You can comment here, especially to give “Pep talks” to other pharmacists who are in crappy, unprofessional situations.  Do not send your evidence in comments here.

Send to:  rxundercover@hotmail.com

Pharmacist Steve and myself will manage this address.  We will be the only people who see your evidence.  We will be appropriate in what we do with that evidence.  This is a guerrilla action and you are the fighters.  Step up.

You are in a position that should make the middle managers at Big Stupid and Big Evil crap their pants.  You can document everything they say or do.  When we get multiple “Undercover Agents” reporting the same thing, then we have mass for our argument that conditions are so fucked that patients are in danger.

You are the perfect “Agent”.  You are allowed into the inner sanctum every single day.  You see everything that goes on.  You read the memos.  You read the Emails.  You talk with patients.  You have modern tools at your disposal.  Voice recorders that look like pens or key fobs for your car.  If you do not have a “Voice Recorder” App on your smart phone, download one.  Record, record, record.  Send it to your PC.

Save anything that is written.   Document anything that is said.

I do not have to tell you what damning evidence is.. You already know.

We do not necessarily need your name.  We do need to know the name of the company you work for and in what state.  Your name and Email address would be nice.  We can communicate further if that is needed.

rxundercover@hotmail.com

This could be a helluva lot of fun.

March 5, 2013, 12:42 pm

Ask Well: Can Weather Affect Mail Order Drugs?

I believe I know why you send all of these stories to me.  Because you trust that I will put them up here in an interesting manner with interesting images.  I really had to search to find this one.  A good 20 minutes.  I entered “Pharmacist/Manager Sex” and all I got was hard core.  Then I tried “Manager/Secretary Sex”.   Not quite 100% hard core images, but nothing that I would feel comfortable putting here.   I finally found this at “Drug Store Romance”.  Although what is with the “I won’t”?  Because he certainly did.

I am not telling you if this story started well before the store opened at a Big Evil, Big Stupid, Big Kahuna or Big Topeka.  Trust that it was one of those.  I am telling you, there are a million stories in the Naked Drug Store and I mean Naked.

I received a hectic, obviously rushed Email at one of my private addresses.  It was from a girl who had been an RPh for barely a year.  She claims to have walked in on the Pharmacy Manager (a 30 something male) and the out front store manager (a 40 something female).  In flagrante delicto.  In the pharmacy, behind the locked door, with only the night lights on, against the sink, standing up, holding on.  Use your imagination.

“Oh, my god, Jay Pee, I was so embarrassed,” she went on.  ”I just stood there and couldn’t watch them.”

Why were you embarrassed?   Did they invite you to join them?

“Her blouse was opened and well you know.  He was squeezing.   Her pants were on the floor.  His pants were around his ankles.  There was a knocking sound, sort of bumping.   One of them groaned, Yes.. Yes.”

I know his wife.  She is nice.  They have two kids in Middle School.   The manager is Ugh, single and mean.  But, Jay Pee, my pharmacist manager has always treated me good”.

If you are gonna cheat, it is the littlest thing that will get you.  This little girl pharmacist had the wrong day.  She said that Tuesdays are order days and the opening RPh always comes early.  Well, I mean, Ah. you know.  Shows up to work early.  So, she comes in early, unlocks the door, steps inside, hears some moaning way down at the end of the pharmacy.  She looks and In Flagrante Delicto.

This girl is a smart rat.  She knew instinctively that she was the one whose ass was grass if they knew that she had caught them.  They would panic and get her out of the store, one way or the other.  So, what she did was:

Take a picture with her iPhone.

She said that she left the pharmacy, went to her car and drove to her apartment.  She stopped for a package of Salem cigarettes on the way.  Made some coffee and smoked her first cigarette in six months.

“My biggest problem,” she wrote, “Is that I have to go to work this afternoon and face him.”  She said that she really wanted to call the nice wife, but was scared.   She even speculated that she should get another job.  She asked,

“What should I do, Jay Pee?”

I told her to stiffen up.  She did nothing wrong.  Send the picture to her PC.  Store it,  print it and put it in a safe place.  Then I said, “Mail it Certified Mail to yourself.  It will be proof of the date.  Do NOT open the envelope unless you have to.  Perhaps in front of the Director of Human Resources”.

I told her that I would ask you.  What is your best advice?  She should punish them for getting her off the cigarette wagon, if nothing else?  Should she talk to the wife with two Middle School kids?

It is amazing that we do not get more reports like this.   My college room mate did it with a cosmetic clerk in the basement store room in the drug store in Van Wert, Ohio (1963).  I (was single) and did it with the technician in the bathroom, repeatedly on Mondays when the pharmacy was the only department open in the huge big box store (1977).

For some reason, it just seems much worse at a chain drug store in 2013, when the guy is married.

I had a long telephone talk with a pharmacist who was summarily terminated by a chain on very flimsy evidence under really difficult circumstances.  Divorcing your technician and continuing to work with her is not a good idea.  We all make mistakes.  This, however, begs the questions:  Who was she fucking?  The written story below is, indeed, an abbreviated version.  A higher management person with this chain was an ex-member (I believe he said president) of the State Board of Pharmacy.  0.029%?  How many of you have had a beer at noon with the cold pizza from the night before when you were due at work at 2:00 PM?  This is not a predominant Islamic culture.  A drink is allowed.  Many years ago, I had a 12 ounce glass of beer at a restaurant with my lunch during my one hour lunch period.  I did not go back to the pharmacy for two hours.  I knew better.  Never again.  Since we had only one pharmacist for the day, I lied.  Told the store manager to consider himself lucky.  I was sick to my stomach and was tempted to just take the rest of the day off.  

I did not even ask our colleague if he had a toddy a couple hours before his shift.  As he said, an airline pilot is not dinged until 0.04%.  He is getting a royal hosing here.  The chain probably had been planning on getting rid of him.  Apparently, the technician is the one who “turned him in”.  Wife, divorce, custody battle!  Soap opera.  How did she get so close to management?  Was it a set up?  I keep circling back to a quick grope and rustling of clothing and quickened breathing in the manager’s office going way back, while the pharmacist (husband) was holding down the fort in the pharmacy.  Just like many of us:  A hard working, loyal dumb rat.

This pharmacist is in West Virginia now, living there and looking for more dependable work.  Those of you in West Virginia (or who have contacts there) let’s give him a hand.  You may not have a job, but you may have a lead for him.  It would be generous to share your network with him, give him an introduction into the West Virginia pharmacy culture.

I have his contact information.  Get in touch with me at jpgakis@hotmail.com and I will hook you up.

Jay Pee

This is a brief synopsis of my story.

My pharmacy license was suspended due to accusations of alcohol abuse. Alleged event occurred in 12/2011. I was told that my PBT (preliminary breath test) registered .029 %. This occurred as I was summoned to take a random drug test on my way in to work that day. At the time, my now ex-wife, with whom I was going through a divorce and child custody case worked at the same location (as a pharmacy technician). I asked for, but was not allowed to prove my innocence through a much more definitive BLOOD ALCOHOL TEST.

I was terminated and have since been referred to the state board of pharmacy which has subsequently suspended my license. I have been in pharmacy practice since 1997, and have never had a problem prior to this.

I have retained an attorney and also have a brother who has been a trooper with the state police for 20 + years. Both have acknowledged that PBT’s have a margin of error, for many potential reasons, and therefore must be followed up with a more definitive test. Also, please understand, even airline pilots do not face disciplinary action with a blood alcohol content of less than .04. Higher than what I have been accused of. Furthermore, no accusation of any misuse of drugs (prescription or illicit) has ever been placed against me, as I have never had a positive drug screen at any point in my career. Has anyone ever been through a similar situation or have any advice for me?

In addition, I have complied with every stipulation that the board of pharmacy has asked me to do. I have seen many health care/mental health/substance abuse professionals and all agree that there is no problem and that I am more than fit to practice pharmacy.

Should I just say the hell with it and get out of this rat bastard profession, after all the years and sacrifice ???

We all know about assholes, don’t we!

Notice.

In recent weeks, a number of you have joined or renewed your membership in The Pharmacy Alliance successfully.   This was accomplished by visiting www.thepharmacyalliance.com , clicking the JOIN button and following the prompts.

I have also received one Email from a pharmacist who reported that he was unsuccessful at joining.

Click on the “BUY” button for the membership you want (Pharmacist, Student/Intern or Technician).  There are separate “Buy” buttons for new membership or renewal.

To pay with PayPal, just follow the prompts.

To pay with a credit card, look down and click on “Don’t Have a PayPal Account?”

Then follow the prompts.

I just tested both of these and they worked.

If you continue to have problems, send me an Email jpgakis@hotmail.com I will send you the address where you can mail a check.

From the archives.  This image was used in a TPA promotion around 2010.

From “JP’s 20 Simple Rules for The Pharmacist” Copyright 2006

Rule Number Twenty

Live With Intention, Walk to the Edge

Practice Wellness

Continue to Learn and

Play With Abandon

            Do what you love!  I know your dreams and how fragile they are.  I still have mine.  Some have filtered away in the stream of life while others came true unexpectedly.  I have no regrets, nor should you.  In 1999, Victoria came true when I had lost all hope.

Some of you have given up and are settling.  You have a good life, a fine life, but there is a steady gnawing discomfort about what could have been.  Big paychecks can’t help.  You can’t buy what you want so dearly   The vision that lit you up is not for sale.  You set it aside for later and then later happened without it.                                                                                                     How did it get away?  You made a world-class mistake by not sharing your dreams.  Sharing makes them real in the universe.  It sets powerful influences to work in your favor.  While you sleep, celestial alliances come to your aid.      Too hippie-dippy for you?  Well, I am hippie-dippy.  I’ve been that way for decades and I’m not going to be any other way just because people are watching me.  I have earned my life.

Dreams are magic and you are the magician.  You pull them out of the hat, let everyone see them and then just let them be.  Let them mature and blossom out in the ether dimension, just a little bit out of the way from your earthly senses.

For me, a conjurer who learned by taking baby steps, my castles in the sky did not come true for decades after I had first, timidly let them come out and see the light of the sun.  I could no longer hide them.  Courage came from deep inside (perhaps outside) and my most hidden secret longings filtered out where all in the heavens and on Earth could see them.

This wasn’t easy because we are discouraged to believe in the unexplainable.  We are told that we get no reward from anything other than hard work.  The puritanical bugaboo that all good things take time and effort will stop a dream from blossoming every time.

My dreams grew all by themselves without any work by me.  One day, I realized that one of them had come true, then another.  It is always a surprise.  What a thrill.

I believe in dragons and angels.  I live my life like there are stubborn heavenly forces working for me.  I live like a 1960s flower child because I am one.  I do believe in miracles.  They have come to be and all I had to do was dream them.

Dreamless people laughed at me.  That is a real danger.  You just have to not care.  They don’t have dreams, so how dare you?

Don’t despair.  Life without dreams is icy.  Some of you will hold on no matter what.  Your force of will is simply a flimsy shroud when you compare it with the magic in your favor.

Who are these seekers who are living their lives as I have lived mine?  Who are these professionals who have no doubt that pharmacy is what they do and not who they are? 

Who are these sisters and brothers who have learned to laugh right along with me?  Who are my partners in the cosmic dance?  Who hears the music that I hear?

They are the ones who learned to navigate lightly in a professional world that can crush you and rob you of your humanity and your ability to do magic.

Pharmacy is no different than any other scholarly discipline.  The nature of any profession is to homogenize and consume every practitioner and to rip the spirituality right out of her.

That is what happens when you define yourself as what you do.  Be careful out there!                     

This is the best answer I can give you to your question: What can I do?

First go to: www.thepharmacyalliance.com and join up.

Make your first stab at being an active member by writing a letter outlining the conditions you work under.  Describe, in detail, one of the conditions that puts the patient in jeopardy.  I like the consistent 14 hour days.  How the fuck can you be alert and fully competent at hour 12 of a 14 hour day?  When you do three 14 hour shifts a week?  For some of you, that is a good one to hang your hat on.  For women, especially, you become dangerous when you do not eat or hydrate properly.  I do not know why so many women are hypoglycemic when men can abuse themselves terribly and not suffer.  Make the #1, detailed point of your letter how you are compromised simply because your drug store company does not allow you to frikkin eat a meal in peace and quiet.  I mean just 15 minutes.   Are your patients in jeopardy when you experience vertigo?  I do not know what you experience when you are hypoglycemic, but you do.

It is important that your slant is that the patient is in danger because of your working conditions.  Your discomfort does not matter. Nobody gives a shit about you.

If you have an example of an error made and you can tie it to your working conditions, that is the key to the kingdom.  Write it out.  Don’t worry.  Nobody is going to cuff you and read you your rights.

The stated mission of TPA is to return dignity, self-respect and integrity to the job of working as a pharmacist or a technician.  TPA’s principal project right now is to positively affect working conditions by bringing light to the dark places.

Your contribution is not difficult or time-consuming.  All you have to do is tell the truth.

Send your letter to your state board, the editor of your local newspaper, TV news departments, even talk radio.  If you can send it directly to an investigative reporter you will have hit the mother lode.  Publicity!  Steve. Peon, anybody else who should get a copy?

Send a copy of your letter to Pharmacy Steve.  Steve Ariens is the National Public Relations Director of The Pharmacy Alliance.  Here is his stuff.

Steve Ariens  steve@steveariens.com

Hey Steve, I do not have your USPS mailing address.  Can you include it in a comment and I will put it here if that’s okay.   I think it would be valuable for you to get old-fashioned letters.  What do you think?

This post is in response to letters that said, “Okay, you are right.  I have been sitting on my ass being a victim.  I am ready to go.  What can I do?”

Let’s go, you guys.  You are the studs in this industry whether you know it or not.  There is no industry without you.  That Rite-Aid on Maple Street is just a pathetic variety store without you.  What is it about that kind of power that you can’t seem to understand.   CVS wants you to stay ignorant.

Tell us what you are going to do.

From Pharmacist Steve

my mailing address is 2241 State St PMB 137 New Albany, IN 47150.
–
Although… scanning the letter and attaching it to a email.. I can print it out .. just as if I got it by snail mail.
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If we could just get one person in each state to review the BOP’s meeting minutes and the quarterly newsletter that most states send out… and point out anything of significant..
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We recently found by accident.. where the PA BOP had fined a chain store a fair sum.. for some infraction.
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If you don’t want to send something to a newspaper/TV… I can do it as a press release under the TPA to your area.. without your name on it…

Send a copy of what you sent the BOP directly to the BOP inspector for your area/store… could increase the possibility of it being shared with all the inspectors in the state
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JP – how about compiling them on the TPA website or I can get a new website to compiling them on or compiling them on the TPA’s Facebook page or on Pharmacy Roulette Facebook page. Of course,individual names will be keep off the website.
–
I could get emails/faxes for TV/newspaper in major markets and send out a quarterly press release… high lighting the most egregious issues and suggesting they reference the webpage where all the issues are compiled. If members are able to develop a relationship with a investigator reporter in a particular market.. I could include those in the quarterly press release… Likewise.. develop a list of attorney firms that are taking a interest in pharmacy mistakes to be added to the quarterly list.
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Once the email/fax list is developed.. sending out the quarterly press release .. could be rather straight forward.

We need more attention on our website.  Perhaps compiling there would help.  We have neglected it.  However, we do have a member volunteer to manage the website.  That will help.  I need to check with the web designer.  The old password does not work.  Patience, you guys.  We are the inscrutable pharmacists.

Pharmacists put out a helluva lot of money to the organization that owns this building.  When was the last time you left the store for a real, uninterrupted meal break?  How many of you still write a check every year?  

The following was written for the website of The Pharmacy Alliance

There have been a number of pharmacists lately criticizing, belittling and demeaning The Pharmacy Alliance.

They attack, claiming that the website is ill-maintained.  That is true.  I offer any of you who want it, the title of Website Manager for The Pharmacy Alliance.   Of course, I doubt that any of you will volunteer.  Very few of our members are willing to do anything other than pay the dues… one time.   At least the members aren’t rubbing their hands together after they have written an email to me telling that the organization is just a piece of shit because we are not leading the way in anything.

Really?  What have you done to bring the pathetic and dangerous working conditions to the light of day?  What have you done to make known to the public just how dangerous it is to have an exhausted pharmacist handle prescriptions at hour 13 of a 14 hour day?

It is no secret that TPA is not the A.Ph.A.  The A.Ph.A. is huge and it is said nothing that has helped you to get a meal break.  The organization with the magic name sort of smiles when called out.  David Stanley nailed the A.Ph.A. in one of his first Drug Topics columns.  A new pharmacist had written to him, complaining about the lack of help, long hours and errors.

A.Ph.A. CEO Thomas E. Menighan blew all of us in a letter to David.

“I certainly feel for the situation,” he said, “If someone is feeling beaten by the ‘system’, no one can say they are wrong.  He then quickly changed the subject to M.T.M. and flu shots.  He actually wrote the high sounding stuff about, ‘Improving medication use and advancing patient care’.  ( and they have the nerve to put the words American and Pharmacists in their title) He went on, “We have members on all sides of this equation.  Our challenge as a membership is to unify”.

What is the equation?   Org + RPh = ZERO?

What makes the A.Ph.A. different from The Pharmacy Alliance?  TPA does not blow smoke, take in millions of dollars and still does nothing.

We are a tiny, little group of pharmacists who want to make a difference.  Our only mission is to return Dignity, Self-Respect and Integrity to the job of working in a pharmacy.   What is so wrong with that?  How does that make us a piece of shit?  Tell me why I have been stupid since November, 2007?   That is going on six years of abiding faith that you guys will eventually decide to get on board and get this done.  Perhaps I am just a dreamer.  I am getting tired with so little help.

Here is what we do with the members money.

We pay expenses and that is not very much.

Every other dollar, as long as it lasts, is to pay for these per diem expenses to any member who will personally attend a meeting (best one on one) with a state legislator, state board member, a journalist or (best of all) an investigative reporter who is likely to blow the top off the charade that is what some companies present as a patient-centric business.

TPA will reimburse.

One night hotel room at a reasonable rate.

Two meals

Gas money

That is the best we can do right now.  For you who have to try to take down any and all honest efforts, the conditions you work under are on you.   Don’t whine to me, or Peon, or Goose and you know the rest of the names.

 Jim Plagakis, Founding Member of The Pharmacy Alliance.

There are so many places to hide in the darkness.  Only a short while ago, the bad players in our industry could do evil things and get away with it because nobody could see what was happening.   They could break and bend pharmacy laws and regulations with no consequences.  They could mistreat pharmacists and technicians and it wasn’t noticed.   Then, a young man from the UK who works for Big Stupid in Oregon joined The Pharmacy Alliance and asked PharmacistSteve and Jay Pee for advice.  His DM RPh was working him over.  He took our advice.  He followed our recommendations to the letter and now, after a Starbucks evening meeting with someone from Human Relations, it looks as if the DM RPh has her ass in a sling.   If she is lucky, she will find herself in a store behind the counter, making the metrics right beside you.  Most likely, though,  she will be out looking for a job.  The power of documentation, clear and concise communication, knowing the laws and regulations, complying with those laws and calling the DM out when she insisted that he cut corners.  The Oregon Board sent her a letter for correction and reprimand.  Our friend from the UK, I believe, is untouchable.   My advice, first Join TPA. then, as a member, take advantage of the TPA network, ask the advice of experts.  TPA has legal counsel who is a pharmacist/attorney on the faculty of Northeastern College of Pharmacy.   When  you have issues with Big Evil, follow the simple steps. You know, we have been beating our brains out about this and I don’t think I feel like giving too many freebees.  Really, pharmacists have proven to be cheap and a shade of yellow that is not appealing.  Take my advice.

Last evening, Pharmacist Steve and Jay Pee spent close to a half hour on the telephone.  The question we discussed was: What is wrong with these people?  They hold all of the Aces of Trump and they rarely used them.  Our TPA colleague in Oregon  used his trump cards and he is clearly the winner.  Unless he does something really stupid, they will leave him alone.  The Federal Government will destroy Big Stupid with the first scent of retaliation.

Steve and I discussed dumfoundedness (Is that a real word?) at the thousands of colleagues who are complaining all by themselves.  You can get together here or at Steve’s blog.  There are attorneys involved.  The Federal Government is involved.  The Wall Street Journal wants to be involved.  The WSJ has to have verifiable stories with names, dates and the laws that are being broken or the harm that has been done to patients due to the working conditions.  The Metrics = errors.  Death, man.  I am talking over-worked, over-tired, ill-fed, ill-hydrated, scattered, trying-to-make-metrics-and-the-patient-be-damned Killing People.

How many times do you think that the niece and nephew of Aunt Maggie go to her house when the phone is not answered.  Of course, she is dead.  Flopped into an unnatural posture on the floor.  One arm underneath her, one leg still on the sofa.  Her eyes open in a scream.  Her mouth gaping.  Her hands tightened into fists.  She had wet herself.

“I sure wasn’t expecting this, Marie.  She was doing so well.  Laughing and joking at the holiday dinner table just last Sunday.”

“Well, she was old, Tommy.  She was frail.”

“Eighty years is not old, especially with modern medicine and drugs.”

They don’t even think about the prescription bottle in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.  It had been filled at Big Evil at 8:50 PM two days ago, by a young, hypoglycemic female pharmacist.  No technician after 8:30 PM.  No cashier help.  The out-front supervisor did not care shit one that the young pharmacist was on the verge of crying.  The waiting time was 45 minutes.  The metric battle had been lost hours ago.  Still, she rushed, made an error and the patient died within 30 minutes of the first dose.

Nobody will know.  The pharmacist will not know.  Marie and Tommy won’t know.  The pill bottle will be discarded with every other bottle ihn the medicine cabinet.

We  need a concerted and coordinated effort.  We are in a war.  A frontal charge would be stupid.  We need to fight as guerrilas, in the night.  The Internet is our flood light into the darkness.

Let’s use thepharmacyalliance@hotmail.com as a central place to collect information.  Steve and I will monitor it regularly.  Please DOCUMENT.  Give us everything.  The details.  Time, place, names and what has happened.  Please be courageous and give us your real name and contact information.  You will remain anonymous until you choose to stand up.

There’s are our girls.  Well-fed, well-rested, dignified and  focused on what is right.  You fat guys at Big Evil, watch out, “your ass is grass”.

I trust that other “veterans” will share their advice in the comments, so I will stick to two points.

I have written a book entitled “The Prisoners of Comfort”.  Pharmacist reviewers have called it a breakthrough.  One suggested that “Prisoners’ be required reading for pharmacy students.  Yeah.  Sure.  The pharmacy schools depend on donations from the drug store companies.  Wal-Mart has paid for dispensing laboratories.  At this time, if you want to read “Prisoners”, you best order it from me.  The link is above.  The direct price is less than from Amazon of Lulu.com.

One of the primary reasons that you may be a prisoner is your gotta-have-it-now American thinking.  Stop.  Learn the value of deferred gratification.  The primary way to keep from being a “Prisoner” is:

Stay Out of Debt.

As long as you have debts, you are fucked if you want out.  You have no choice but to pull the load like a galley slave.  Your debt works for the company and against you.  What the hell, it is just you and the wife.  No kids yet.  Why do you need that four bedroom, four bath, 3,500 square foot house?   Your husband makes less than one half of your wage.  If he loses his job, you can give up your dream of  starting your dream family of two kids two years apart before you are 35 years old.  And he will never be able to finish his C.P.A. studies at the state university an hour down the road.   You drive a Lexus and you insisted that he get that Toyota Tundra that had him salivating.  ”We can make the payment, honey.  It is what you want.  Get it”.  A Lexus to sit in the CVS parking lot more than 40 hours a week?  Come on.  Mister Pharmacist has never done a day of manual labor in his life.  He will polish the bed of his truck.  It will never feel the crush of a few railroad ties or a load of pebbles for that gardening project.

This is going to kill you.  With your income and credit score, everyone is offering you a card.  ”We will take 15% off today’s total.  Just sign here”.  You are a prisoner of your insatiable Americanness.   You just had to have that Tempurpedic for the main guest room.   “That’s where my parents will sleep when they come to visit every summer, for two weeks.  A Beautyrest is not good enough.”

Your husband’s gun collection is worth over $20,000.00.   He still owes over $15,000.00.

You had to have that membership to the club.  $500,00 a month for the privilege of eating in the dining room.  You still have to pay for your meals, but it is so cool to bring friends from school who drive two older Civics for dinner.  Their eyes get wide when the waiter simply hands you  a pen and a little slip of paper to sign for the meal.

Come on, you are 27 years old.  What is the frikkin’ hurry?

The above is not to comment on pharmacists who know the score, take care of business and have a good savings plan in place.  Many of you have student loans.  That is enough.  Rent an apartment for a few years.  Cover your ass.  Most importantly for this column is this:  ”If they are really working you over, you can walk away, take a little vacation and then find a job with a company that will respect you and your position.  Registered Pharmacist is not Registered Fresh Meat.  It means something.  Better yet, if they disrespect you, you an do it right back.  You can practice pharmacy to the letter of the law.  Pay rope-a-dope with them.  When they fire you for following the law rather than the metrics, you can sue their big ass and win.

Do not get into big debt in the first place.  If you have made the mistake, get out of debt.  Trust me.  You will feel as if the weight of the world is off your shoulders.  Your parents will not mind sleeping on a Serta.

Second subject for the youngsters with raging hormones and the need for approval.  Be very careful.  45 years ago,  gold-diggers were exclusively women.  They were looking for men who had a superior earning potential, social status and were referred to as medical professionals.  I know.  My first wife wanted the pharmacist, not the man.  She was terrific in bed, but the honeymoon lasted only a year.  She was also terrific at spending money.   She drank more than her share of Almaden Mountain Red Burgundy and  found male diversions in the upscale bars in the Diablo Valley.  It took me nine years to smarten up and get out.

To you young men.  You date the stripper.  You do not marry the stripper.

To you young women, there are female pharmacists who can give you much better advice than I can.  I will leave you with a picture.  ”Oh gawd, but he is so dangerous.  I love him to death”.

It’s Just a loan, baby. You know I love you, don’t you?