Lunch
Lunch. If you are a pharmacist, did your nostrils flare and your eyes dilate just at the sight of it? I would bet that if every retail pharmacist in the US were to make a wish list of all the things they’d want (professionally–lottery wins do not count) that “lunch” would make the top 5 if not topping the list entirely.
I get a lunch. Let me rephrase that. I get A lunch, only one lunch, one day each week…..and that day is Monday. You see, like many pharmacies, we have only 2 pharmacists…and we have overlap on Mondays only. That means I see “my man Friday” once a week. He gets lunch that day (and only that day) also. The rest of the week is a crapshoot. If we are lucky, we get a lull around 2-3 pm and we can eat a sandwich whilst working. I should add that my definition of LULL is not “having a lack of anything to do” but rather “not having 5 people staring at me wanting something NOW”.
Its rather ironic. Every employee below me (subordinates) get a lunch. Everybody above me( my boss, his boss) gets lunch too. Actually, EVERY EMPLOYEE in the entire store gets a federally legislated lunch except Friday and me. Apparently the Federal Govt feels that people such as checkers, clerks, cake decoraters and deli workers are so important that their food intake and rest periods are guaranteed under labor laws. In fact, when some of our technicians clocked back to work with a lunch at 28 minutes instead of 30, they risked corrective action. However those people charged with the responsibilty of selecting, checking and dispensing drugs to people can work for 11-14 hours with no respite. We are excempt. This also applies to physicians. Yea, I’d want some Dr who has been working for 16 hours non-stop making life changing decisions about me.
I have been to the corporate office a few times. They have free food in the lunch rooom! Fruit, Crackers, Cheese Peanut Butter…all courtesy of the company. If I helped myself to some crackers and peanut butter I’d better have a receipt attached.
My one precious lunch each week is 60 blissful minutes. Mess with my lunch and you better prepare for the wrath of PC. If Pharmacy Chick is going to get only one lunch per week, she is going to enjoy it. To enjoy it means to leave the store entirely. Forget the lunch room. Its a pit of sticky tables, newspapers laying all over, and employees gossiping so much I feel less rested going OUT than I did coming IN. On the rare occasion I have sat in there for more than 5 minutes, I get the not-so-funny comments “Hey, ya got some VICODANS I can sample?”
No, Pharmacy chick retreats to her car. Far on the back corner of the parking lot is a 4 wheeled library/lunchroom/sanctuary. In the winter it gets a little more challenging. Its hard to envision a 27 degree library/lunchroom/sanctuary, but it beats the heck out of the alternative. Thats what the blanket is for! Sometimes I eat quickly then spend the rest of the time with my eyes close in complete silence. Silence is totally underrated. My ears need a break. Sometimes I read. Sometimes I sit semi-comatose and just watch the world. But, I rest.
You know, Mondays may be our busiest day of the week, but I would also guess its our safest.
Something to ponder.
Tags: pharmacy life, work ramblings | |