Why is it that the fastest techs are female? Perhaps pharmacists, too,
for that matter? Yesterday I was working in a rare gender - homogenous
group, and since there were no females around who might be offended, I
raised this issue. The other 3 guys agreed (or, at least, did not
disagree.) One said he thought it was because females were better at
multi-tasking. I had my doubts, but did not disagree. (I tend not to
disagree, as I've discovered I have a rare knack for offending people,
and it's better to keep a low profile unless you have the charisma to
pull it off.)

I've known techs who could fill 3 prescriptions in the time I could do
1. Now granted, I'm slow, but I've learned to push myself. Even so, if I
tried to keep up with them, there would be pills and vials flying
everywhere!

Two speedy techs come to mind, and they were something of a contrast.
One was a tech, and I came to believe she was afflicted with mania, as
in manic-depressive. I never saw any evidence of depression, but she did
everything faster than most people: filling prescriptions, talking,
laughing, even moving, in the sense that she would move to a different
apartment at least twice a year! She seemed bright, and I think she
talked about going to pharmacy school, but her efforts never quite
seemed to work out. Indeed, her effectiveness at "living" in general,
seemed to be mediocre.

The other speedy tech that comes to mind was an intern. She did the work
of two. And in contrast to my manic example, this lady was very
competent in her efforts. Obviously, we each wanted her around when we
were scheduled :-)

(Well, I suppose I shouldn't get too sweeping in a post (doesn't that
violate something in the Usenet charter?) but while we're on the
topic...)

Another aspect of this speed business is that I believe everyone has a
speed limit. They can go faster, but their accuracy suffers.
Unfortunately, most people operate well below the point where accuracy
falls off. Well, I suppose that's been the case since the first business
began, lo those millenia ago. I think I've met a few people who exceed
their accuracy point, a troubling issue in a pharmacy setting.

And in a broader sense, back when I worked for Wags, I believed they had
pushed their organizational speed beyond the accuracy point. Of course,
I understand their need to have productive employees in a low overhead
setting, and sometimes it's easier to keep people productive by
scheduling a sub-optimal number, than by trying to "motivate" people.
I've always said that Wags is a bad place to work, but a good company to
own the stock. Getting back to my earlier thoughts, it also seemed a
place where people who were truly manic would flourish. God bless the
manic, but I'm distinguishing mania from speedy here: I think the DSM
probably labels mania as a constellation which includes poor life
planning, so it's not something to aspire to.

Well, I suppose by now I've put you to sleep, that is, if anyone has
read this far. I kind of doubt it actually. I think my post will garner
3 opinions:
-drug-hobbyists looking for new sources or recipes for amphetamine will
check it and leave in disgust;
-regulars will say, just another post from that troll, and not open it
in disgust;
-and law abiding non-regulars will think just another drug-hobbyist
thread, and not open it in disgust.

[disgustingly slow] Pete