Not Tuff Enough to Be a Pharmacy Technician

Landing the Job
I was ecstatic when I landed a job as a pharmacy technician! After 5 years of working at an animal shelter I was ready for a job with less emotional ties and more pay. Plus the company I worked for was going to pay for my Pharmacy Technician Certification, what could be better than that? I was surprised at how easy it was to be hired. I had never been on prescription drugs in my life, so I was very inexperienced with pharmaceuticals, but eager to learn all that I could. The first few days were frightening, all I could think about was making a mistake and causing harm to a patient. The process was pretty fool proof, but mistakes were still possible and did happen. It only took a couple of weeks working in the pharmacy for me to start thinking that maybe I should have kept my title as "pooper scooper" at the shelter.

My First Tears Shed as a Tech
I worked in a high volume retail drug store, Walgreens, and at 5 o'clock the pressure was on. Both drive thru lanes were lined up five to six cars long, the "In-Window" was backed up, filling stations were a few too short, and the pharmacists were pulling their hair out. It was total chaos. On this evening I was still very new, and was taking things slow so I didn't make a mistake (I would rather listen to a patient huff and puff while tapping their fingers on the counter before I made a mistake that could cause them harm and make my loose my job) and a man walks up to the In-Window on his cell phone. I asked him if I could help him and he held his finger up, as if telling me to hold on a minute. The people in line looked at me angrily and I knew I had to do something. I had never really worked with people before, just animals who were pleased to have my company and never got angry, so I wasn't sure how to react. I softly said "Sir, can I help you with something, do you have a prescription to drop off?" He looked at me puzzled that I was interrupting his phone call, hung up the phone, and began to insult me. I couldn't believe it, was this really happening? After a minute or two of hearing how rude I was he finally said that he needed a prescription refilled. I pulled up his profile (which was extensive) and asked what he needed. He couldn't remember the name, all he knew is that it was for blood pressure. "Sir, you have several blood pressure medications on your profile do you know what the drug name sounded like?' I asked. Again, he began his ranting, it was all I could do to hold back the tears. Finally I asked the pharmacist to come down to assist him, while I went behind the drug bays to cry for the first time of what would be many.

There were many customers like this. I soon learned that when people go to the pharmacy they tend to have a chip on their shoulder and if they have had bad experinces in the past, they are going to take it out on you. There were some patients who insisted that they knew the president of Walgreens personally and were going to have us fired, and even had my life threatened. I spent a lot of time behind those bays crying, and trying to figure out how people could be so cruel.

The Root of Most of This Anger... The Insurance Companies.
After a few months of dealing with insurance companies and learning all I could about them, I figured out where this anger was coming from. Sure, you had your drug addicts with no refills on their narcotics, your typical mad at the world and bitter people, but most of those who were angry were those who have dealt with sleazy insurance companies. Most patients were paying good money for their insurance and were often upset when their prescriptions required a $50 co-pay, or they had not met their $4,000 deductable and must pay the entire cost out-of-pocket. I could now understand the frustration and feel the pain for those who depended on these drugs to live day to day. I often took the time to call patient's insurance companies to try and resolve issues, most of the time knowing that it would get us no where. Luckily, I had found through other pharmacy technicians that there were several discount cards offered for those struggling to pay for their drugs. Some discounted the drugs 10% others up to 50%, this was the only tool of assistance I could offer a patient unable to pay.

I was surprised to find that when I did call these insurance companies their agents are brutal. There must be an insurance agent boot camp they are going through because they are as thick as steel and make you feel as though the patient does not deserve that medicine. It was a very hard task explaining to a cancer patient's mother that her baby's medications, which were required for her to live, were not formulary and were considered experimental by her insurance company. I felt that anger the patient's were experiencing after ending those dead end conversations with those agents.

Coach Bag Provided by Medicaid
This is a touchy subject for me. I am a single mother with a child who is eligible for medicaid, but do not accept assistance because I thought there were people out there that needed help more than we did. I do without so she can have everything, that's how I think every struggling parent should approach parenthood. Apparently I have few passengers on that band wagon, because I met many parents who were quite at ease handing me that Medicaid card. Sure I know a lot of them needed assistance and were doing the best they could, but mothers who walked into the pharmacy with brand new clothes and$300 purses made my stomach turn. It's also confusing to me how these women are driving brand new vehicles and all seven of their children qualify for medicaid. These were also the most impatient people at the pharmacy. They thought you owed them something, and they should be put first in line.

Sorry, ranting a bit, I had very upsetting situations with these people. Maybe I should keep that part out...no I'll keep it.

Useres and Abusers
I have to admit I was warned about those who were addicted to their medicines and would stop at nothing to obtain them, but I was shocked as to the extent these people pushed the issue. The most common drugs patients became hooked on were Lortab, Oxycontin, Percocet, and other pain killers and narcotics. We often had to deal with very emotionally distressed people who were angry at us because their prescription did not have refills. They would not leave the pharmacy until we called their doctors or doctor on call and asked for a refill. There were several instances where the patients handed us the doctors home phone number and insisted to call him. Shockingly, nine times out of 10 the doctors would authorize the refill. Scheduled drugs that required a written prescription for each fill brought on the worst outcomes. These people knew that a new prescription was required, yet routinely caused a scene at the pharmacy when they had run out. Often times patients would write fake prescriptions for these drugs which then required legal action. I often felt scared and very unsafe when dealing with patients under the influence of these drugs.

I am not against these drugs or the patients, please don't get the wrong idea. My heart ached for them because their doctors were only hurting them by increasing their dosages and allowing them to become so dependent on drugs. There were also many patients who had illnesses that required the use of these drugs, my heart ached in a different way for them.

The Hens
You may have encountered this problem at your place of work as well, if your co-workers are predominantly women. Pharmacy technicians consist of both male and female, but the pharmacy where I was employed consisted of only women. On one end of the pharmacy you could hear women gossiping about others on the other end and visa versa. Wow, a great paying job, and juicy gossip too? Every woman's dream, right? Wrong! Daily I would find myself in awkward situations amongst these women. Not only did they talk about each other, but patients as well. I admit I fell into the cycle a time or two, but thankfully I had my mother's voice in the back of my head reminding me how horrible gossiping makes a person. Thanks to the pharmacy I understand why gossiping women are called hens, and how well that word does fit.

At the End of the Day
After one year of working for Walgreens I quit. There were various reasons, including I am a full time student and struggling mother; also daycare played a large role in my leaving the company, but ultimately I decided that if you find it hard to sleep at night, every night, because of your work day maybe you don't belong there. While working at Walgreens I was prescribed Zoloft by my doctor. I must add, I have never had any kind of emotional disorder in my life and am a skeptic of anti-depressants. One month after leaving my position I have not felt the need for any mind altering medications and can not believe I was at the point where I needed them. At the end of the day you must be able to assure yourself that what you are doing is benefiting not only you, but society in general. I need feed my passion at work, not just get by and put up with hatred and humility daily.

My heart wasn't in it. I am thankful for the experience, it has only made me stronger and given me quite a few stories to share. Maybe I just wasn't tough enough to work in the pharmacy. Maybe my job at the animal shelter was emotional, but I slept soundly every night and those animals fed my passion.

I have decided to return working for non-profits and am going to use my degree in marketing to better not for profit entities.