GOOD Read!!!

Retail pharmacy is great! I am 35 & have been working as a retail pharmacist for 12 years. Because I invested most of my money early in my 'career', I was able to work part-time beginning 2 years ago.

Part-time work makes all the things in life you would like to a reality.

I am the father of 3 children &, thanks to retail pharmacy, I am able to spend so much time with them & to get to know them very well.

You help many people, you have specialized training & knowledge that no other profession has else has. The public can be very rude, demanding, & insulting, just keep your ego in check & you'll enjoy your work.

In order to enjoy work, tell every person that comes to the pharmacy it will take over an hour. If they complain for a legitimate reason, fill their prescription sooner. Always eat when you are hungry, no matter what.

Always use the bathroom whenever you need to. Retail pharmacy is not emergent care.

Whenever possible, sit down. Pharmacists who don't sit are the ones who develop the worst back, leg, & knee problems. I just finished 1st place at the local 5k race, because I take care of my physical health. You will not be doing anyone a favor, if you don't take care of yourself.

Happiness in Retail pharmacy is very simple to achieve!

Rule #1) Don't try to be a fast food pharmacist-you'll just end up killing a person, usu. elderly or child. Besides, it demeans & degrades our profession.

Rule #2)If you start feeling stressed, tell every new customer that walks up to the pharmacy it will be AT LEAST a 2 hour wait. The public is ignorant. Don't expect them to understand what is in their own best self-interest (& yours) This tactic works wonderfully for me in my retail experience. 90% of customers are just fine about coming back. 5% are truly critical prescriptions & so go ahead & fix those ASAP. 5% will go the the fast food pharmacist down the road who is digging themselves & some unlucky customer an early grave. So let that 5% go, your focus & sanity is well worth it!

Rule #3) Don't focus on what the customers think. Most are a bunch of spoiled brats anyway. Congratulate yourself & tune out all of the jerks.

Rule #4) Never let someone rush you. If you feel rushed, tell them to go get the medicine somewhere else. Haste makes waste, in our case Haste causes Death. Would you want your airplane pilot to rush? Or How would you like your heart surgeon to rush? Our job is just as critical & never let someone tell you otherwise. I prefer to polite ignore them.

Many, many thanks to the retail pharmacist who posted the positive upbeat message!! I sent it to my son who is graduating with his Pharm.D. in 2 months from a school here in the U.S. He's been offered jobs that pay $100K with a $35 signing bonus in retail and is depressed because it's all so automated and he doesn't feel he's using his knowledge. I work for a medical practice where the doctors work 15 hours, 6 days a week. They have almost no family life. They're beyond exhausted. Their medicare reimbursements are so low that their practice is barely surviving. But they're "doctors" (yay!) and fantastic docs...the best of the best.

The thing is we all want to have jobs that have prestige, in which we feel creative, in which we use our knowledge and education, and...in which we make big bucks. And..by the way, allows us time to have a satisfying personal life. Sorry, but there's a lot of whining on this board. A lot of you need an attitude adjustment to appreciate the positive side of what you have accomplished and what you have in life. So what if a couple of pharmacists changed careers. Most people change careers 4 times in their lives. Doctors do it too...all the time. It doesn't mean you made a bad career choice out of school. It's all a journey. Make the big bucks now, save your money, and if you want to pursue something else...even go to medical school..or become a nurse...or go on to business...then go for it. Remember, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Re-read the posts from the retail pharmacist and the clinical pharmacist who loves their jobs. I know lots of young adults who wish they had what it takes to become a Pharm.D. and have the opportunities you have.

A 100 k??? You don't say! That is something in the whereabouts of 60 K in English money. I think I might change my career to retail pharmacy now. It takes 10-12 years and, at least, two postgraduate qualifications for a UK doctor to start earning 50 K plus 30% supplement for on calls (before tax).

Wow. It took me the good sum of my morning to read through this entire post.
From the sounds of it, there are quite divided views of pharmacy as a career.
I've looked into other science/medical fields and found similar views of people who think their job isnt rewarding enough or too stressful.
I dont want to sound like some inexperienced, unworldly person, but my view of the subject matter is that a career-field is what you make of it. It is very hard to force yourself to be happy in a job where you feel overly stressed and unhappy.
Most jobs do this.
The real problem is perhaps (on some posts part) no recognition for the patients/customers who do value what you do and realize that a pharmacist is a valueable asset to any community.
This is why I am intended on taking my PCATs in January and applying to Pharmacy school next fall.
Its not even that I love chemistry. I love science and the application of it to cure illness, to prolong life.
I see a Pharmacy career as an immune system (how punny?). Pharmacists are the last line of defense for a patient to receive both the correct medication and to be aware of how to correctly take it. With the growing "fast-food" medicine industry, there are severe limitations as to Pharmacist having the ability/time to go through the necessities with each patient.
Anyone who claims pharmacy isnt challenging enough, intellectually, probably hasnt realized the reality of life. We go through tedious years of schooling and learn so much information and probably only use 5% of it in our actual field of work later.
For me, I intend on using my abilities to work productively to make that extra time, to be able to teach each patient/customer the things the doctor didnt have time to do. To properly educate them about medicine and how/when to take it.
Time management, customer/patient interaction and problem-solving when dealing with Insurance companies sound terrible. But to me they are a life-style, drawing upon knowledge-base and skills-base to make you the best Pharmacist you can be.

So for anyone who feels like Pharmacists are unappreciated, non-intellectually stimulated people, you should take another look at the field.
There is more to it than retail pharmacy too. (I just talk about this, because this is where my interest lies) I look forward to a career in pharmacy and appreciating the customers who do thank the neighborhood Pharmacist for what they do and all the information they provide.

Here's to a life of applied medical knowledge,

Ashley
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