I was getting a sandwich in town at a fast-food restaurant (in the drive through) and although the guy at the microphone/window was very nice I could tell he was not used to multi-tasking. He couldn’t ring my order up on the cash register and apply my credit card while talking to the next customer back there at the order box. Honestly, I know that he will get good at it. It just takes time.
It reminded me of my days as a certified pharmacy technician at BugFarts Pharmacy (there are literally hundreds of thousands of them in America). BugFarts has a drive through (ours in Podunkville had a two-lane one) and I rocked it when I worked there.
First, I decided that in order to be really good at drive-through, I might want to take that wretched damned telephone receiver that everyone tucked between their chin and shoulder in the most awkward way possible – and replace it with a head-set. Terribly 21st century, I realize, especially in Podunkville.
I asked my pharmacy manager if I could have one and he told me we didn’t need one – so the answer was “no”. Well, I committed the unforgivable sin (worthy of death, of course) and was talking to HIS boss in a day or two and asked if he would send us a head-set for the drive-through telephone. He didn’t even hesitate. “Of course,” he said, “expect it in a couple of days.”
When it arrived, I installed it. My pharmacy manager wasn’t happy about it – but at least there wasn’t open warfare about it. So I learned how to use it and very quickly fell in love with it. I could ask Line 1 who they were picking up for while fetching Line 2’s medicine, telling them how much it would be, and extending the little box out to that customer for their payment. It took about 30 seconds for the little box to travel to their car.
While the little box travelled to their car, I was picking up the medicine for Line 1 and extending the drawer for their payment. And all I had to do to change the line was push the “1” or “2” button on the attached telephone. There were times when I could talk to one of the lines and not even be at the window. I could travel with my headset checking something and ask who they were picking up for in the other line.
Anyway, I got it perfected. It worked amazingly well (ESPECIALLY at “rush hour” just after working hours). God, I loved the drive through. Every other tech absolutely despised it. Seriously. They hated it with a passion. Also, no one else would even try to use the headset. No one else was remotely interested in it. Idiots.
We were required to “rotate” positions every hour. (Imagine running two drive through lines with that telephone receiver tucked under your chin for an entire hour?) Idiots. I never wanted to rotate. Everyone else was more than happy to let me wear the headset and enjoy my groove at the drive through.
Also, I loved the evening shift. It went from 1330 – 2200. I hated any other shift – and most everyone else had families and children to be home with in the evenings. One other long-time tech commuted for an hour to and from our location. So I asked if I could be put on evenings every single weekday that I worked.
The assistant manager had to have me sign a statement every week that I was not being punished by being assigned to evenings perpetually (tells you something about BugFarts, doesn’t it?). I gladly signed it.
So, would you think I was in the least bit liked for “fitting in” well and co-operating so other techs could get a break? Nope. No way. My evaluations were always: NEEDS IMPROVEMENT.
I knew I didn’t take abuse from ugly, horrible customers well. My immediate former job had been a probation/parole officer with the State of Tennessee. So when some asshole entitled retired man came in and slammed his hand on the counter and told us to hurry up (yes, this really happened), I was inclined to take an extra 30 minutes before his dumb ass got his meds. Fortunately, the pharmacist had better patience.
While we’re here, let’s discuss how I got fired from this job at BugFarts. On the fatal night, I was working with the notoriously slow pharmacist. Naturally, when there was a slow pharmacist, techs took the beating from the customers. God’s plan, I guess.
At our BugFarts, techs began leaving work at 1600 and by 1700 (the beginning of rush hour), there remained one senior tech, who remained in the back of the pharmacy preparing the order from Cardinal Health for overnight delivery.
Do the math. That left ONE tech and ONE Pharmacist daily to run both drive through lines and the counter from 5:00PM to closing at 10:00PM (and do pharmacist-related things: take doctor’s calls, take customer’s calls, check prescription typing, check prescription fills, call the ER if there was a question about a prescription, etc.). And this pharmacist was especially slow. I knew I had died and gone straight to hell every single time she worked in the evening (this pharmacist was part-time, thank you, God).
So on the fatal night, I had a couple in the drive through that I assume were a man and his daughter (the driver) who dropped off a prescription with me. I got the required information and scanned and typed the prescription in. It was a controlled substance that was locked in the “Controls Cabinet” and would have to be fetched, counted, and checked by the pharmacist. So I told them an hour after checking with the pharmacist. OK, they were nice.
In an hour and a little, they were back to get their medicine, which had NOT EVEN BEEN FETCHED OUT OF THE CABINET BY DR SLOW-AS-HELL. I apologized and checked with the pharmacist to see how long it would be, letting her know they had returned after an hour. She said, “Fifteen minutes.” So I asked them to come back in fifteen minutes. I expected to have my head handed to me – but, miracle of miracles, they were very patient and nice.
When they returned in fifteen minutes, I stepped over to check on the medicine. STILL not fetched out of the cabinet. Our policy (driven into my head by our pharmacy manager over and over) was that people could not simply sit in the drive through line, especially at anywhere near rush hour. So I had them “drive around”. I let Dr SLOW-AS-HELL know that they were driving around.
Dr. SLOW-AS-HELL said, at the top of her voice, in front of a counter full of customers (inside), “WHY DID YOU TELL THEM TO DRIVE AROUND? I’M ONLY GOING TO BE A FEW MINUTES! NOW THEY’RE GOING TO BE MAD AT ME AND CALL CORPORATE!”
Everything came to a stop instantly for me and it was like I was swimming through water. Everything went into slow motion. Customers at the counter stopped talking and looked at me. I said, “I’m going on break” and left the pharmacy – stepping into the office next door.
At this point, I don’t know exactly what happened in the pharmacy. I was accused of throwing the telephone at the pharmacist but I don’t remember doing that. I only remember leaving the pharmacy as fast as I could. The assistant manager came in and told me that I should go home for the night.
Now, we already knew that this pharmacist would lie about people. She had been personally responsible for getting two techs before me fired. She had reported that one of the techs was receiving medicine for the tech’s father under the tech’s insurance. How is that even possible? How could a tech have changed the name on a prescription? This accusation was found to be absolutely wrong.
However, Dr SLOW-AS-HELL kept on until the tech was fired. I have no idea how she accomplished this for the two techs and I honestly wouldn’t want to know.
Six months after I was fired, I was told that this same pharmacist brought a bag of “Christmas gifts” for the employees in the store and the pharmacy. Each was wrapped in Christmas paper and were given to each employee. When unwrapped the present contained – an anti-abortion video DVD. The store manager found out and very quietly took them all back up. The long-term employee wouldn’t surrender his to management. He stated that he wanted to hold on to his in case management tried to do to him what they had done to me (his own words, by the way).
Oh, yes, P.S. In the two weeks after I was fired, two other techs quit and one was put on medical leave by her doctor for exhaustion and stress.
Tears and Catharsis 