From a Guy Who Calls Himself “CVSCONSUMESYOURSOUL”
I can 100% CONFIRM that as a cvs pharmacist that we indeed received the same information from our regional supervisor. In addition they will monitor our phone calls to patients who have made the switch from WAG’s to CVS on a call list that is automatically generated weekly. We must call them at least twice and try to get them to sign up with cvs programs such as autofill and text messaging (funny how we are a pharmacy innovation company but yet field a computer system that is a garbage mirror shell of instability). I believe that ( I can’t confirm because my tech hours are so low that I had to reprimand a tech from giving what could be construed as counseling to a patient about a benign OTC product due to me having to be more concerned with metrics to save my own ass) CVS is offering a specific 20% off store coupon to those customers who stay at CVS and we all know they are not checking profiles to see if federal funds are being used for their scripts. This is just the tip of the iceberg with this company. They are already telling pharmacists they are overpaid and hiring young inexperienced pharmacists (you know the ones that trash your pharmacy because they are thrown to the wolves often) at about 10 dollars an hour LESS than the rest of us) and the new employee optimization committee is going to put all of us “overpaid” pharmacists into boxcars and send us off into the unemployment lines while Larry Merlo laughs his ass off…dickbag…
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Yea, about those calls – working at CVS these days feels more and more like participating in some sort of modified Milgram experiment.
There’s a disturbing movie out named “Compliance” that is apparently stirring up some controversy discussed in the following YouTube link: http://youtu.be/tGwgi028K-E
Not that I’m suggesting we will go as far as blindly conducting strip searches at the command of our corporate overlords (see link above), but there are some studies out there suggesting that it is human nature to comply with authority figures and to conform. We all like to believe we are immune to this type of manipulation and “above” being coerced into breaking our professional oaths and ethics.
But authoritarian control is a powerful psychological force. Plus, pharmacy is an EXTREMELY regulated occupation. We navigate thru rules & reg’s all day long, not to mention added layers of corporate policies from PBM’s, chain employers,etc. It seems to me that we have to operate under a mindset of compliance in order to survive.
I might be way off base here, but I can’t help but wonder if this increasingly oppressive environment is rendering our profession ripe for the picking by those who want to exploit us.
We are facing a perfect storm that is now transforming a group of highly educated health professionals into telemarketers.
Thanks for making the above post. CVS does try to isolate all employees, especially pharmacists. Pharmacists are not encouraged to talk to one another and don’t have time to do so on the job unless it is a short work-related conversation. Rarely, if ever, do pharmacists work together — one is always replacing another for a shift change, etc. and if ever there is overlap by a few hours pharmacists don’t have time nor do they have a private place to talk — lead techs in many instances are encouraged by CVS management to spy on pharmacists and report who/what they do talk about. Some lead techs/techs have minds of their own, but most will feel really important if a DM or front store supervisor tells them “what a valuable job you will be doing for the CVS” if they will give this kind of information to management.
Older pharmacists that are voicing their dislike for 14-hour shifts are being forced to become floater pharmacists — happening all throughout CVS, but you don’t hear about it because these pharmacists individually think they are the only ones that have complained about the hours and, therefore, they are the only ones being forced to now float and increase the number of hours they spend in travel all because they voiced dislike over being worked to death. Who is replacing these pharmacists in the stores where they used to work? New pharmacist graduates willing to do whatever it takes, including breaking the law and having few if any ethics, so they can have the big paycheck — selling their souls and professionalism for money — ‘yes men’ — that’s all. New graduates: this type of soul-selling on your part will take its toll on your physical/emotional health and ALL your relationships from this point on — you’ve buckled under the first pressure you’ve received as a professional. You can’t be trusted — by anyone, ever. You need to get your priorities straight because you’ve set a bad example from the beginning.
I believe the state BOPs are corrupt — not all the investigators, but I do firmly believe that the large chains have investigators that receive some sort of kick back to give them advance notice when a complaint has been made against a particular chain store or chain management — no one can make be believe differently. One such state investigator and his family live in a half-million dollar house and drive Bentleys…no way to convince me that someone wasn’t on the take.
One quick thought – I have no idea why, but most pharmacists have the mistaken view that the State Boards are in place to help the pharmacies. Nothing can be further from the truth.
The State Boards are in existence solely to protect the consumer. They are a consumer protective agency.
I am not in any way meaning to make people paranoid or to incite negative feelings towards the State Boards, but as a pharmacist, you MUST be aware of this FACT. They are not out to get you necessarily, but they are NOT your ally, nor are they intended to be. There really is not an agency that is specifically set up to represent the interests of pharmacists or pharmacies.
State Boards POLICE pharmacists and pharmacies. If you have good compliance officers, they will help you with specific law questions, but working conditions really are not their repsonsibility unless it can be proven such condtions are negatively affecting consumer safety.
Look at your Board’s mission statement. They are not there to help you comply with the law, they are there to ensure you comply with the law. That may be a difference of semantics to some, but it is an important difference.
So, the only way that a pharmacist will get anywhere by lodging a complaint against their employer for violating working conditions will be to frame it in such a manner as to factually associate the negative working conditions with consumer (ie patient) harm.
Complaints about negative working conditions should be taken to OSHA or other agencies that exist for regulating employer/employee relationships.
The chain stores know this, and take advantage of this. That is why it is crucial to DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT,
Pharmacy Reality…
Ones perception becomes reality..at CVS there is no perception in the equation. The way CVS runs pharmacy and its pharmacist is 100% reality. Points of interest:adherence calls, redifill(just sign them up)freedom of choice..whats that?,reduced tech hours(do more with less), tech training? as good as “Fries with that burger?”, the tech SNITCH who thinks the supervisor and CVS corporate are the 2nd coming, filling new RX’s in 15 minutes, checking RX’s in 15 seconds,answer the phone in 22 seconds(10 lines 7 phones and 4 staff). THE RACE IS ON!! Where does couseling and immunizations work into the metrics of ths equation?
CVS shows no respect for the pharmacist.Supply exceeds demand so don’t immunize..you are now a FLOATER..mention patient safety and you will Disappear! Communication at store level..Never let Paul know what Peter is doing!
As for the BOP, dont look there for guidance. Remember money talks and bullshit walks! Again pharmacy is what we pharmacists allow it to become..Patient safety is Paramount. When all is done your reality should be defined by your REPUTATION and ETHICS… not by coporate perception of reality.
P.S. Here in the State of PA just take a guess who the PBM for the 80,000 state employees is… thats right COME VISIT SATAN/CAREMARK…do you think someone is sleeping with the DEVIL!!
MAP, you are right about the tech snitches (we have 2 of them). I have experienced their “power” first hand. Now I hesitate to even excuse myself to use the rest room lest that be somehow taken out of context and “offend” someone. I had no idea that this situation existed in other districts. Now I am even more appalled.
Never once ran into these tech snitches. I have a great relationship with my supervisor. Call him often to talk about the business. Plus I have nothing to hide from them if there were snitches.
that’s what you think.
The most frightening aspect of all this is that CVS is setting the standard for retail pharmacy meaning that all the other chains will take notice and begin to squeeze their employees also. Our “profession” is more business than healthcare. As CVS stock price increases, others in the business will take note and begin to replicate and/or exceed the labor practices of CVS. RAD has not yet gone to these extremes, only because they are fighting to stay relevant, but I can definitely see a change in the importance of metrics.
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The worst part is that there is no turning back. Things are going to get worse in the industry, not better. My biggest fear is a salary DECREASE. If CVS can pull off a company-wide decrease in salary for new pharmacists, we are doomed. This job is not worth it for anything less than six-figures.
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Osupharm11, I’ve withheld judgement for quite some time. Maybe you have been lucky enough to work at one of those stores that works “how it’s supposed to”. They do exist, however in very small numbers. I do think you’re missing the broader point though. If CVS continues on un-abated they WILL ruin the profession and your utopian world will go down with it. Everything is rainbows and puppy dogs in your little world but I’d like to see the look on your face when your supervisor takes away your over-lap, tech. help, etc. because they think they can squeeze a little more profit out of the store. You are not above the fray. There is NO loyalty in our business no matter how great you think you are. You’ll learn that soon enough.
As far as technicians go, I have a long term one that has already threatened to run to HR against ME for some kind of slanderous BS that never happened if I demote her. I can tell you that CVS runs differently depending on where you go. The supervisors make up their own rules and how they enforce them. CVS is all about ass kissing and making your immediate supervisor look good (by metrics of course at the demise of their employees). I can say that their direct competitor NEVER did any of the shenanigans that CVS dabbles in. It is a very sad state of affairs in this nazi run company. CVS appears to be all about getting away with what they can, acting stupid and paying fines and then somehow having the state BOP in their back pocket because when you specifically address issues WITH the state BOP like I may have, NOTHING happens. That includes when the specific states deputy attorney general is there and happens to perk up when certain things were divulged of big evil and the board did NOTHING to pursue it. That says A LOT about where my respective BOP stands in the supposed pursuit of the best interest of the general public.
Salary decrease you say? Already happening my friend. The “new” setup almost ensures no pharmacist raises in the future because the metric determinations for increases are nearly IMPOSSIBLE to obtain. Oh and then there is the new “employee optimization committee”. Doesn’t that sound like something straight out of Nazi Germany? “Ensuring the right employee in the right place at the right time”. Hmmm what it really means is “ensuring the lowest paid overworked brainless employee is in the right place that doesn’t have a mind for their own to threaten legal recourse for wrongful termination/harassment”. The writing is on the wall my friends. If CVS is allowed to get away with these unfair practices and it affects the bottom line in a positive way for them, the rest of the big boys will follow suit.
I HATE CVS, period. No jobs around here so I go and take it up the ass every day. Sad thing is that I excel at their impossible work conditions even in the absence of help around me. My only question is how long can I continue to do so as it is NEVER good enough. They pile more shit on on a daily basis. Something has to give. Complete profession unionization as much as it pains me to say so, is the ONLY way to take this mutinous disaster back that has occurred in the past 10 years.
Just ignore osupharm11, he has worked less than a year and cannot understand what it is like. I have had tech snitches get a rph kicked out of her store (she did nothing wrong), get a fellow tech fired for something trivial, and they do it all at the request of the PIC. The above post is right, there is NO loyalty in our business. You are not worth the trouble when you complain. You WILL be made to float to areas outside your district *I believe that’s against corporate policy*. You will have your hours cut despite the fact it takes more man hours to replace you. Forget Caremark, the real evil is the competition. Whistleblower, there are so many visa applicants in PA, TX and CA it’s disgusting. These rphs (go ahead and prove me wrong) do not have the same education as we do in the states. 4 years of bullshit sciences add to that 1500 hours of internship and voila, someone who can barely speak English will be replacing you. I was working alongside two of them this week. Each customer who spoke to them said “what did you say?”. They are rich beyond words and bring over their families from India, China etc and promptly place them on welfare. Nice. Money not in bank but kept in house where you don’t have to pay interest or taxes on. Whistleblower you have my support. Osupharm11, keep your happiness to yourself. Come back when you have worked at one of our stores with the snitch techs and the backstabbing rph and the DM who wants you to do more work with less help.
Here is another interesting thing about cvs. They are supposedly a pharmacy innovation company. They routinely trash the other two guys in meetings I have been a part of. Now you are delusional if you think pharmacy can be “reinvented”. What, offer more 20 dollar gift cards? The playing field is equal amongst competitors (well cvs doesn’t give raises but they can give a 100 dollar gift card to a lying customer but I digress…yes that is ONE HUNDRED) as we all offer the same things. However the retards at cvs remain thoroughly convinced that they are somehow different. They are different in regards to being the most oppressive regime out there. They definitely reinvented that once Tom Ryan was booted. Now back on track. Pharmacy innovation company? What exactly does that mean? Well to me it means a company that continuously blazes the trail in terms of technology and does things that nobody else does. Yet cvs continues to EMULATE their biggest competitor. Fucking hilarious. I wish I could win the lottery so I could attend , err be threatened that I better attend another neo nazi circle jerk without pay as usual and erupt in a 10 minute diatribe about how fucked up and hypocritical they all are. So cvswww text messaging. Late to the party there assholes. Register reminders for rx not all rang up for the same customer? Um late again to the party. Scanners in drive thru and workflow reorganization? Hmm sounds like another swipe of technology from your direct competitor. So what exactly is the pharmacy innovation company innovating? The level of delusion and stupidity of cvs is outstanding. They must have those men in black mind erasing devices because surely the mba’s had to graduate school so they can’t be that stupid. Oh wait they came from Walgreens re-wiring a few years ago. Think companies willing force out top talent? I guess they are that stupid.
@osupharm11. Just found a Cvs store ( the busiest in the area) that doesn’t have a immunizing RPH on duty this morning. How does this happen??? What is the policy in your area. This is a staff RPH.
@osupharm11… Still want to know know how you get a lunch break… Don’t they have cameras on you all day… Are you aware that they can watch you from their laptop. They install these things under the cover of darkness!!
whistleblower, I know of another one in PA. You have to be thisclose with the DM to get away with it. CVSconsumesmyssoul, you are right they copy Rite Aid and Walgreens and they copy CVS. Every phone call is monitored for the greeting and timed. CVS unfortunately is turning itself into its worst enemy. Stockholders beware. That 40 something dollar price can’t be sustainable not with the downsizing and overworking. Maybe it works in China but not here
@the truth… Come to think of it, I also know of another. Just in from a former team member….metrics STINK in central PA.
I know that this is kind of off topic, but I can’t help but think of “The Bobs” everytime I hear about the “employee optimization committee”. Those who’ve seen “Office Space” know what I’m talking about. What corporate turd had that idea.
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CVSconsumesyoursoul, you are absolutely correct. “The Big Three” simply cannibalize each others programs and ideas. There is no “innovation” anywhere to be seen, in any of the companies. There is no other way to make money in retail besides increased rx volume. This is why RAD and CVS are fighting so hard to keep the ESI patients from WAG.
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My question is, “what now”? Where, as a profession, do we go? There are no real alternatives for pharmacists and that’s the problem. You deal with the bullshit because you have $100,000 in school loans left to pay and a family to support. It can be a hopeless feeling and I see why so many feel exactly that way.
I have no clue what to do anymore. I can say this though. I already suffer from a debilitating health condition in my 30′s and stress makes it much worse. I’ve really thought about just saying “fuck it” and severly downsizing my life and just getting out of the profession. Yes I’ve got 125K in loans and as much as it pains me to say that either they work with me or they don’t get their money. Yes, it’s becoming that bad. The paycheck is not large enough to deal with this crap anymore.
Osupharm11 — when the shit hits the fan for you, and it will, you can’t say we didn’t warn you. If you trust your supervisor enough to call and chat, you’re especially vulnerable and a fool I might add. The kiss-ass techs all have problems of their own, but saving their own ass is paramount and they will say/do anything they can to achieve that goal including screwing you over. I know a few good techs, but I know more bad-and-can’t-be-trusted techs at CVS.
Whoever posted that CVS claims to be “reinventing” pharmacy is correct in their assessment that CVS is stupid and to be loathed by every employee that works there. The square wheel was proved unusable and CVS’s idea of reinvention is just as lame.
Pharmacists, stand your ground on EVERY issue. Don’t let yourselves be pushed around — push back often and with intense force.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to know who is friend and who is foe as a pharmacist. It’s actually very easy to feel there are conspiracies all around and unfortunately I think this is a valid feeling for most of us. Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer. This is part of the soul-sucking part of being in a chain pharmacy
I feel drawn to this and other pharmacy blogs — it’s sad we’re all having to go through this crap, but I’m glad all of you can be found here. Osupharm11 – I don’t know why you’re here really, but I suspect you’re not as happy with Big Evil as you claim — I’m willing to give you more credit than that, for now.
To Truth, you are right about cvs stocks. I just sold my stocks for $45 and some change because I do believe their stocks are on the decline (and walgreens stocks are on the rise).
cvsconsumesyoursoul, I went through the same thing at CVS years ago. 2 employees went after me for no reason. When I quit the boss offered me a promotion. I said no. Life is too short I said. Now I find myself at the mercy of those tech snitches. I travel between stores and see rphs who keep their mouth shut when they see techs on cell phones, violating rules, etc b/c they are afraid they will go to HR and complain. And you are right, they do complain out of a sick sense of pleasure. Probably b/c their lives suck and you make more money. My suggestion, don’t give up just yet. Look around for jobs, even mail order (no tech interaction). Then quit. The worse that happens is you become a floater.
Truth….I take some comfort in knowing that I am not the only one who has had that experience. It is so horrible not to be able to trust anyone. The company uber alles. At least, the trains are running on time.
Does HR only respond to complaints from non-professional. Staff?
Aren’t these techs under the authority of the Rph?
I would be writing their asses up for any and ever violation of the P&P…if they didnt even sneeze in their elbow but their hands.
The proper way to write a reprimand is to escalate the verbiage that continuing to fail to comply may up in being discharged.
You people are dealing with nothing but bullies..
The way you are acting you are taking a butter knife to a gun fight
You get cooperation either thru respect or FEAR..
If they don’t fear loosing their job…let them find a new one..
If they think that they will be able to collect unemployment for two yrs after being fired for failing to follow the rules (insubordination)..lots of luck.. Unemployment is for people who get laid off because there is no work.
If HR will not enforce P&P .. File a complaint with legal dept over HR not following the rules..
steve, evidently it is a big trend with troublesome techs to make false or exaggerated complaints to hr about a rph creating a hostile work environment. Personal experience..hr will never believe the rph. You could have tons of proof to help yourself but it will be ignored. Forget legal, you must be thinking it is a perfect world. It’s not. The only way to get rid of bad techs is to have a customer complain about hipaa etc. This is big at cvs and rad. My coworker lost her store due to a false claim about hostile work environment. She has tons of debt so she put up with the punishment-floating.