The Tech and the Vacuum That Wouldn’t Suck

Friday. Finally, it’s Friday.

Yesterday went every bit as badly as I was expecting. DayTech had the day off, the shift was just me, StressedRPh, and NewTech. NewTech usually only works a couple of hours at the end of the day, when things are slower, and only for a few nights a week. A day shift is entirely different, especially when you’re accustomed to standing around, counting pills, and nothing else. On top of not working on a normal weekday, DayTech’s shifts don’t allow for a lot of hands-on experience with the newer system.

Then, throw in StressedRPh. She’s trying to do her typical micromanaging of every single aspect of work. “People need to be called. You need to call people.”

Actually, no, I fucking don’t need to call them.

We call them as a courtesy, giving them one last chance to get their things by the end of the night. In actuality, however, policy is to just put that shit back in the morning. I ask her to call a doctor’s office in hopes she can get a reply on a patient’s request for more refills. She pulls “I don’t need to do that, anyone can call them,” and tries to get DayTech to do it. Oh, I’m sorry, I thought after over a week of me sending polite (but sternly worded) requests, maybe a request coming from someone in charge would look better.

I described working with the two of them as “the blind leading the blind, where one of the blind is insisting they’re not blind, and the other is a toddler trying to fly a jet.” StressedRPh is trying to figure out the new system and is bitching that some setting won’t save. Three times, I point out where the error message is displayed before she finally says “oh, so the error will show there?” At another point, processing something gets an error message about a patient’s insurance ID number. She’s boggled by it, even though the error tells her exactly how to fix it.

In the meantime, DayTech is walking aimlessly around the shelves, trying to figure out how the alphabet works and complaining we don’t have things in stock.

StressedRPh is yelling at her, “I just looked and we have that drug.” Why be helpful and take the drug off the shelf, when you can leave it there so you can belittle your underlings?

DayTech left in the afternoon. As the day got busier, StressedRPh decided we needed more paper bags, and starts freaking about the lack of bags.

Spoiler alert: there were plenty of fucking bags.

Trying to quash her mind’s constant screaming, she started to pull drawers out from under a counter looking for more ags. Then, a drawer isn’t going back into place as well as she wanted. She pulls the whole thing out, scattering dusty bags and papers all over the place, making a mess. Does she clean the mess and go on with life? No, she starts stomping around while picking things up, muttering about working with sloppy people, and then STARTS VACUUMING.

Some day, if you ever read an article about a pharmacy employee beating someone to a pulp with a $20 Bissell vacuum, you’ll know I’ve finally, and completely, snapped.