Sick Situation
![](http://myveryworstjob.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/New-Division-of-Clinical-Pharmacy-jump-pix-300x246.jpg "\")
I worked in a pharmacy located in a rich town, and the people were horrible. So many of them had drug dependencies and would get mad if we couldn’t fill their prescriptions. Meanwhile, they are trying to get us to fill something that looks like it’s been written in crayon on loose-leaf paper, or narcotics that had expired over a year ago.
I had one man that threw a book at me because he was angry that we were filling a crying infants medicine ahead of his stool softener. We had people urinate on the floor in front of us, one lady even defecated on a stool in the waiting area. I know that when you sign up to work in retail, you should be aware that you will be dealing with people like this, but when I would tell people things that happend there they were flabbergasted.
Aside from the customers being horrible, the working conditions were insane. I would work 10-hour shifts and would not be allowed breaks (the girls were not allowed breaks). We had to eat standing up between customers, who, when they saw you to the side of the counter, would walk over to you instead of to the regular pick-up area and sneeze and cough all over your lunch. The guys were allowed out during their shifts to wax their cars & get haircuts, even if they were just hired. The manager that worked there always formed a tight bond with the teenage boys that worked there because he always had them driving him around to places because he got his license taken away after too many DWIs.
Anything we purchased we were instructed to not ring in to the register and to put the cash in an envelope the manager kept in the back. (wonder where that money wound up going?) His girlfriend would also come in and fill up bags with expensive toiletries and cigarettes and leave without paying. Meanwhile, when the owner came in, we were all scrutinized for stealing because there was always money missing.
The worst part was how the manager acted when I left. I was there for seven years. Mainly because I was able to make alright money there and I had a child I was supporting. I was seeking employment in the career field that I wanted during the last two years I was there, but since it is not an easy field to get into it took a while. For seven years, I did the ordering for the store, all the return processing, worked the cash register, helped fill prescriptions when they were busy (at least two hours a day and ALL day on the weekends I would fill prescriptions), I made sure I was there to open the store and would work until closing when they had a fill in Pharmacist working because I would be the only one with a key, and the manager wanted to take the weekends off.
I truly felt close to most of the people I worked with seeing as I spent so much of my time with them. I gave four weeks notice when I left instead of two so that they would have enough time to replace me. Everyone was generally happy for me except for the manager. Even the owner of the store was happy for me and wished me well and thanked me for all I had done. The manager got mad at me and threw things around and yelled, “That’s just great!” really sarcastically. He wouldn’t speak to me for four weeks, and made me clean the bathrooms!
Even now if I go in there, he won’t even look at me. I still don’t understand why he was so surprised that I grew up and got a real job. Nobody keeps their high school/college job forever.
At least you moved on to bigger & better things.
But seriously. They openly discriminated against women like that? Jeezy creezy.
I used to deliver for a pharmacy, and it was always the richest customers who were the biggest assholes; making me cycle clear across the city while they sat watching Oprah with a Mercedes in the driveway and not giving me so much as a “thank you”.
I’m glad you found a better job.
Is it not a federal law that employers are required to give a 15 minute paid break for every four hours worked plus an unpaid half hour for lunch for every eight hours? I’m not criticizing the OP at all because if my first job didn’t tell me that, I wouldn’t know it.
We need this kind of education in high school, because there are far too many jobs that are taking advantage of this. I hope your new job is much better! Feel free to shit on their floor the next time the manager is working. It’ll be an awesome post script.
It’s called a PREscription, by the way
I had to deal with horrible rich people like that at another job…they’ve never had a job in their lives and had no idea what it’s like to actually serve someone else. One of them did the same thing, complain because I served someone before her. Even though they WERE before her. It did little to make me like rich people.
IDGI…..if you were being openly discriminated against and denied breaks why not find someone to report that to? Thats obviously a major violation of federal laws…
@ClaireSeptember
In the US? Nope
http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/breaks.htm
Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks. However, when employers do offer short breaks (usually lasting about 5 to 20 minutes), federal law considers the breaks as compensable work hours that would be included in the sum of hours worked during the work week and considered in determining if overtime was worked. Unauthorized extensions of authorized work breaks need not be counted as hours worked when the employer has expressly and unambiguously communicated to the employee that the authorized break may only last for a specific length of time, that any extension of the break is contrary to the employer’s rules, and any extension of the break will be punished.
Bona fide meal periods (typically lasting at least 30 minutes), serve a different purpose than coffee or snack breaks and, thus, are not work time and are not compensable.
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/screen6.asp
What does the Fair Labor Standards Act NOT require?
There are a number of employment practices which the FLSA does not regulate. For example, the FLSA does not require:
(1) vacation, holiday, severance, or sick pay;
(2) meal or rest periods, holidays off, or vacations;
(3) premium pay for weekend or holiday work;
(4) pay raises or fringe benefits;
(5) a discharge notice, reason for discharge, or immediate payment of final wages to terminated employees; and
(6) pay stubs or “W-2″s.
The FLSA does not provide wage payment or collection procedures for an employee’s usual or promised wages or for commissions in excess of those required by the FLSA. Also, the FLSA does not limit the number of hours in a day, or days in a week, an employee may be required or scheduled to work, including overtime hours, if the employee is at least 16 years old. However, some states do have laws covering some of these issues, such as meal or rest periods, or discharge notices.
The above matters, which are not covered by the FLSA, are generally for agreement between the employer and the employees or their authorized representatives.
Ugh, my ex-boss didn’t like girls. We were allowed breaks and all but he would verbally abuse us a lot, yelling at us and getting in our faces for things we didn’t do. He also constantly called us “girls” which made me feel like a child. Whenever his girlfriend came in he would get on her case, demanding why she didn’t answer his calls or whatever. He would yell at her in front of all of us!
When I first got my job, I thought he was sexist but admitted I might be jumping to conclusions. Near the end of my employment, two of my co-workers (a girl and a boy) both said they thought he hated women. Guess my gut reaction was right after all.
When I read stories like this, my sexual predator alarm bells go off. I know a lot of men are just reliving their glory days when they hang out with teenage boys, and your boss did have his license taken away, but the excessive kindness to young boys just gives me the creeps.
The whole situation sounded really bad, and I admire you for giving them a whole month’s notice. A little off topic, but I work for a small company that ‘didn’t do breaks.’ As soon as I became manager, I started giving people breaks. It seems like the most petty kind of power play to deny people a little rest.
Claire and MysticEye– Close, but not the whole story. The feds (in the US) have very loose rules regarding breaks, etc, but most employment laws are mandated by state. Some states have tighter rules than others. There are some states where breaks are very specifically defined, but not all.
Most likely explanation for the manager’s hostility toward you: 1) The manager had a crush on you and couldn’t tell you; 2) The manager was afraid that he would no longer be able to get away with his shady activities without you to cover for him.
I can’t believe they got away with that! Poor you!