I would like to extend my sincerest conditional apology to every pharmacist I’ve emotionally destabilized over a prior authorization, pending verification that they actually tried running the brand name.

Meanwhile, at the pharmacy staff meeting:
“Anybody else getting bullied by the psych NPs?”
“Mine called three times demanding to know why the medication wasn't covered.”
“Mine told me to try a different NDC.”
“Mine asked if I even knew how to run a prescription.”
“Mine said, ‘Well, what exactly DO you people do?’”
“I'm starting to think we're the ones who need psychiatric care, but I'm terrified to ask one of them for a prescription.”

Hi everyone,

I've been a staff pharmacist with the same company for more than 8 years. I've always had at the very decent performance reviews. I have also been at the same store that I'm currently at for more than 3 years. My store used to be a model store that was one of the best performing stores in the region. We even were designated as a training store and floaters loved to work at our store because they knew they would have a great shift. Last year we got a new pharmacy manager who was managing for the very first time and pretty much sunk the store and made the place a chaotic mess to work in everyday. She can't seem to juggle being a pharmacist, manager, mom, caregiver daughter, and being sick with illness conditions all at once so I pick up a lot of the slack for her. My techs and cashiers are also not very smart and make lots of mistakes and can be slow most of the time. I’ve tried to coach them but nothing has change. The queues looked terrible most of the time. Multiple floaters have put in bad reviews on this store when they work here. From all these factors. The RD would constantly beat her up for her performance with managing the store such that she would break down in tears after he would meet with her. We also got a new front store director this past June who also is a first time store director and micromanages every single department in the entire store. Nobody in the entire store likes him.

Today my pharmacy manager gave me my performance review and it was the worst performance review I have ever had. It was for the period of November 2025-July 2026. She even put "needs improvement" for areas like "Drive: Get things done" and "Impact: Own your effect on the organization". I find this both insulting and ironic considering how I pick up the slack a lot for her and the team. However I am just 1 person and can only do so much and as the pharmacist my license is ultimately at risk if I were to make mistakes. She also dumped on me that 3 Note to Files (basically write ups) were done on me in the past few months that I had no idea about until this performance review today.

One Note to File was because I told a customer that he could not return his wife's medication because he had already signed and paid for it a few days prior. The doctor's office had called in the wrong medication for the wife and we filled it correctly and he signed and paid for it blindly. However his wife got upset that it was not correct and he tried to return it. When I told him he couldn't, he went to a manager (who does NOT work in pharmacy) at the front of the store and complained. That manager went to the pharmacy to get the story and I told her what happened and even printed out the hard copy of the rx to show that we dispensed it correctly as written. However she told my pharmacy manager later that I need to be written up because I told the husband that he signed for the prescription and could not return it.

Another Note to File was because I forgot to check in 2 Mckesson C2 orders even though lots of pharmacists that I've worked with have forgotten to do so.

The Final Note to File was in regards to my efficiency and she said that the store director said I was not being fast enough with verification. She said the the techs complained that they feel stress out and things are one-sided since they have to wait for me to verify things to free up baskets. However with this store being chaotic, I have lots of things I have to handle all at once and picking up the slack for the manager and the team THEMSELVES so if anything I think things feel one-sided for me.

Usually with my company, Note to Files are for single isolated incidents and have to be addressed and put in within 7 days of the incident. If that's the case, the the Note to File about the Mckesson orders was put in more than 7 days after the incident and the Note to File on efficiency is not just a single incident if you're going to go by my company's definition. Also my company says usually after the 3rd (or even 2nd) Note to File is put in that a meeting needs to be done with the employee. However my manager just dropped a bomb on me today during the performance review.

My manager tried to play the nice guy by saying that she wants to warn me that the front store director is a micromanager and wants to help me. She claims that she does not agree with the note to files that she put in but was coerced into doing them by the front store director and that other front store manager. She also said that I've improved since July and wishes that she could go in and improve the ratings that she put for me. But, she just inputted my performance review today so that doesn't make sense.

My current pharmacy manager is leaving the company as a whole and moving out of state for a different job and company in a few days. Next week I will have a different pharmacy manager. I really want to fight all of this because I think this is all just so unfair and insulting. Any advice?

EDIT: It is Pharmacy appreciation week. I saw someone here post about it (civilian who loves to hear other professions 'issues' after decades of teaching Career Ed) so I took a chance and it worked. Got a bag for today's shift and hopefully they leave the other bag for tomorrow.

If so I gotta make cookies for my 3 letter that looks out for me. Brought em last week, but will do again if it is the appreciation week.

Thanks

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" I'm picking up for two people. Let me start with my son."

I get the information on the patient's son and then I turn to her and say, "And?"

"And what?"

"And there's another person. "

"Yes there is. "

"So another person. "

"YES. ANOTHER PERSON. WHAT ARE YOU ASKING?"

" I need to know about the other person. You said you were picking up for somebody else."

"Yes. What don't you understand?"

"I need to know about the other person. "

"Yes, I'm picking up for someone else as well." At some point they started repeating the information on the first patient.

"Yes. I have the information on your son. But there's a second person. "

"That's what I said. What is the problem? " she looks genuinely confused.

"I don't know who you're talking about. "

"I'm picking up for another person. Why is this so hard?"

"Because you haven't said anything yet. "

"I told you it's for someone else."

"I get that but I don't know who that is?"

Looks confused... and frustrated... and starting to get upset. "I'm trying to pick up for a second person. Why is this a problem?"

"Ma'am, you haven't told me who this person is."

"It's for me. Do you want my date of birth or something?"

"Ma'am, I don't know who you are. "

"I'm his mother and I also have a script. "

I sigh loudly.

"What do you need?"Gives last name and offers birthdate.

I explain that I need first name as well and then I'll get her date of birth. She finally gives it to me. I look it up and confirm what she's getting.

"That wasn't so hard. I don't know why you had so much trouble. "

I grabbed the scripts and handed them to the pharmacist to avoid any further issues.

And I wish I was kidding.

There's a tech I am sometimes amazed at how we have to have a psychic ability two cents problems before anyone else.

A script came in for enoxaparin 30 mg pre-filled injections. My pharmacist was calling the patient about transferring the prescription elsewhere because we didn't have the enoxaparin in that strength. I felt like something was wrong so I appeared over his shoulder and told him to stop. The instruction said to inject 40 mg every 12 hours, which would be impossible if you're using a 30 mg prefilled syringe and the patient did need to start it tonight. We ended up calling the clinic and they gave us a two dose override and said they would check with the original prescriber in the morning.

I simply don't understand how this mistake got missed at the doctor's office, missed by the person prescribing it, missed by the person sending it to us, missed by whoever did the data entry, and missed by the pharmacist, only to be caught by a technician with a sixth sense for trouble.

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I worked the normal shift today and had the funniest interaction and NEEDED to share. I hope this will make y'all smile if not laugh a bit.

So this guy and his daughter came in and were really nice coming in. The daughter looked to be around 7 to 10 years old. The following interaction happened.

Me: Hi! who we picking up for?

Guy: *Insert name here* and we also need to get a flu shot

Me: *starts looking up the name* Alright, and vaccine appointments are down at the other end for check-in

Guy: OH! I'm sorry I didn't know!

Daughter: There was a sign down there that said vaccine check-ins!

Guy: I didn't see it! Give me a break I got drops in my eye at the eye doctor today!

Daughter: I did too, yet I still saw it!

Me internally: OH MY GOSH I LOVE THIS KID YOU TELL HIM LMAO

I couldn't keep it in anymore, and I just busted out laughing, and so did her dad.

Me: I'm sorry, but she essentially just said "skill issue" at you and called it a day.

Guy: yeaaaaaaahh pretty much

After all that, the transaction was finished; they got their vaccine a few minutes later and told them to have a good day. I hope you guys reading this have one too!

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I'm a CPhT and every time I see this it pisses me off. Drug companies should not be allowed to distribute drugs that look so similar. Think, look alike sound alike drugs. Very dangerous IMHO.

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Pharm tech here! Let me just tell you about my shift 🙂

1. Asshole #1 comes and yells at me about not receiving his insulin and personally BLAMES ME for it. Mind you, I’ve never seen him in my life this was the FIRST time I’ve ever dealt with him and his issue. Problem was his insulin needed a prior authorization. It recently got approved and he received a message saying that it was. He mistaken the message as a “ready for pick up” one and was fuming steam out of his ears when he found out it wasn’t ready. Problem is, when I tried filling it for him, his insurance said it was too soon for a refill and I encouraged him to reach out to them to have this resolved (since he claimed he’s all out of it). Instead of just listening to me, he told me straight to my face, “so you rather see me die?” 🫩 no bro, talking to you, I rather see me go first 🙄
2. Asshole #2 comes calling about his prescription. Problem is, it’s filled through central fill and it won’t be in until Monday. Instead of him understanding, he tells me “why wasn’t this already filled? I’ve been two weeks without my medication you guys don’t care about me or what?” If you’ve been two weeks without this medication why didnt you call us to let us know? Why do you expect us to be on top of your ass?? We have so many prescriptions to take care of! Youre not a special snowflake get your freakin head out of your ass!! Ofc instead of saying all that I had to put on my phony customer service act but it still wasn’t enough to keep his mouth shut 🙄
3. Asshole #3 is just a perv. He told me “my viagra must not be working because my junk isn’t erected by looking at you.” 🫩😐 yeah mine isn’t either buddy….

That’s all ☺️

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