“I don’t know how to say this.”

It was about halfway through my Friday shift when BossRPh came into the pharmacy. The store manager was nearby, and she told him he needed to come with her, that we all needed to have a chat. When we were all in there, and no patients were around, she took a deep breath.

“I don’t know how to say this,” she started, “so I’m just going to say it. I gave [district manager] my two weeks notice.”

She said she’d been giving this a lot of thought over the last six months. Between the system update, procedure changes, and the policy changes, BossRPh is just completely burnt out on retail pharmacy as a whole. Now, with Covid-19 rampaging through our area, she’s dealing with the added anxiety it brings.

“Any one of our patients could expose us to it. Corporate’s not getting us the PPE they’ve been promising,” she explained. “I don’t want to worry constantly if I’m bringing home something that could kill my family. Every time someone wearing a mask comes up, I have to wonder if that’s a regular, or someone coming to rob us again.”

In an effort to keep her salary and seniority, she tried to find something within the company. However, the available positions were either too far away, or not geared towards someone her age.

She’s five years older than me.

After some thought, she’s jumping ship and moving to a competitor. After she was gone, StressedRPh left the pharmacy, grumbling something about how she wished this matter had been discussed with her. DayTech looked at me and said, “If she becomes manager, I’m leaving when you do.”

NewTech and I took a vote. DayTech is new pharmacy manager.