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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Here We Go Again

Here we go. My store was robbed again on Tuesday. Thankfully no one was hurt. That makes twice in less than four months. I practice in a very small town so if we are having this much trouble I can only imagine what it's like in larger cities. Over the years I have seen this job become more and more dangerous and most people have no idea. I have always said that this job is 90% law enforcement only we don't get to carry weapons or wear body armour. At what point are the corporations going to add more safety precautions to our stores? We have counseling windows that are so low that anyone can jump across them with no difficulty. Why do they have to be so low? When I posed that question to my superior I was told that they have to be handicapped accessible. Uh, if someone is in a wheelchair I can easily leave the pharmacy to counsel them face-to-face, I don't have to do it at the designated window.
  I know I'm rambling but I am very concerned about this. The perpetrator came to the window and handed the technician a note that said, "We can do this the easy way or we can do this the f**ing hard way!" The tech gave the note to the pharmacist who proceeded to give the guy what he wanted. This was a real threat even though a weapon was not produced. The guy left with no further difficulty. Then my company steps in. They didn't close the pharmacy or allow the staff to go home to recoup. So, it's the first of the month, busy as all get out and my staff pharmacist is having to talk to the police in-between counseling and filling prescriptions! At no time was it even offered to my staff to take a break or go home all together. Then the real kicker is that I, as Pharmacist-in-Charge, was not even notified that this had happened. I was off that day and no one bothered to call me. I didn't find out until the next day when I went to work. I'm a little upset about this situation as you can tell. My staff were courageous and handled this situation with poise and professionalism. My company on the other hand left alot to be desired.

6 comments:

Frantic Pharmacist said...

What a complete lack of respect for the pharmacy staff. Just another day at the office, I guess.

Anonymous said...

Time to write the board?

lovinmyjob said...

As a follow-up on this, I e-mailed my loss prevention person about my concerns with how this was handled and how to improve security in the future. When I got to work later that day, he was waiting there for me. I was ushered into the office with just him and the store manager and grilled for almost an hour. I got the how-dare-you-question-our-actions attitude. I didn't backdown. Our company has an opened-door policy so I'm concidering filing a complaint with human resources for breech of that policy. The problem is that I already feel like there has been retaliation and that may only escalate the situation. Oh well, at least my staff knows that I am trying to act in their best interests. Also, I am on record as having pointed out the flaws in security so that if anything serious ever happens, I have legal recourse. It's just too bad it has to come to this.

Anonymous said...

lovin...I am also in a small town AND the PIC and meth is a big issue in our area. The threat of this terrifies me. Congratulations to your staff for handling themselves and the situation so well and to you for standing up for them. I guess when you leave you can take all of them with you and stick it to the higher-uppers who don't seem to give a whit anyway. You did everything exactly right, just document, document, document.

TechZilla said...

This is the problem with the pharmacists in the USA, they are so blind to reality that our federal government created with this BS "war on drugs"

look at the job of a pharmacist in the early 1900s, we used to do it right...and guess what the users still used just like they do today.

Unknown said...

Before becoming a pharmacy recruiter I was a fast-food manager at a store in a not-so-nice neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It used to be standard that employees who are involved in a robbery get a couple days off to recuperate and were offered counseling. I wasn't that surprised when a fast-food store stopped offering those types of services. It does surprise me though that a pharmacy wouldn't offer those things after a robbery. I would be very upset, perhaps it is time to write the board?

Ray Fisher
American Choice Staffing