Big shake-up at work, and my future as a pharmacist
Those not interested in my RL, please ignore.
Received big news today at work. No, I'm not fired. And no, I'm not being sued either. Even if I were, I wouldn't post about it here.
I wouldn't say I'm surprised; I could see it coming a couple of years from now, just didn't expect the change to take place like, 2 months from now.
It was the end of my shift at 2pm and I was just about to leave, but my boss made me stay as he had an announcement to make. He gathered the full-timers (cashiers, merchandisers, etc.) in the pharmacy and as we were waiting for everyone to arrive (at one point my boss went to help patients with OTC questions and some staff were serving customers in other parts of the store), a merchandiser and I were discussing what this announcement could be, whether it's good news or bad, given the state of the economy. Apparently there was a closed-door meeting between my boss and the management team yesterday (I didn't know about it since I was off), and that there'll be big news today. He announced he'll be stepping down as the associate of my drugstore and is leaving the company altogether. He has accepted a job with the Ministry of Health as a pharmacy auditor (something like that, but basically a government job). He'll break the news to the part-timers at the Christmas dinner on Sunday. Therefore I'll lock the entry until then, in case you're wondering why it didn't show up on the main page. Just received news that the Christmas party has been cancelled due to impending bad weather, so I'll unlock it early.
The news is bittersweet to me. I'm happy for him - it's an interesting job with great benefits and he can work from home, which is much better than managing a drugstore. I need to look for a similar job. It's bad news for me and the staff - he's a great boss and a great pharmacist, and he'll surely be missed. He managed the store since it opened in 2004 and he got to know the customers really well. He's really patient with patients (does that make sense?) and would go above and beyond (more so than any pharmacist I've worked with) for them. By the way, patience is not one of my virtues, although it's required of pharmacists, and other health professions for that matter. Patients call him with the weirdest questions (some of which are not even pharmacy related) and he would gladly answer them, sometimes even calling drug information and manufacturers if he's not sure of the answer. Some patients would even call to share their life stories with him. He would deliver medications to patients. Yes we have a delivery driver, but sometimes he could be really slow as he also delivers for 35 other stores. So if a patient really needs something delivered fast, my boss will go himself at the end of his shift. I've never seen an associate deliver medications in my 2.5 years as a pharmacist; associates are usually too busy to be bothered by these trivial things, but he doesn't mind and he'll do everything he can for his patients. Due to the way he runs the store, patients have grown to be very demanding of us over time that even I find it to be too overwhelming. I can guarantee they will not receive the same level of service if they go to another store. I've worked in a busier store (under the same corporation) in the past, and I know things are run differently. Patients will be shocked when they find out he's leaving. It's not like he's going to another drugstore; in that case patients can just transfer all of their prescriptions to that store. That was what happened when the former associate at my last store left. She managed 2 stores, and found it to be too stressful, so when she left my last store to focus on her other store, the patients at my last store transferred to her other store. I don't want to imagine what will happen when my boss leaves in a couple of months (apparently head office requires 60 days notice from associates who resign), whether patients will leave us, etc., but whoever's coming in will have big shoes to fill.
His departure prompted me to think about my own future as a pharmacist. I'm feeling lost at the moment; I'm not sure what I want to do with the rest of my professional life. I'm don't see myself working for this company long-term. Retail pharmacy in general, and especially my company, is just too hard on the body - long store hours, and irregular scheduling, which often requires me to work nights, weekends and holidays. Another reason I don't see myself working for this company long-term is beause I'm not sure whether I like the direction my company is taking. I won't elaborate here, but if you really want to know what I think, ask me in person.
I thought about getting into hospital pharmacy. At least the working hours are more stable - you'll probably end up working 1 night a week and 1 weekend a month, which is better than the 2-3 nights a week and every other weekend that I'm currently working. The downside is that 1-2 times a month you have to be on-call from the time the pharmacy is closed to when it reopens the next morning. Some nights you might not get any calls, other nights you might get 2-3 calls a night. If it's a problem you can't handle over the phone, you'll have to go into the hospital in the middle of the night. Patients in hospitals are generally sicker than those in the community, so the drug-related problems are usually more complicated. Working in hospitals also means you'll be collaborating with other health-care professionals - doctors, nurses, etc., so it's really important you know your stuff since they'll be asking questions during rounds. The challenges of working in a hospital are different from those in the community, and I'm not sure if I'm ready to handle them at this point.
The problem with changing jobs is that it could take months before I can find a job I like. The whole process is tedious, from researching the company to preparing for the interview, and I don't want to go through the process again less than a year after I changed jobs. And changing jobs so often it doesn't look good on your resume. And starting a new job means I can't go on vacation for a while.
Received big news today at work. No, I'm not fired. And no, I'm not being sued either. Even if I were, I wouldn't post about it here.
I wouldn't say I'm surprised; I could see it coming a couple of years from now, just didn't expect the change to take place like, 2 months from now.
It was the end of my shift at 2pm and I was just about to leave, but my boss made me stay as he had an announcement to make. He gathered the full-timers (cashiers, merchandisers, etc.) in the pharmacy and as we were waiting for everyone to arrive (at one point my boss went to help patients with OTC questions and some staff were serving customers in other parts of the store), a merchandiser and I were discussing what this announcement could be, whether it's good news or bad, given the state of the economy. Apparently there was a closed-door meeting between my boss and the management team yesterday (I didn't know about it since I was off), and that there'll be big news today. He announced he'll be stepping down as the associate of my drugstore and is leaving the company altogether. He has accepted a job with the Ministry of Health as a pharmacy auditor (something like that, but basically a government job). He'll break the news to the part-timers at the Christmas dinner on Sunday. Therefore I'll lock the entry until then, in case you're wondering why it didn't show up on the main page. Just received news that the Christmas party has been cancelled due to impending bad weather, so I'll unlock it early.
The news is bittersweet to me. I'm happy for him - it's an interesting job with great benefits and he can work from home, which is much better than managing a drugstore. I need to look for a similar job. It's bad news for me and the staff - he's a great boss and a great pharmacist, and he'll surely be missed. He managed the store since it opened in 2004 and he got to know the customers really well. He's really patient with patients (does that make sense?) and would go above and beyond (more so than any pharmacist I've worked with) for them. By the way, patience is not one of my virtues, although it's required of pharmacists, and other health professions for that matter. Patients call him with the weirdest questions (some of which are not even pharmacy related) and he would gladly answer them, sometimes even calling drug information and manufacturers if he's not sure of the answer. Some patients would even call to share their life stories with him. He would deliver medications to patients. Yes we have a delivery driver, but sometimes he could be really slow as he also delivers for 35 other stores. So if a patient really needs something delivered fast, my boss will go himself at the end of his shift. I've never seen an associate deliver medications in my 2.5 years as a pharmacist; associates are usually too busy to be bothered by these trivial things, but he doesn't mind and he'll do everything he can for his patients. Due to the way he runs the store, patients have grown to be very demanding of us over time that even I find it to be too overwhelming. I can guarantee they will not receive the same level of service if they go to another store. I've worked in a busier store (under the same corporation) in the past, and I know things are run differently. Patients will be shocked when they find out he's leaving. It's not like he's going to another drugstore; in that case patients can just transfer all of their prescriptions to that store. That was what happened when the former associate at my last store left. She managed 2 stores, and found it to be too stressful, so when she left my last store to focus on her other store, the patients at my last store transferred to her other store. I don't want to imagine what will happen when my boss leaves in a couple of months (apparently head office requires 60 days notice from associates who resign), whether patients will leave us, etc., but whoever's coming in will have big shoes to fill.
His departure prompted me to think about my own future as a pharmacist. I'm feeling lost at the moment; I'm not sure what I want to do with the rest of my professional life. I'm don't see myself working for this company long-term. Retail pharmacy in general, and especially my company, is just too hard on the body - long store hours, and irregular scheduling, which often requires me to work nights, weekends and holidays. Another reason I don't see myself working for this company long-term is beause I'm not sure whether I like the direction my company is taking. I won't elaborate here, but if you really want to know what I think, ask me in person.
I thought about getting into hospital pharmacy. At least the working hours are more stable - you'll probably end up working 1 night a week and 1 weekend a month, which is better than the 2-3 nights a week and every other weekend that I'm currently working. The downside is that 1-2 times a month you have to be on-call from the time the pharmacy is closed to when it reopens the next morning. Some nights you might not get any calls, other nights you might get 2-3 calls a night. If it's a problem you can't handle over the phone, you'll have to go into the hospital in the middle of the night. Patients in hospitals are generally sicker than those in the community, so the drug-related problems are usually more complicated. Working in hospitals also means you'll be collaborating with other health-care professionals - doctors, nurses, etc., so it's really important you know your stuff since they'll be asking questions during rounds. The challenges of working in a hospital are different from those in the community, and I'm not sure if I'm ready to handle them at this point.
The problem with changing jobs is that it could take months before I can find a job I like. The whole process is tedious, from researching the company to preparing for the interview, and I don't want to go through the process again less than a year after I changed jobs. And changing jobs so often it doesn't look good on your resume. And starting a new job means I can't go on vacation for a while.