misdiagnosing kids we were finding the underlying causes. There was not an increase in autism, we have just improved our methods of diagnosis.
Yet you never hear about this on the news. All you hear about is how this little girl received a settlement and therefore they must be right and we are in essence killing our children. Now hordes of brainwashed parents will not get their children vaccinated and put them at risk.
Believe CNN and Time and Fox News if you want. Fact of the matter is they do not have their stories correct. If you choose to believe them rather the scientific evidence, so be it. Lord knows the next thing that'll happen is a parent will sue one of those media giants upon the death of their child for misconstruing information. I shall laugh my ass off when that day arrives.
First off Autism is mainly a genetic disorder affecting as many as ten separate genes. You cannot catch it when someone sneezes on you or when you eat undercooked meat. There are environmental factors which can effectively increases the chances for autism, but those usually only effect the fetus and even then only during selected periods. Even those with a genetic disposition to the disorder sometimes need a type of tipping mechanism to actually cause the disorder propagate.
What is being suggested in that article is that the MMR vaccination that this particular girl received caused her to develop autism. It is also stated that she had a disposition for the disorder already. The vaccination could have merely been what caused her condition to deteriorate more rapidly than would have naturally occurred. It is also equally possible that she never would have developed autism without that said vaccination.
Now what I find funny is how the media and other groups are spinning this into this big web of evil vaccinations. I have read about groups who are suggesting that this is proof that we are messing with the human genome and that this is the price we will pay. So I thought I would clear this up with one simple statement.
THERE IS NO CORRELATION BETWEEN MMR VACCINATIONS AND AUTISM.
None whatsoever. The study that is often reported came from a study from a Wakefield group in England during 1998. In it the study suggested that there was a possible connection between autism rates and MMR vaccinations. This study, however, was flawed in its conclusion. It caused a drop in MMR vaccinations rates in England of up to 50%. Shortly there fter there was the first reported cases of a death from measles in decades. Two years later the report trickled over to the US and a similar outcome appeared. In Indiana there was an outbreak of measles which affected 34 children, 32 of which had not been vaccinated per choice of their parents.
People argue that since autism diagnosis's rose 550% over a five year span, that surely we must be doing something to cause such a rapid increase in autism! What is neglected is during that time span we developed far better techniques to diagnosis the disorder. We were finding it and treating it much earlier. We also discovered that about one-third of autism children and adults also suffer from epilepsy. Instead of misdiagnosing kids we were finding the underlying causes. There was not an increase in autism, we have just improved our methods of diagnosis.
Yet you never hear about this on the news. All you hear about is how this little girl received a settlement and therefore they must be right and we are in essence killing our children. Now hordes of brainwashed parents will not get their children vaccinated and put them at risk.
Believe CNN and Time and Fox News if you want. Fact of the matter is they do not have their stories correct. If you choose to believe them rather the scientific evidence, so be it. Lord knows the next thing that'll happen is a parent will sue one of those media giants upon the death of their child for misconstruing information. I shall laugh my ass off when that day arrives.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Perhaps Its Time I Joined Big Pharma
Normally I would stray away from helping Big Pharma, but I had a thought today on a drug they could make. Why this has not been created yet I really have no idea because it is utterly brilliant. Shit if they won't do it, I'll do it myself.
Ladies and Gentleman I present to you the birth control of the 21st century - Ortho-Van
What it is Ortho-Van you may ask? Why its a multiphasic birth control. What makes it so special? It adds a 10 day cycle of Ativan.
Now that you have picked your jaws up off the floor, how fucking genius is that idea? This may have something to do with the fact I just dealt with 3 women in a row with raging PMS, but I think its something that would help society as a whole. Think its time for me to make a phone call..
Mr Clean Would Be Sad
One of the scarest things you can encounter in my job is when a customer comes to the counter and drops a bottle down for refill. How is that frightening you may ask? Because you never know just what the hell you're going to touch when you grab the bottle.
Now I consider myself a pretty clean and orderly guy. Hell I can't stand when theres a pile of mail on my coffee table, but I'm more on the anal side of things. I understand that not every one can be that considered over keeping things clean. Everyone is different in they're own ways. One would think that when in a public setting there would be at least the persona of cleaniess. Of course this is hardly ever the case.
Why am I bringing this up? I just recieved a bottle from a customer with a piece of speghetti on it. It was hard, crusty and slightly decayed (ok that may be a slight exageration). The customer seemed completely oblivious to this fact. Now it wasn't a psych med so I can't blame it on them being crazy, it was obvious that they were just messy. Who, however, in their right mind would bring something like that into a business and then give it to someone? Why not just say say, "Hey can you fill my lisinopril" or perhaps even just call in what you want?
Sadly that is not the most disgusting thing I have received. Once we got a bottle that reeked of urine. We hope that it simply fell in the toliet and not that someone had decided to piss in it, but in reality you never know.
I suppose that is one thing they'll never teach you in pharmacy school, how to deal with piss covered prescriptions. Maybe when I'm older I'll be a pharmacy professor. My class will be called Pharmacy Realities 101. I like that idea.
Now I consider myself a pretty clean and orderly guy. Hell I can't stand when theres a pile of mail on my coffee table, but I'm more on the anal side of things. I understand that not every one can be that considered over keeping things clean. Everyone is different in they're own ways. One would think that when in a public setting there would be at least the persona of cleaniess. Of course this is hardly ever the case.
Why am I bringing this up? I just recieved a bottle from a customer with a piece of speghetti on it. It was hard, crusty and slightly decayed (ok that may be a slight exageration). The customer seemed completely oblivious to this fact. Now it wasn't a psych med so I can't blame it on them being crazy, it was obvious that they were just messy. Who, however, in their right mind would bring something like that into a business and then give it to someone? Why not just say say, "Hey can you fill my lisinopril" or perhaps even just call in what you want?
Sadly that is not the most disgusting thing I have received. Once we got a bottle that reeked of urine. We hope that it simply fell in the toliet and not that someone had decided to piss in it, but in reality you never know.
I suppose that is one thing they'll never teach you in pharmacy school, how to deal with piss covered prescriptions. Maybe when I'm older I'll be a pharmacy professor. My class will be called Pharmacy Realities 101. I like that idea.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
I Snapped
I feel I must apologize to you Aciphex. You were an innocent bystander during my brief fit of rage. Perhaps it was the six phone line rings, perhaps it was the four people waiting. Perhaps it was the fact that the robot kept fucking up, or perhaps it was because I was on just three hours sleep.
Regardless of that fact, I never should have acted the way I did. Its not your fault that whatever dipshit designed you decided that that your Sorb-it canister should be just a faction of a millimeter smaller than the neck of the bottle. Its not your fault that I wanted that last tablet out of the bottle so I could get one more annoying person out of the store.
Aciphex, I'm sorry and I hope you'll be able to forgive me.
Regardless of that fact, I never should have acted the way I did. Its not your fault that whatever dipshit designed you decided that that your Sorb-it canister should be just a faction of a millimeter smaller than the neck of the bottle. Its not your fault that I wanted that last tablet out of the bottle so I could get one more annoying person out of the store.
Aciphex, I'm sorry and I hope you'll be able to forgive me.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Failure Is Our Greatest Strength
"To Err is human..." - Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, 1709
While heading down my, so far, long path to become a legal drug dealer I have discovered numerous truths along the way. Namely being that this has become one helluva stressful path.
I mean think about it, at work you can make one simple mistake and possibly end some one's life. Accidentally grab the Hydralazine when you were going for the Hydroxyzine, or see QD (once daily) and think its QID (four times daily) and oops, bye bye patient. Miss a Warfarin interaction? Uh oh. On top of that you are expected to perform at a perfect level while cranking out prescriptions like they're drinks at a bar in Boston on St Paddy's Day. Tack on the phones, customers and well you get the idea how difficult it becomes to stay properly focused.
The same thing occurs when you are doing your pre-pharmacy courses. It is well documented that in 21st century America you virtually need a 4.0 GPA to be feel comfortable. Granted, this is an exaggeration, but in essence its true. Your livelihood in your future profession can hang on the fact that you need as many A's on tests as you can get. Slip up and get C's in Organic Chemistry and you could be screwed, forever trying to dig yourself out of the hole you are in. Even then, even through all that struggle, you still might not even get in. Once again you are allotted few, if any, mistakes.
Where am I going with this one may ask? I made a post previously about the future pharmacists of this system. About how those coming out of pharmacy school may be grossly unprepared for the lives they are about to leave. Why? Because they have not had to struggle.
Now this is a generalization because I am sure there are many 4.0's who have sacrificed a lot to get where they are and I applaud you for that. In order to truly understand things however, one must fail. Students with high GPAs, like those usually admitted to pharmacy school's today, rarely have had to deal with such a problem. They have never had to dig themselves out of that hole or worry whether or not that paper they wrote will get them the A they need to pass the class. Struggling builds character, builds inner strength.
I was taught early on in my pharmacy travels that one should never become over confident in his or her abilities. That it is necessary to fail at times, to make mistakes in order to understand our own fallibilities. To question one's own logic can prove to be immensely powering. At that point, and only at that point, can mistakes truly be minimized.
When I have a pharmacy school interview (note: this is not an if but a when as I will not give up on this dream even if it takes the rest of my life) and they ask me why I am a better candidate then the hundreds of others that had applied with me, I am left with an easy explanation. It is not that I want it more, although I want it quite strongly. It is not because I immensely love the field and am a sponge when it comes to learning.
It is because I know that to err is human. That sometimes you have to struggle for what's right, to look beyond what you can see. To know that we have limits to seek the best possible route to minimize those effects. To be able to admit failure and to learn from it. In the end, isn't that what life is all about?
While heading down my, so far, long path to become a legal drug dealer I have discovered numerous truths along the way. Namely being that this has become one helluva stressful path.
I mean think about it, at work you can make one simple mistake and possibly end some one's life. Accidentally grab the Hydralazine when you were going for the Hydroxyzine, or see QD (once daily) and think its QID (four times daily) and oops, bye bye patient. Miss a Warfarin interaction? Uh oh. On top of that you are expected to perform at a perfect level while cranking out prescriptions like they're drinks at a bar in Boston on St Paddy's Day. Tack on the phones, customers and well you get the idea how difficult it becomes to stay properly focused.
The same thing occurs when you are doing your pre-pharmacy courses. It is well documented that in 21st century America you virtually need a 4.0 GPA to be feel comfortable. Granted, this is an exaggeration, but in essence its true. Your livelihood in your future profession can hang on the fact that you need as many A's on tests as you can get. Slip up and get C's in Organic Chemistry and you could be screwed, forever trying to dig yourself out of the hole you are in. Even then, even through all that struggle, you still might not even get in. Once again you are allotted few, if any, mistakes.
Where am I going with this one may ask? I made a post previously about the future pharmacists of this system. About how those coming out of pharmacy school may be grossly unprepared for the lives they are about to leave. Why? Because they have not had to struggle.
Now this is a generalization because I am sure there are many 4.0's who have sacrificed a lot to get where they are and I applaud you for that. In order to truly understand things however, one must fail. Students with high GPAs, like those usually admitted to pharmacy school's today, rarely have had to deal with such a problem. They have never had to dig themselves out of that hole or worry whether or not that paper they wrote will get them the A they need to pass the class. Struggling builds character, builds inner strength.
I was taught early on in my pharmacy travels that one should never become over confident in his or her abilities. That it is necessary to fail at times, to make mistakes in order to understand our own fallibilities. To question one's own logic can prove to be immensely powering. At that point, and only at that point, can mistakes truly be minimized.
When I have a pharmacy school interview (note: this is not an if but a when as I will not give up on this dream even if it takes the rest of my life) and they ask me why I am a better candidate then the hundreds of others that had applied with me, I am left with an easy explanation. It is not that I want it more, although I want it quite strongly. It is not because I immensely love the field and am a sponge when it comes to learning.
It is because I know that to err is human. That sometimes you have to struggle for what's right, to look beyond what you can see. To know that we have limits to seek the best possible route to minimize those effects. To be able to admit failure and to learn from it. In the end, isn't that what life is all about?
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Snow Day
We had a bit of a blizzard the past day and half. City virtually shut down which meant for me no school and no work. Whoo hoo! Or so I thought. In hindsight I should have realized that the power going out was going to be nothing more than an omen for work the next day.
Anyone who's worked in a pharmacy after having to be closed due to weather is well aware of what a pain in the ass it is. Generally we try to make it as painless as possible if we know its coming. I think the pharmacist who worked the day prior to the storm has never gotten that memo. Everyone has been well aware since Monday that this storm would be coming. It was almost a certain probability that we would be closed Friday, shit we even had a plan in place for this. Yet this pharmacist decided to run a dozen scripts Thursday night and simply not fill them. Yeah thats a great fucking idea, as if we have nothing better to do.
I'd also like to say go to hell to the guy who called right after we opened bitching that we were closed yesterday.
"What fucking reason could a pharmacy have to close?" - asked the Jackass on phone
"Um... there was a blizzard yesterday" - Me struggling not to stab him through the eye over the phone
"Oh there was? Ok then." - Jackass
Looked up his profile... he lives two blocks down. He must not have noticed the trees down in the streets or the power outage yesterday or hell even the 80 mph winds. Not so surprisingly he wanted his Lortabs. Wish I could be that stoned.
Anyone who's worked in a pharmacy after having to be closed due to weather is well aware of what a pain in the ass it is. Generally we try to make it as painless as possible if we know its coming. I think the pharmacist who worked the day prior to the storm has never gotten that memo. Everyone has been well aware since Monday that this storm would be coming. It was almost a certain probability that we would be closed Friday, shit we even had a plan in place for this. Yet this pharmacist decided to run a dozen scripts Thursday night and simply not fill them. Yeah thats a great fucking idea, as if we have nothing better to do.
I'd also like to say go to hell to the guy who called right after we opened bitching that we were closed yesterday.
"What fucking reason could a pharmacy have to close?" - asked the Jackass on phone
"Um... there was a blizzard yesterday" - Me struggling not to stab him through the eye over the phone
"Oh there was? Ok then." - Jackass
Looked up his profile... he lives two blocks down. He must not have noticed the trees down in the streets or the power outage yesterday or hell even the 80 mph winds. Not so surprisingly he wanted his Lortabs. Wish I could be that stoned.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Tunes to Relax By
Haven't done a music post in a while, so I thought what the hell. Thought I'd toss up some of what I listen to to wind down after a craptacular day at the pharmacy. Rather partial to this chick, and I love her acoustically, so hopefully someone will get somethin' outta it. Enjoy
Anna Nalick - More Than A Melody
Anna Nalick - Citadel
and probably my personal favorite
Anna Nalick - Wreck of the Day
Anna Nalick - More Than A Melody
Anna Nalick - Citadel
and probably my personal favorite
Anna Nalick - Wreck of the Day
Sunday, April 6, 2008
I Am An Asshole
... or so a woman just told me. She asked to pick up her daughter's prescription at the drive thru. It was 2 cases of diapers. I told her no, she would have to come in.
It was then that I was informed about what an asshole I am. Really was a life altering experience. In reality she was the asshole thinking I was going to squeeze 2 cases of diapers through a little tiny window, but alas I digress...
It was then that I was informed about what an asshole I am. Really was a life altering experience. In reality she was the asshole thinking I was going to squeeze 2 cases of diapers through a little tiny window, but alas I digress...
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
I Think Theres Some Hope In The World
It was the first month of the month today, i.e. clusterfuck nation, and I was minding my own business until I received a peculiar phone call. It was a woman who had her husband pick up two prescriptions for her last month. She then said that her husband had been chatting with the pharmacist on duty and had forgotten to pay. Then she asked if she could come in and pay for them today instead.
Let that sink in for a moment. This woman got $70 worth of prescriptions for free, over a month ago, and said she wanted to come in and pay for it. I have never, ever heard of something like this happen in the eight years I have been slingin' drugs. She stated she noticed it when she saw that a check for us hadn't ever gone through and figured her husband had forgotten. I think Hell just froze over.
Needless to say this was the easiest first of the month I've worked in a long time after that. That woman gave me a bit of hope for mankind today. Funny how people can surprise you like that.
Let that sink in for a moment. This woman got $70 worth of prescriptions for free, over a month ago, and said she wanted to come in and pay for it. I have never, ever heard of something like this happen in the eight years I have been slingin' drugs. She stated she noticed it when she saw that a check for us hadn't ever gone through and figured her husband had forgotten. I think Hell just froze over.
Needless to say this was the easiest first of the month I've worked in a long time after that. That woman gave me a bit of hope for mankind today. Funny how people can surprise you like that.
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