Fun Fun Fundraisers!

My pharmacy likes to participate in several different fundraisers throughout the course of the year. It's amazing the reactions of some of the customers when I ask them for a mere dollar donation. I remember last year, we were raising money to help find a cure for cancer. I asked a lady if she would like to donate, and she started off on this big rant about how the money raised mustn't actually go towards finding a cure. She said that if it did, with all the money raised, people would have found a cure by now. Well, sorry lady, but unfortunately, you can't cure cancer by throwing money at it. How ignorant. I had to laugh after she left though, cause the little old lady behind her said, "Well, since she was being so rude and refused to donate, I'll donate a dollar for her." Awesome. =)

Plan B!

Two 18 year old girls purchased the morning after pill from the pharmacy today. I found this very interesting. Perhaps Mother's Day instills a real fear of actually becoming a mother. So, they panicked and quick ran to the pharmacy to buy the "plan B" $50 protection against motherhood. Oh, gosh. Happy Mother's Day?

I can't think of a good title...

Sometimes customers come up to my register with a bad attitude. They get frustrated over the cost of a prescription or something else that is equally out of my control. Sometimes they get angry at the credit card machine because it asks for their pin number several times. By the third or fourth time they are literally pounding the machine with the stylus. It's pretty hilarious. Yet, no matter how angry or frustrated some people get, a lot of them still manage to give the me the most genuine smiles and pleasantly say "Have a nice day!" at the end of the transaction. It surprises me every time. I wonder if they feel guilty for getting mad at me or just really hope that, although they aren't having a nice day, that I will. I just don't know.

Bomb Threat Checklist?

At the pharmacy where I work, we actually have two registers. The one is at the front of the store and the other is at the back. The one at the back is where the actual pharmacy part of the store is. Well, I was working at the front register one day, and I was really bored. So, I was looking around at all of the stuff under the counter. One of the things that I found was a "Bomb Threat Checklist". LOL! Like, what the heck?! It had all different sections that you were supposed to fill out if someone called in with a bomb threat. The sheet asked for the sex of the caller, the duration of the call, what the bomb looks like, where it is located, etc. Ok.... So, if someone calls in with a bomb threat, I am supposed to quick grab the checklist and then continue on to ask the bomber all of the questions on the sheet? Right. I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that if someone actually did call in with bomb threat, filling out a checklist would be the last thing on my mind. Plus, we don't have a checklist in the pharmacy. So, what are we supposed to do? "I'm sorry. Unfortunately, we keep the bomb threat checklists at the front of the store. Could you please hold for one second while I transfer your call?" Once again, I don't think so.

The Simple Art of Employee Appreciation

This past month was Employee Appreciation month. It's obviously one of those seemingly clever business tactics where they believe that they can pull in more employees, simply by saying, "We have Employee Appreciation month! Not just a day or even a week. We have a month! BEAT THAT!" kind of thing. So, let's take a look at just how great Employee Appreciation month really was. Hm. Let's see.....What did I get? Pizza. Four slices of pizza total during the course of the whole month. Two for lunch and two to take home with me. Wow! I feel so loved! I suppose it is better than nothing at all though! I always tell my boyfriend "I love you a billion Bulbasaurs!" (we're Pokemon fans!) or silly things like that. Well, guess what?! My pharmacy loves me four slices of pizza! Heck yes! I'm going to work there forever! Right.

I'll ask a simple question if I may.

Whenever someone comes to the register, I'm supposed to ask them if they have their pharmacy bonus-card thing. I'm so used to doing that every time a new customer comes up to me that, sometimes even as people are handing me their card or after I have scanned it, I still ask them, "Do you have your bonus-card?" It's ridiculous. I'm so trained to ask that question, that I don't even think about it! Then, I end up making a fool out of myself. When that happens, I try to laugh it off and say, "Oh, yeah....ha ha. It's right in front of me." but it's too late. The mistake has been made. I've already made myself look like an idiot in front of the customer. Good one, Kathryn. =(

The never-ending battle.

Tonight at work, my boss asked me to sweep up the petals that had blown in off of the trees outside. There were a ton, but I was up to the challenge! I swept the foyer spotless. Next thing I knew, I looked over and the floor was coated with petals again! No matter how much I vacuumed, the petals just kept being blown in! Figuring it was a pointless struggle, I decided to quit. However, my boss was like, "Well, you should keep vacuuming every now and then. Otherwise, people will be up to their ankles in petals when they try to walk in the door." So, I continued my never-ending battle against the flower petals, vacuuming every couple of hours or so. Fortunately, it rained toward closing time. So, I was able to vacuum up all the petals without more blowing in. Thanks to the rain, I managed to come out victorious! Stupid petals....