CVS - RITE AID - CUSTOMER SERVICE

 

I’ve watched a thread On my Nexdoor app about CVS poor customer service and people complaining about it and felt the need to speak up. I am a tech at Rite Aid so I can sympathize with the incredible stress that they are experiencing. Since COVID has entered our lives the pharmacy has not been the same. And since the vaccines are now being given by the Pharmacy all hell has broken loose. Our pharmacists work from 8 AM to 9 PM week days and 9 to 6 on weekends. They NEVER get a lunch break – Corporate says you have to take one – but just TRY. Customers don't care if you are eating lunch and they come in!    We are lucky they get to use the rest room once a shift.  I’m sure this is the same at CVS as well as other pharmacies. 

People pour in constantly for shots – flu – Shringrix– COVID – boosters – from the time we open till the close of business. How does ONE pharmacist fill 200 prescriptions and vaccinate 50 to 60 people in ONE shift. One recent weekend our pharmacist had to give shots to some very young children who screamed and cried like they were being beaten. What should have taken only a few minutes tied the pharmacist up for ½ hour. Children that young should be given shots by their pediatrician NOT a pharmacist. So of course the 5 people waiting for their shots were less than pleased and they take it out on the pharmacist and tech. 

When I posted on Nexdoor I did not elaborate - I understand why children are being brought to the pharmacy for their shots.  Pediatricians have other issues to deal with and there are co-pays involved to visit - I do understand that.  But there are some instances with very young children that parents need to consider that the pharmacy may not be the best option.

HINT - People who don’t get to eat, drink, use rest room facilities are bound to be EDGY. Customers who walk in want instant service – if they have to wait 5 minutes they get edgy and irate but that’s ok for them – we have inconvenienced them by not having their script ready. Everyone needs to cut their pharmacy a break – try to see what they have to deal with. Sorry to have rattled on but everyone is short-handed and looking for help – where IS everyone?

It's not just Pharmacies - it's everywhere - people complaining about work but no one applying for the jobs.  I know that the Pharmacies have raised their pay, as did some other retail stores.  I say again - WHERE IS EVERYONE?

I Remember Miko

 

I haven’t been able to process this before now, but when I looked at the calendar today it said "mail Miko's birthday card". 

Miko and Tessie moved in next door to me 5 years ago August.  She was so enamored with my dog she requested the apartment next door rather than the one they had ready for her across the way.   I remember the first evening I actually spoke to her – it was my birthday 2016.  We were both just getting home from work.  We stood outside our apartments chatting in the August heat for about 45 minutes when she decided she needed to drive me to Dairy Queen since it happened to be my birthday.  No time for dinner – just birthday ice cream.  This was the first time I experienced being kidnapped by Miko, but it was not the last. 

I soon learned that anytime you went shopping with Miko, you needed to block out the entire afternoon/evening – it was never an easy in and out.  Shopping with Miko was a gold-medal Olympic event.   She looked at and analyzed everything.   

I especially remember the first Christmas tho – we had been at the Big Lots and found these stuffed showmen that spoke to you when you pinched their hand.  She turned them all on and kept speaking to them and of course a couple dozen snow men started speaking – and speaking – and speaking, until a clerk , who almost peed herself laughing – came over to turn them all off.   BUT it didn't end there……the next evening I went back to purchase another of the snowmen for a co-worker, and who did I find with a cart-full of snowmen?  Miko.  She decided she needed to buy one for every one of her relatives in Okinawa.  She left zero on the shelf.  I managed to convince her not everyone back home needed a snowman. Still, I think she purchased 10 of them.  But I wasn’t always there to restrain her – she once came home with 15 African violet plants because they were only $1 each.   The Dollar Store was especially dangerous for her.  I don't think she ever left without buying at least 10 pair of reader glasses. (Which she was constantly misplacing)

She was always trying to feed me and I'd come home from work and she's call and say come to dinner. She introduced me to Asian cuisine but could keep her seaweed to herself!    She could not believe I had NEVER had Raman noodles so that first Christmas she wrapped up a CASE of them for me. She amazed me at how much she actually could eat – I watched her polish off a double burger at 5Guys (with everything on it).   And outside of a rabbit I’ve never met anyone who could eat as much spinach as Miko.  

If you said you liked something – she got it for you. I learned to be careful around her.  I once mentioned an apple bar I liked from Trader Joes.  The next thing I know she came back from Trader Joes one day with 5 boxes of apple bars!   If you asked her to pick up ONE of something you would have to expect at least two.  Always a backup.  I often thought she thought she was still buying for 5 children!  That was just Miko.  She was generous to a fault. 

She moved in with me in 2017 and that’s when I found out she had more clothes then any one person I ever met.  She had a coat for every day- any weather – any color and boots & shoes to match.  Scarves – she had a million of them and the only person I knew that could actually pull it off year round.   I don’t think I ever saw her in the same outfit twice!  It helped that she worked at QVC – she never missed their employee sales.  Once she moved in with me I was always finding new clothes she would happen to pick up for me as well– I think she was trying to tell me something....Next to clothes, I never saw anyone with more supplements  - she had them for everything you could think of and now has me taking more of them as well!

Living with Miko was never dull.  There was the time she ate the dogs kibble thinking it was a new cereal (that didn't taste that good). Or the time during a snow storm we had to go out to get Pringles.  Or the countless mornings I had to call her phone because she couldn't find hers.

Shortly after she moved in with me, she was in a car accident.  She called me and I sat at Paoli hospital while they did scan to be sure she was ok.  Even lying in that hospital bed she was worried about the man who hit her.  That was Miko.    It was then – September of 2017 that they detected “something”. That something turned out to be pancreatic cancer.    I suppose it was luck to have found it out, had she not had the accident it may have been a much shorter time to have spent with her.  As it was, we had almost 4 years more.

Thru everything – the operation – the countless chemo’s – the trials – the hair & weight loss – she never stopped being optimistic, and she never stopped thinking about everyone else first.  Up until a few months before she passed, she was still driving around seeing people - going to them when she should have been letting them come to her.  

She certainly made an indelible mark on my life.  She definitely got me feeling closer to God.  She helped me to be more patient and giving.  I can’t think of Big Lots, Hobby Lobby, the Dollar Store or 5Guys without thinking of Miko. And I will forever hear her saying whatchamacallit?  

We said our final good-byes to Miko on August 15^th.  It was a beautiful ceremony scripted by Miko.  It was a full house.  So many similar stories.  So many lives touched.  So many hearts broken.

 Miss you fiercely - Rest in Peace.  Happy Birthday!

Anniversary of my Emancipation

 Today, October 20th, 2010 is the 10 year anniversary of my emancipation from Hell.  That being a job of 16 years.  At the time I thought it the end of the world.  My daughter on the other hand cheered.   I had been working 5 days a week, 9 to 10 hours a day and coming in as well on a Sunday to clean up email and get ready for the week - about a 60 hour week.  (not getting paid for that Sunday tho).    

But I'm not going to rehash that story - it's in a previous blog if interested.  What I will reiterate is the advice I gave back then that bears repeating.  

“How many people out there are working in jobs that they like but with people/for people that don't appreciate what you do?  How many people are working 50-60 hours a week and not getting so much as a thank you?  Do you work someplace where if you don't eat lunch in the lunchroom you are the topic at lunch?  Do you work with someone whose head is so far up the manager’s ass they see thru one set of eyes?  Are you part of the "in" crowd?   How many of you have heard how Lucky you are to have a job? 

Well listen up.....if that's the kind of job you have you are not so lucky.  Lucky is getting the hell out!

You've heard the old cliché - when one door closes another one opens - and even if it doesn't open right away, it does open.  And I can honestly say the air on this side of the door is so much fresher!

Yep - 10 years later and I hardly ever need Tylenol and I know who my friends are.

Dog Adoption

I thought I would be blogging earlier this year since I adopted a new dog on February 8^th.   It had been 3 years since Gaston passed so it was time.   I happened upon a rescue site called “Day Before The Rainbow Rescue” after I saw a photo online of Bandit.  I filled out a very thorough adoption application and figured I wouldn’t hear anything again (since that’s what happened over the prior months with local rescues).  I applied on 1/31, was accepted on 2/2 and had a new dog in my lap 2/8.

First I’d like to say that “Day Before The Rainbow Rescue” was a joy to deal with.  I was especially pleased that in addition to his neutering, shots and micro-chipping, the adoption fee covered his transportation up to Delaware where I picked him up. (When I had checked with local shelters about adoption I was informed that the fee only covered the neutering, shots and micro chipping and that I would have to come pick up the animal with a crate.)     

The ladies from Day Before The Rainbow Rescue were also eager to answer all my questions and kept In touch to make sure we both were settled!  And the driver who transported the pets was professional and friendly as well.

I guess I’m just saying if you’re looking to adopt, please add Day Before The Rainbow Rescue to your list to check out!

Meet Bandit!

Loss

                                             
I recently was informed of the death of someone very dear to me.  I didn't realize until I heard the news,  just how dear she was.    It's unfortunate now days that when someone has been ill for some time and they pass you are grieved, but not surprised.  In some cases you are relieved that their suffering is over.    It's not ever easy to accept a death, but it's harder when it is unexpected.  When there is no warning.  When there is no chance to say goodbye.

Our friendship started back when my daughter was about 13 and wrote to a number of pen pals in England.  One particular young man wrote back,  and the rest is history.   I only met her once, but over the years she and her family became my family.   My daughter spent time with them when she was on an Exchange,  and after my husband died a few years later,  we took a trip to the UK and I finally got a chance to meet the family.

In the early days there were lots and lots of hand-written letters.  Pages and pages of news!  And then....there was Facebook -  and well - then came postings and messenger.  I rather missed the letters and still wrote in cards, but for the most part we kept in touch by messenger.   Of course the time difference played a big part in not catching up as much since we hardly got to be on at the same time anymore.  But I did look forward to the posts, pictures, and messages.

Over the past two weeks I have gone back over the posts, and messenger  - delighting again in our conversations and wishing there had been more.     I still laugh at her admonishing me for watching an English Soap-opera (Eastenders) as the "most depressing soap-opera on the telly",  and I think of her every time I watch "Somewhere in Time" or see a picture of George Clooney. 

We've talked books, politics, movies and family.  I watched her family grow into fine, talented men and women.  I did envy the time she had to spend with her children, since my own daughter and son-in-law are stationed across the country and I only get to see them once a year if I'm lucky.  I loved to hear about her trips to Paris (she's the one who told me I would love it there), and was very happy that she had a chance to (hopefully) cuddle her latest grandchild. 

I was fortunate to have crossed paths with her.  I can only imagine what more she could have added to my own life if there wasn't an ocean between us.   

Don't put off telling someone you care.   Take the time.  Tell them.  Show them.  Life is short - there is no guarantee for tomorrow.

Bosses, Managers, Supervisors, and Leaders......

I have been in the work force since I was 18.  That's 50 years.  A friend and I recently were discussing the bosses we have worked with over the years.  During these 50 LONG years, I have worked mostly with "Managers",  but have had the pleasure of working with 3 "Leaders".  

So - what's the difference?  Well first look at the definition of each word:

MANAGER - 

• "a person responsible for controlling or administering all or part of a company or similar organization"
• "a person who controls the activities, business dealings, and other aspects of the career of .."

LEADER -

• "The person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country."

SUPERVISOR  - 

• "a person who supervises a person or an activity.

  synonyms:

  manager,

Looking at those definitions make it clear to me that most of the men I have worked with in the "Boss" capacity have been managers - men who have had to Control.  Managers often delegate and are most assuredly the head finger pointer.  Meaning - they are the one who will point the finger of blame in a situation, but will take credit for the "win" in another.

The Leader on the other hand may delegate as that is his (or her) privilege, but they will assume blame for the person (or team) and will not take the credit for the "win".  It's a much nicer work atmosphere to work for a Leader!

Managers and leaders are both friendly, but a leader does not want to be your Facebook Friend or party with you.    He (or she) is your Boss.  Managers tend to lean on people harshly instead of being constructive.  They're quick to blame, berate, tear you down and hardly EVER let you know that's you've done a good job.  

Have you worked for the good "buddy" who laughs it up with you?  Maybe going to happy hour with you?  I'm not talking about company get-togethers --  I'm talking about individual meetings and outings.  Do they sit there and make "comments" about other workers?  Hmmm...you know if they are "commenting" on your co-workers, they are doing the SAME thing to you with them?  

Unfortunately offices that have managers usually have people with bad attitudes.  I really believe if the managers behaved like leaders it would foster a better attitude all around and everyone might get along better.

Just a thought.   

Online Shopping and EBATES

I am an online shopper.  Working two jobs doesn't give me a lot of  free time to do otherwise.  At first I was hesitant - wasn't sure how safe it was.  But then convenience won out over everything else.  I no longer had to find a parking spot.  My parking spot was wherever I laid my laptop!  

One positive thing I can say about shopping online is that I only get what I need.  Since I am not wandering the aisles of Target or Walmart, there is NO threat I will throw something in the cart I just can't resist.    The joy of shopping online at Walmart is they deliver most items in two days - right to the door - so I don't have to carry anything to my car.  I can just lug it into the house -   So I can buy the ginormous size of Tide and Downy!  And of course we can't forget Amazon!

But the BEST thing about shopping online is EBATES.  If you shop online and are not using EBATES, then all I can say is Your LOSS!  I don't remember how or why I signed up - it was free - and I know I didn't actually use the site at first.  When I actually LOOKED at the site I realized they listed ALL the stores I shop at - so if I was going to actually shop at Walmart, why not let EBATES pay me?   So I gave it a try and the next thing I know I got an email saying money was added to my account.  They put money into a Paypal account for me since I didn't want a check mailed.  YAY!  

AND - they even offer you money to shop in certain stores - all you have to do is link up your credit card and you will get paid.  

Now I have an extension added to my Chrome browser that will automatically come up whenever  I am on a site that is connected to EBATES.  All I have to do is click on the activate now and it will log in my "shopping trip".  

The great part about money going into a Paypal account for me is that it's become a savings account of sorts - I don't touch it.    Since March of 2017 I have earned $160.00 while sitting on my ass shopping!  No gas used, didn't have to wait in any lines, and didn't have any "impulse" buys. 

As an added incentive they pay me for everyone who signs up and gives the new account $10.  

So - if you do shop online and aren't using Ebates I guess you have all the money you need.  Otherwise - shame on you!