How I Got Here: Part One

As you already know, I am shipping off to Memphis next week(!) You may not know, though, how I ended up going into pharmacy in the first place. Here goes!

It all started towards the end of 2012, the year of the Avengers (first one), Psy, Lin-sanity, The Walking Dead when it was actually good, and when Disney bought Lucasfilm to make itself an unstoppable entertainment behemoth. I was just living at home with the 'rents while trying to make ends meet at the local grocery store, Darrenkamp's Food Market. After several failed attempts to supplement my income, I decided to find a new job. It took me a while to even find this job, but I did manage to move up a bit from a bagger to customer service to counting money at end-of-day, to even being the "voice" of the store, doing sale announcements and the like. I applied at lots of places, including Dutch Wonderland and a wine place near where my grandma lived, but nothing stuck. Finally, with April 1, 2013 being my official hire date, I was chosen to work at CVS (thanks again, Steve!). It didn't seem like much at the time, being a lateral move being in the Front End department, but working there would change my course trajectory from just living life to living life with purpose.

While at CVS, I was basically a cashier. I still remember one of my first days on the job and learning who couponers were and what they do, a lady wanted a refund and wanted to pay for the items again using a different method of payment, but wanted to use the Extrabucks she got from the previous order on this one! Of course I refused, but she went Karen and the asst. store manager at the time let it go. It was then I learned I'm just a pawn in the corporate world of customer service jobs. 

Over just a period of a few weeks, I promoted to shift supervisor. It involved a raise, opening and closing the store, and occasionally manning the pharmacy register. It was a whole new world going back there. I had little idea what I was doing while becoming a messenger routinely getting shot at. At the time, it wasn't the customers, obviously, that drew me to pharmacy, it was more the drugs that were getting thrust about in amber vials, learning what they do, and the crazy, arbitrary world of insurances.

In time, I started getting more comfortable back there and casually mentioned to Steve that I'd like to work back there more. Wish granted. As more people left the pharmacy, the more opportunities I had and by December of 2014, I officially transferred to the pharmacy dept. 

(This is me from that time, back when we had to wear a shirt, tie, good pants, and a white jacket. Thankful that dress code bit the dust. Also, it was around that time when Vicodin became a CII (narcotic), which is crazy to think about now)

There of course were ups and downs, like seeing a guy drop to the ground and convulse because he was going through withdrawal and at the time weren't selling syringes (at pharmacist's discretion), gently leading an elderly lady on something to a Ruby Tuesday because she wasn't well enough to walk on her own, or picking up a manufacturer specific drug from another location miles away and bringing it back to learn that they didn't want it anymore.

But the ups were and continue to be making relationships with the customers that come and trying to do right by them, even if it meant more work on your end. The ones that stick to you and with you become the reason you have faith in humanity, at least until the ones the bite your head off erase it entirely.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for part two!