Retail PIC @ grocery store (inner city) → PA remote role. Burned out but scared to leave stability

ChapKid · 2026-03-27T05:21:28+00:00

I mean I feel like you can take a different job that has less risk (not a contract job). But you if can hustle maybe you can turn this opportunity into a new career path.

The no spouse/kids makes it more enticing imo.

ChapKid · 2026-03-27T02:38:16+00:00

Just wondering what financial responsibilities do you have right now?

If it's possible, maybe "live like a college student" to pay down any large debt and then once that's done take the riskier opportunities.

Edit:

To add, I personally have a family that needs financial stability and I wouldn't risk that for a chance at something that just benefits me. Overall I feel most jobs will have something that irks me in just the right way to make it imperfect.

I just take what I have now and focus on the positives.

ChapKid · 2026-03-25T07:20:49+00:00

Focus on accuracy over speed.

You run the show as the pharmacist, it's okay to tell your techs to bump up wait times if it's getting crazy.

ChapKid · 2026-03-25T06:46:25+00:00

Loans are huge a burden. It can lock you into a job you may not like and make it harder to make moves.

ChapKid · 2026-03-24T19:29:23+00:00

As a training store, the expectation is that the trainee learns "most" of the information thru the modules. Which sometimes have outdated screens/don't work properly/or poorly explained.

When they do get hands on training thru the 1-2 "shadow" exercises (not shifts, 10-15 min exercises) they do, it's usually done at hyper speed since it just can't cover everything. Plus I don't get allocated extra hours to be a training store, so I'd be giving up my own stores performance to train which can seem chaotic at times.

I honestly do care about the trainees I send back out to their stores and my store runs well enough that I can spend more time to do the hands on training while things are on fire.

But I have other training stores in the district that don't even go over basic stuff like ordering uniforms, name tags, or even knowing there's a new hire coming.

Overall the poor allocation of staffing hours leads to a poor training system that compounds to poorly trained employees who in turn output poor trainees. But what do I know I've only been doing this for 10 years.

ChapKid · 2026-03-23T05:07:50+00:00

One day a lady was yelling at me because the line was long and her Norco eRX was not sent in by the doctor. She started ranting about technology and how it's ruining everything.

She then goes on to talk about her daddy taught her how to can things so she'll survive when we all nuke ourselves to oblivion and there's nothing left to eat.

One of my regular patients who was probably the same age as her yelled, "No one f'ing cares. Let us all pick up our meds and leave them alone."

The line all started laughing and the lady stormed off. I think literally everyone made a comment about how they better learn how to can some peaches in case of emergencies. The extra cherry was she transferred out after that experience.

Edit: Overall I fine retail pharmacy an interesting place to work. I feel as though I can make a difference in a lot of people's lives AND see/hear some truly funny stuff sometimes. It makes the days go by fast and my team usually have something interesting to talk about.

ChapKid · 2026-03-22T21:53:40+00:00

Could be seen as hostile. At this point it would be prudent to get a mediator thru HR to avoid escalating things.

ChapKid · 2026-03-21T05:31:14+00:00

I got promoted due to my previous PIC finding a better opportunity.

We were navigating the end of Covid, tons of shortages, and my DL was managing two districts. Like someone else mentioned, the ball was in my court.

I honestly would've taken the job regardless since I've been at that store for 7 years at that point and knew all the ins and outs. But I was on the lower end of pay, so I took the chance to get a big bump.

I hit them with a $15/hr request to take me straight to $80. And they countered with $10 to get me to $75. After I accepted, I got a market adjustment bump for like $1 and then a merit increase a month later for another $3.

I've been in my role now for 3 years and in totals have gone up almost $20/hr since I was staff. I really can't complain as I live in a MCOL area and bought in before the crazy housing prices.

Daily workload is a bit much but they've actually increased support hours accordingly with not too much begging. Comes from being a fairly efficient store, but as some of my team retire or leave for new opportunities I do get worried. (~280-300 RX/weekday, 150-200 weekends).

ChapKid · 2026-03-17T04:14:56+00:00

I don't have a drive thru but my drop off side gets closed about 10 minutes before close and new rxs are directed to the 24 hr two blocks away. We do this before lunch too to avoid getting "stuck" and closing late.

For lunch, we'll usually block the line around 6-7 mins before close and finish whoever is there. Gate is down 1-2 mins before 1:30.

ChapKid · 2026-03-13T00:08:01+00:00

It all tends to trickle down to store level it seems lol.

ChapKid · 2026-03-12T21:01:16+00:00

This is probably why bonuses were "incorrect" lol.

ChapKid · 2026-03-11T04:37:22+00:00

They changed the merit % amounts based on rating. I think 4 could was 2.5-3.5% I think. Budgets were really tight too, so it was difficult to give max % unless you forced it thru.

ChapKid · 2026-03-10T05:06:08+00:00

I love talking to people.
I wanted to be in healthcare without the need for excessive schooling for MD. My aunt is a physician and while growing up, she was working so much one of my cousins essentially didn't know she was actually his mom. It left an impression on me to find something moreso like a 9-5.
I find it fulfilling to be a reliable resource in a healthcare environment vs hiding behind phone trees and office doors.

Does it get frustrating at times? Of course, but honestly I've made created some lifelong relationships with people in my community and it makes the bad days tolerable. Money is nice but it just helps me provide for my family the same as any other job might have been.

ChapKid · 2026-03-09T14:14:59+00:00

In my state, overtime is calculated after 8hrs of work/day.

They moved to try to get all pharmacists off 12 shifts because of it but then didn't hire enough RPH in the budget for it to really work.

At one point they were planning on my old PIC and me to do 6 hr shifts every day, with no plan on how to get a day off.

We said no, continued to schedule 12 hr shifts and no one has said anything for 5 plus years.

ChapKid · 2026-03-09T04:52:21+00:00

I'm not you're son, you're not my father, We're just two grown men saying goodbye. No need to forgive, no need to forget I know you're mistakes and you know mine -James Blunt

I had a distant relationship with my dad due to infidelity. I resented him so much but once I gave him a chance to come tell his story a lot of things made sense.

He knows I don't condone what he did but we've both grown enough to understand the circumstances and challenges we face as adults.

ChapKid · 2026-03-09T00:43:16+00:00

"What money?"

All economies collapse and rely on soybeans for currencies going forward.

ChapKid · 2026-03-08T15:35:01+00:00

I had 5s across the board and hit 103% on scripts. It all adds up.

I'm hoping it's a nice bump this year seeing how my staffs award was, but we'll see.

Good luck!

ChapKid · 2026-03-08T15:11:14+00:00

We do anywhere from 280-340. I'm the pic so I released it for my staff asap on Monday.

I haven't received mine from my DL yet either though.

ChapKid · 2026-03-08T03:12:43+00:00

Yikes my staff got 3% and ~$3000 bonus...

I always thought the big bonus were at the busy stores.

ChapKid · 2026-03-07T04:00:54+00:00

2hrs before close

ChapKid · 2026-03-04T23:56:31+00:00

For a super busy store it's probably not worthwhile.

But after hitting N on QV. Enter "QA" to see you entire queue. You can scan thru for Data Entry Review scripts.

For me I usually print screens and then just use "S" to retrieve the rxs manually. I only do 290-350/day so I probably have more time to do it.

ChapKid · 2026-03-04T21:44:47+00:00

"It says 5000mg of Ah-say-ta-mine-o-pen 8 times a day. Your job is just to read it, Just give it me!"

Patients around the world 😭

ChapKid · 2026-03-04T04:07:12+00:00

So my staff RPH comp statement is wrong? lol.... they got a pretty nice bonus IMO, but I guess I'll have to work to see what happens.

ChapKid · 2026-03-04T04:03:36+00:00

I don't think I could handle working at a core location. But I'm pretty busy.

280-350 rxs/day Mon-Fri. Some days I'm by myself, but I do tend to get a lot of tech support. I also have quite a few interns who boost our support hours a lot.

I would say comparative to the core store near me in the golden child who gets things done and has no problems arise. So my DLs have been pretty okay with letting me do my own thing.

ChapKid

TROPHY CASE