I am a retail pharmacist. It allows me to get full-time hours in the space
of 3 days, so I can spent the majority of time home with my 2 kids (and
wishing I were at work). I have a clinical degree and can easily slip into a
position at the husband's place of work (big East Coast manufacturer). As
tempting as it would be to have a pretty desk job with a huge salary
and --get this-- a LUNCH BREAK! SICK DAYS!! (gasp!)... I love retail.

I love my customers. I love being right there when they need me for all
their big and bitty questions and concerns. I get to see bellies grow big
with new babies, and I get to see age erased from faces when a patient
finally gets pain relief, and I get to hold hands with my customers when all
that's needed to brighten someone's day is a simple human touch. I am
fulfilled by my role as a retail pharmacist. I try hard to be a good person,
and this is the place I get my best practice. I can see why some people
don't last in retail-- if your heart isn't in it, if you aren't a people
person, if you just don't give a rat's a.s for a stranger's problem, then
you are going to be annoyed when customers come to you for compassionate
care.

Ok, so it's not glamorous. The stuff I actually get paid to do-- repetitive
counting, regulations out the wahzoo, calling petty third parties,
explaining copays to pissy people, trying to explain that "Yes, there is an
Aisle 6, it's right next to Aisle 5 but there is no sign"...the real work
stinks sometimes. We are horribly understaffed-- I guess they budget their
tech hours to the point when there are none on duty at some point every day
and from 3-9 on Saturdays because it MAKES SENSE to some dope who probably
has never even been in my store...ah, the Corporation Mentality...and
sometimes I can't get to the other phone in time.  But I have a great
partner (still don't know how I got so lucky to work with her) and I like
the front store staff and I have great customers. The mall has pretty good
food and when I actually have a tech working with me, I get to eat. I go
home some nights dog tired, and some hours are so busy that I pray out loud
not to screw up something. But I love my job because the good outweighs the
bad and that's why I am in retail for life.

Aimee

A brief item in the latest issue of "Pharmacy Times" said that the
pharmacist shortage continues unabated. The article estimated that, for
example, the US chain drug industry is short 5500 pharmacists. The cause, it
was suggested, is the lenghtening of the pharmacy program by one academic
year to make the Pharm.D. degree.

What else is contributing to the shortage, and to what degree do you think
it is? Lack of secondary school training, interest, and/or ability in
science? Tuition costs? I know that there was a Congressional study on the
issue in the late 1990s, but I'd like to hear from the field. What do you
think?

Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
3609 Caldera Boulevard Apartment 122
Midland TX 79707-2872 USA
432-694-6208
ptrusten@cox.net

"There are two cardinal sins, from which
all the others spring: impatience and laziness."

                                         ---Franz Kafka