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.

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?

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.

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

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...

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.