Osupharm11, Do You Actually Think You Are Helping CVS?
Osupharm11, Are you are an Internet Troll, working for Big Evil? My friend, it is not working.
I have had up to close to 800 unique visitors a day visit this site. They are mostly pharmacists. They are intelligent. How else could they get out of pharmacy school alive? They are working pharmacists and they know what is going on. Many of them are stuck at CVS. They are the most vocal. Basically, they hate it. Worse, they feel that it is hopeless. What is life if there are no possibilities? Young doctors tell me that they feel like Insurance Pimps. If you really work for CVS, how long before you realize that you are a CVS pimp?
Coming up, there will be plenty of prescriptions to fill and plenty of niche side businesses at 40 to 60% gross profit. Use your head, OSU. Get out while you have a soul. Open your own store. Southern Ohio is ripe territory. If you have the personality, the energy and the brains, you will do well.
If you chose to stay with Big Evil, insist on a contract and have your attorney weigh in.
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My vote is for the troll.
Troll is on top of my list.. however… he/she could be routinely partaking not only of the “corporate Kool-aid”..but they must be handing out “corporate brownies” as well…now
Who is osupharm and what’d this person say? and is a troll what i think it is–> an agent for the company or interest group in question that stalks online forums and spreads vitriole upon masses of reasonably minded people in the hopes of shaking up their sense of what’s right and wrong? kind of the foxnews-ization of pharmacy forums huh? sorry if this doesn’t read well; posting from a mobile….
My bet is that osu is a troll!!! If he/she is trying to change the sentiment about CVS, it isn’t working!!! It sucks!!!!!
It is true. CVS is horrible. Worst forced career change I ever made (moved and all that was available). Work 13 hour days, no breaks, constant handholding from corporate MBA’s and once upon a time pharmacists who forgot their roots to go along with incessant signature required forms dictating daily work routines and what happens if you deviate from such. Metrics are the only thing that matters. Better get your SOS score cards in on time and do all your mandatory/voluntary orders. They routinely give out gift cards and lose money left and right while denying anyone raises (we are overpaid we were told as were the techs and pretty much anyone in the store for that matter). Now we are told of a new and upcoming panel that was just created to oversee the “employee optimization committee”. Hmm doesn’t that sound like some kind of nazi-eque committee that arms to get rid of the “overpaid” and non conforming underachieving pill robots that wouldn’t conform? Well have to run. I was duped into giving my home email so my RXS is bitching about something that wasn’t done ON MY DAY OFF and oh they are calling another meeting that they say we don’t get paid for that requires a 2 hour drive each way. Someone please kill me. Yes, it is that bad.
I find it amazing that my opinions are so insane. I grew up as the son of a farmer that worked 16 hour days 6 days a week with little in the way of a break. For me CVS doesn’t ask any more of me that he ever did. The fact that I get to work indoors with A/C in the summer and heat in the winter and still get paid what I do is something that I do not take lightly. I work my tail off at work because I have known nothing different my whole life, for the company I work for now to ask me to work hard is not an issue for me. Although I do get lunch breaks many days I have gone through a 3 month period with only one and its not the end of the world, I grew up with 12 hrs between meals on a regular occasion. For many I know that one break would be amazing but I do have the luxury of having overlap coverage at my store. I say all this because I think a lot of people see me as arrogant based on my opinions but for me it’s not arrogance CVS is a much milder boss than I have ever had before. I do not say this as a bad thing toward my father, I love the fact that he taught me why hard work can do, even if hard work and intelligence doesn’t make you successful its the roads (sorry couldn’t help but throw that in there for all the Obama supporters.) As far as starting my own pharmacy business I have no desire to do that. I don’t mind bringing a little work home but ownership is a whole new level of bringing it home. Plus I am very anti-debt and I don’t know if there is a way I’d ever be able to start anything without some debt and I basically refuse to take out a loan. I do thank you for the few kind words though. For all the rest out there that think I’m a troll, idiot, etc. if that is what you are going to think there is nothing I can do to convince you. I enjoy the points of view each puts out and I hope I do not experience any of the horrors that you speak of at my store.
Ps I’m actually an upper level LP/HR guy at CVS looking for evidence of inciting work place violence through blog posts. Hopefully no one says anything about kicking in the teeth of scabs or I’ll have to fly out to Woonsocket. Sad thing is there are more of you that would believe that than would believe that I work in a CVS that is sane most of the time.
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Just yanking your chain, OSU (I trust The Ohio State University Class of 2011). If you are having a good experience at CVS, enjoy it. Nothing wrong with working hard. Be watchful. You will know when the cheese goes bad. Document, document, document. The opportunities for a guy with your work ethic are endless in the independent pharmacy world. Especially down there, rural southern
Ohio. Southeast quadrant?
you protest too much.
osupharm11 you should change your moniker since it links up with your facebook account. google his moniker and facebook and you’ll see who he is. congrats on your work ethic, i work the same way but a warning, you will be taken advantage of. btw, CVS can be a good experience if you have a great dm, great staff and great customers. most of us didn’t, hence the complaining. he is a pharmacist but a newbie so he still hasn’t been painfully screwed like the rest of us. give it time, give it time. and yes, i don’t like to write with capital letters.
osupharm11,
Did you also walk to school 2 miles each way barefooted in the snow?? I also grew up in a hardworking family, but I never suffered abuse like CVS inflicts. CVS has lost sight of its original mission. It has focused on MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!!! To hell with employees +/or patients!!
Hey, truth..thanks for the Facebook hint…that explains a lot.
I want to complain about all the complainers on this blog
@osupharm11 … You better start looking now as I know of at least three suits that troll here daily. They now know who you are!!! You gave out a lot of information that CVS frowns on such as budgeted hours.. And lunch breaks – I doubt that they are off the clock. I suspected you were young … You have much yet to learn. By the way my name is Joe Zorek … Google me!!!
The problem here is that all chains suck, and to compete in this sucked up world they each are learning to suck to higher levels! Why, because they can, and no one is trying to stop them! By the way, I remember the days when I had to walk 10 miles in the snow, to get stoned and have sex! One can debate which company sucks the worst, but in the end the profession needs to take action to counter what I believe most pharmacists find distasteful about the chains. The chains obvious need for profits to satisfy shareholders greed is one, and to what end will they USE pharmacists to achieve those means is two. We must form pharmacist unions, create a national pharmacist group unlike the ineffective ones now in existence, get on state boards in every state and strive for laws that preserve our profession and go after the bad companies that use pharmacist like toys. Think out of the box, open a non-profit pharmacy, and that spin value alone could sail you past these bad-ass companies. Non-profit, after your wages, overhead, and 1 year worth of expenses, all excesses given back to the consumer. The number of competing chains has diminished greatly, and I mean the number that are competing for pharmacists. We better act soon on all fronts, these chains will get ever more greedy.
Whistleblower – we should talk. Jim has my info. I think I can be of some use to you.
What cvsconsumesyoursoul portrays above and what I am reading here paints a far different story than yours Osup. https://www.pharmacy-survey.org/pharmacy-satisfaction/answer/Anon-MNBD-616
If the suits at CVS really want to fire me for defending the company they are more than welcome to do so. It would be a stupid business move on their part but I would land on my feet if it were to happen. Like I’ve said before on here I don’t always agree with everything that comes out of Woonsocket but I do love where I work. I’m sorry everyone has had such a bad experience but that just has not been mine. I posted originally as a voice from the other side which I believe is always something that is needed or everyone feeds off each other and blows things out of portion. (not saying that this has happened on this site but in general when only one side is told)
We get it osup, you love to work and you love to work hard! Maybe you do have it good with a good crew, good customers, good dm as stated before, but you still work in a less then professional environment, an environment where you are expected to do more than humanly possible, and are looked at closely if you don’t do the inhuman amount (McPharmacy seems to fit?), and I find that extremely disrespectful of our profession. The jury has come in, the verdict- guilty, penalty-destroy by all means available (form unions, form national organization, create laws and do whatever it takes to eradicate it)!
Keep up the good work but pray that CVS doesn’t imitate Rite Aid (which they are doing) for the flu shots and other immunizations. Word came down this week, at least 1 shot a day of pneumovax, zostavax (220 bucks anyone?) and 20 shots a week of flu. Write ups have happened and are promised this year again. Osup if you think that you have it good there now wait til later. Trust me, you have no idea how worthless you are made to feel until you are written up for not achieving your quota of shots (especially when the quota number was never released to the staff rphs just the PICs who kept it to themselves). I have many friends who work at CVS who have to resort to cheating on metrics so that they don’t have to attend the ridiculous meetings far far away to tell them that their customer service scores are less than 90. Like I said give it time and you’ll see what retail is really about.
We also need to have a national board of pharmacy, why should one pharmacist in one state be required to work 14 hours without breaks and overtime, with a different tech ratio than other states? And don’t forget the idea of opening a competing chain that is non-profit, that cares about our profession! There needs to be more give of these giants than they are taking! Don’t you think? If we want to destroy them by all legal means possible—hasn’t push come to shove?
1: Form unions or a national union
2 : Form a strong national pharmacist organization
3: Create laws that preserve our profession, even if it hurts company profits
4: Create a National Board of Pharmacy where practicing laws are on parity state to state
5: Create a new non-profit chain—that respects our profession
I call this the 5 finger death punch-
Osup—some music to play while you are at work! Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foCzlvXKWTA
I personally am very against the union idea. I know everyone is shocked by this. Here are some of my reasons. First I work with techs that are unionized and the union is a nightmare to deal with. 8 hours shifts are max which is fine if the employee wants to work 8 hr shift but what if someone prefers to work 10-12 hours? I personally prefer longer hours since my drive to work one way is basically an hour. If I were able to work 2 14s and a 12 it would cut 2 hours of commute out per week plus all the time getting ready for work etc. I am not in favor of forcing 14 hour days but I know many pharmacists in my area prefer them to 8-10 hr shifts. You also can’t work 6 days in a row if you are in the union. Once again this is fine if you don’t want to work 6 in a row but there are reasons to want to do this, an example is overnights in one market I worked in typically 7 days on and then 7 days off. I’d take that schedule in a heartbeat. Another issue I have is many unions will not allow for performance based raises but equally raises everyone’s pay. This allows subpar employees to have no incentive to do better and no incentive for the super techs to continue thier amazing work. Unions today have become democrat fund raising machines. Dues come in and go straight to democrats. Very very few unions support republicans. I also am against the closed shop method that is preferred. People should not have to be forced to be in a union to work at a particular store. Some states have seen the light on this issue and become right to work states but unfortunately my state has not and forcing union membership and then using dues to support politicians is something I completely disagree with. If a union were to be formed pharmacist having the choice to not be in the union would have to be a requirement and those that are in the union should not be forced into shift and scheduling situations that they do not prefer just because most in the union like certain limits.
No,this guy is a”Master of the Universe Troll”,trying to convince the real CVS pharmacists ” if you would ONLY DO IT RIGHT, LIKE I TOLD YOU TO ,you’d have no reason to bitch.”
As for Obama& union bashing,before the last election we all got an email from our Rx DM,telling us to vote for McCain. Wonder where that came from…………….?
Troll away,reality speaks for itself.
Corporate Hack………………
OSU is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.
Yes I must be a corporate troll since I don’t like unions or Obama. I forgot that was a prerequisite for pharmacy school.
Someone got an email from a DM saying to vote for McCain?! Haha. I find it to be such an anomaly; people, pharmacists, regular citizens choosing to side with a group of people whose interests are 180 degrees contrary to their own self interests. Can it be said this is selflessness? Is it really so beyond me that I should label it “soul donation for the rich”?
I get what you’re saying OSU regarding unions. I mean, when you can cut down on your commute and take less time getting ready, you’re really targeting the bottom line reasons for this: time and money conservation. But what about your patients? You owe them your attention and you don’t want to hurt anybody making a mistake or making sure you’re caught up on your flu shot quota.
I respect you for not biting the hand that feeds you (CVS), but I think being unable to relate to the vast majority of your colleagues who suffer, and whose primary alliances are with their patients rather than employers, is a problem bordering on denial.
Good luck.
-a fellow new graduate
Hello Joe aka Whistleblower, sorry about your less than world class employee treatment by CVS. And Merlo is a pharmacist-so sad. If CVS paid 200million fine regarding PSE, you should get at least as much in my mind- get as much as you can as they will not want to air their dirty laundry in the public.
http://www.abc27.com/story/18668662/ex-pharmacist-accuses-cvs-of-risking-patient-safety
One more thing Joe! Your case is a perfect example of why we need a new pharmacist union; mind you we have a legal right to form one! We need protection from these kinds of corporate actions. It just sickens me the way our profession is being used for monetary gains by corporations that are so BIG BROTHER LIKE, it is downright scary! They are not to be trusted at all, we need a contract that is very specific with regards to workload etc. We all know we rush because of a lack of labor vs. workload as the metric clock is ticking and about to go red! I mess up every time I rush, my hands do things I don’t even realize they are doing, as you are thinking about so many things other than what you should really be thinking about. And we have only one entity to blame here, and it is not us, we are not responsible due to inadequate labor metrics and I live for day when all pharmacist in the new union, say we are not going to take it anymore, and of course a penalty must be paid for this egregious corporate behavior. Throw out all you think about unions—we the pharmacists would be the union, we decide what is right. If we want to work 14 hours with no breaks, no overtime, no help, and ask for DM’s that make you feel like a slave in the galley of a Roman ship we can choose that!
I must come to the defence of Osupharm11(not that he needs any defence). If you will do a little detective work, you can find quite a bit of information on him on the internet. I will leave that for anyone that wants to do it. I am not going to divulge a lot of information, which I discovered about him. I will say this: he is a recent pharmacy school graduate, works at CVS, and from what I can surmise he is a nice guy. For myself, I welcome his ideas and opinons. The vast majority of posters here do not like CVS. But, there are some pharmacists that work for CVS that do like their job. I just recently talked to one of them in my home town. I am not going to be critical of the pharmacists that do like CVS. I am glad they have a job they like. In some ways, I can compare myself to Osupharm11. I was raised on a farm and accustomed to hard work. I was accustomed to long hours of boring work, such as chopping and picking cotton. And, working in a air conditioned building is a treat for me. People have different experiences in life and come from differing levels of society. This means they are going to have differing views of things. Osupharm11 simply has a different view of CVS than most of the posters here. Whether a person can be labeled as being right or wrong about something, you have to consider their perspective. If you were a starving kid on a street in India and suddenly you were taken into a CVS store and given a job, what would you think about that job? No…I am not comparing the kid in India to Osupharm11. I am simply making a point that everything in life depends on a person’s perspective. If CVS was the only pharmacist employer, then what would most pharmacists be saying? There would be no other pharmacy in which to make a comparison! We all measure and compare things and make our judgements on this basis. A lot of things effect our perspective of the place we work. If you have a nice DM, a nice pharmacy manager, and some nice techs, then you are going to enjoy your job and have nice things to say about it. So much depends on the actual place that you work.
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Many of us have gained a view of pharmacy from years of experience. A lot of us have worked at periods of time in which pharmacy was much different than it is today. We have a larger pool of information on which to draw our perspectives. From having lived, worked, and viewed pharmacy when there were no insurance companies to bill and no hassles with corporate, I can see the different sides of a debate about corporate pharmacy. It is easy to look back at the ‘golden age’ of pharmacy and think it was the most wonderful thing in the world. But, there were problems then, just as there are problems now. I can remember working for independents that had drugs disorganised. Made it very hard to find the drugs. I can remember rushing and working as fast as I could because I was the only pharmacist and I only had one tech. I had to grab a bite to eat while working. Today, I can go take a leisurely lunch. I have plenty of help. No, I don’t like the corporate crap! Which job would I prefer? The one I had 40 years ago, or the one that I have now? To be honest, it would be tough choice. I don’t know that I can choose.
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So, lighten up on Osupharm11! He is not bashing others opinions here. He is simply stating his opinion. We should welcome others opinions even if they are different from ours.
I think what others are defensive about is that OSU appears to believe that folks who are not meeting the metrics are just not working hard enough. ( I am wonderful, you are not). My mother always said that it is not wise to “toot your own horn.” That was her non-biblical way of saying “he who exalts himself shall be humbled”. I’m just sayin’……