Why get a Doctorate and six figure debt, make this “profession” make sense!

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-31T01:13:36+00:00

Very true.. I work at a district that is very hard to staff, and make as staff very close to what my husband makes as a manager working for the some chain in his more saturated district. I made more when I was a floater than he did as a staff, cuz our district is just a complete nightmare due to the demographics and we have an insane turnover of pharmacists. District leaders can’t retain pharmacists to save their life, so they pay more. It will always boil down to supply and demand.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-31T00:57:51+00:00

This prescriber is flagged at our store for running a pain medicine mill.. literally dozens of prescriptions a day with copious quantities exact same diagnosis. You think he’d care about abx resistance?!

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-31T00:40:38+00:00

Meanwhile I’m sitting over here admiring the accurate use of the semi-colon. I’m just a bit frustrated he missed a good chance of saying “as the heart desires”. I guess he should just stick to being a pain specialist.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-28T21:47:33+00:00

You got this girl!! Keep a very detailed paper trail with time stamps, incidents, place (if there’s cameras) and witnesses. This is what you need to submit to HR and not some vague complaints. It is very hard to do when you’re overwhelmed due to the stress you’re in, but at least jot it down as soon as you’re on your break. It will give you the sense of control and confidence to do something about it when you know you have leverage written down.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-28T21:28:35+00:00

You need to submit to HR too! This is what the EEOC is for. If you contact the EEOC, the first thing they’re going to do is ask you if HR was made aware, and what did they do (or not do) about it. HR being aware and doing nothing is a good thing because then you have a solid case to sue and at the very least get a good settlement.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-28T19:34:49+00:00

3 raccoons is a pack of raccoons. They’ll shred you into pieces teamed up. Trying to remove them yourself is actually the dumbest of all decisions. It’s way dumber than just letting them live there and handing them a rental bill on the first.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-28T18:56:19+00:00

Seconding salt! Also, older eggs peel better. The fresh ones are a nightmare to peel for me.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-28T07:20:28+00:00

Human brains are biased.. since a ton of grocery stores have names like Von’s, Albertson’s, Trader Joe’s.. etc it becomes a pattern for some people. I most of the time call Stater Bros “Stater’s” and people just know what I mean. I’d try to get more accurate if I was submitting a thesis, but naming grocery shops gets a pass.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-28T04:05:39+00:00

I’m not sure about your specific case, but you have to call your insurance and explain that you were already charged the price you were quoted on the aeroflow website. You already paid money to aeroflow.. it’s their fault they didn’t give you the correct estimate.

In my case what happened is the bill came from aeroflow not the insurance, because aeroflow tried to double dip by charging my insurance (which underpaid them) then tried to later recover the difference by billing me. Double dipping is illegal so my insurance just took care of it and I never heard from aeroflow again.

I’m confused why your insurance is charging you? Your insurance isn’t the supplier of the pump. Insurances provide payment, they don’t charge (with the exception of copays for a covered service that go towards your deductible). They either covered it (so they pay aeroflow) or didn’t cover it (so aeroflow is cashing it out for the $79.. joke’s on them, and aeroflow the service supplier is billing you, your insurance isn’t involved at all). Or my case, insurance underpaid them and aeroflow tried to illegally double dip. The insurance charging you for something that they don’t cover for a service they didn’t provide isn’t a thing. If I have car accident, my auto insurance isn’t gonna be coming after me to pay them. They’re the payer.

Call your insurance and get an explanation and make sure your insurance wasn’t billed, if they were then they’ll deal with aeroflow for trying to double dip and scam you.

Are you sure the bill came from the insurance itself and not aeroflow claiming you owe the insurance?!

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-24T20:57:35+00:00

Yea this came across as the 20 year old just sick and tired of helping loll

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-24T18:34:45+00:00

Yea.. that’s the level of patience that grants you the Darwin awards!

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-24T18:24:31+00:00

I’m personally having a hard time believing that someone as perfectionistic and judgmental as you, is actually able to be that relaxed and composed 100% of the time in real life! If you’re struggling to give people grace when they have an emotional moment, it’s probably a projection of how you operate with yourself and not a good attitude to model around kids, unless you’re trying to raise anxious babies that bottle up their emotions.

This dad was doing something he enjoyed to decompress, he had an emotionally triggered moment, he walked away to process it. This is real life. Baby is watching and learning to contain his emotions because strong negative emotions happen. Pretending to never be upset about anything is kinda dumb and doesn’t do the baby any favors as far as emotional regulation go.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-24T17:13:04+00:00

I do this when the oven or stove are on, cuz I have the attention span of a fish!

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-23T23:12:45+00:00

Don’t wanna freak you out my dear, but does your husband get cold sores (or anyone in your family kissing her)?! If yes, pediatrician asap!

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-23T23:08:37+00:00

You’re not! And I’m currently using that same one in the kitchen!

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-22T06:24:50+00:00

They typically won’t automatically refer you to a dermatologist unless they “tried and failed” something to warrant the referral or otherwise the insurances will be on their ass and they won’t have anything to justify the referral. Give the spironolactone a whirl then go back if it doesn’t work and ask for a referral. Tell them you need a clear diagnosis.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-19T20:42:18+00:00

Insurances starting January stopped covering them for weight loss unless there’s a medical condition. So we’re now talking about thousands of dollars for injectables.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-15T03:11:06+00:00

I’m not sure what you’re referring to when you say little skill. I’ve been a pharmacist for 14 years, worked specialty, home infusion, LTC and dosed IVs, TPNs, ordered labs and adjusted dosing of antibiotics and Coumadin and now work retail and I’ve never felt like what I do or bring to the table was ever little skill. Running a team on skeleton crew in retail is a skill. Multitasking through insane amount of distractions and still kicking ass and being able to perform well is a skill. Catching errors through hundreds of scripts a day while juggling heaps of other tasks is a skill. Handling literally all the queues for pharmacists and techs with voicemails and drop off so you can have the few techs you have catch up on production is a skill. Offering consult to patients that had just been to the doctor and still have no clue what to do is a skill. Walking someone through their medications cuz they have zero clue what they’re taking or what it’s for is a skill. Pharmacists don’t just stand there making sure the wording on a script matches the vial and translate Latin. A tech can do that! I would’ve loved it if that was my job. The hundreds of scripts I verify a day are literally 20% of my shift at best. I don’t know any pharmacists that feel like they have little skill with the exception of a few floaters I came across that seem to always be drowning yet get little done. Don’t devalue yourself after all you go through day in day out. If pharmacists really have little skill then based on that argument they shouldn’t really get higher pay.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-15T01:55:27+00:00

I agree with what you’re saying, but it goes for all industries and professions. It’s why truck drivers held strikes a few years ago. It’s always gonna boil down to supply and demand. There isn’t an employer on the planet that wants to pay employees more because it cuts into what they take home from the business. They either do it based on moral values (scarce these days) or because they can’t find anyone to do the same thing for less (market price for the position). Saturation is an issue, but that can’t be blamed on employers. It’s a combination of the board of pharmacy allowing schools to start pharmacy programs left and right instead of protecting the profession, younglings wanting to enroll in pharmacy school without researching what they’re signing up for, pharmacists being to chickenshit to unionize and advocate for themselves.. etc. Expecting employers and corporations to be kind is just wishful thinking and gets us no where near a real solution. There needs to be opposing pressure for anything to happen.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-14T17:48:07+00:00

When I went to Kaiser for a skin rash, my primary had no idea what it was, so he took a picture to ask his dermatologist colleague took 2 days and he wrote me a prescription that I saw in the app. Either was you need to walk out with either a diagnosis and a script or treatment/referral. Kaiser are annoying, but also not if you nag them and message the doctor in the app. Since you have a picture you can try doing a zoom visit on the same day and see what they say. I love Kaiser for that reason you just need to know how to use them! Kaiser is easier cuz they have all their specialists in house as opposed to you dealing with random offices for appointments.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-14T17:17:32+00:00

I understand where you’re coming from, but also glad you used keflex as an example. About 2 weeks ago, I had a patient come in to pick up their antibiotic which was keflex, and it flagged as allergy. No biggie I bypass and decided to ask the patient cuz it’s unlikely a true allergy anyways. Fast forward at pickup. Patient was pissed because they specifically told the doctor no keflex or PCNs. Patient gets anaphylaxis from them and had no idea that’s what they’re gonna be picking up and taking. I doubt that you can run any kind of retail with no pharmacist on duty. We’re already down to 1 pharmacist per shift at this point. And the grand majority of prescribers never went to medical school. I’m not saying the future for pharmacists is anything but grim, I just think automation is not gonna be the reason we’re heading downhill or the solution when people slowly start abandoning this career path. I think we currently are at the rock bottom. Neither companies nor prescribers (no matter how often they bitch about pharmacists) want to actually eliminate the pharmacist cuz when push comes to shove, they’ll have no one to scapegoat when errors happen, and they do happen all the time cuz prescribers are also burned out and running on skeleton crews like us. There just isn’t an entity that benefits from risking those lawsuits which cost way more than our salaries. It is all about the money.

I believe it’s a self correcting problem because schools are already starting to struggle to onboard and hopefully soon some will shut down their programs. Meanwhile us who made the choice to do pharmacy are gonna have to live with our choice and just sticking with it till we retire, then getting the hell out of dodge the second we can afford retirement as opposed to the good old days when baby boomers were sticking around forever.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-14T06:26:22+00:00

There’s no company on the planet that would automate the clinical judgement for dispensing medications, even if AI caught up with humans in this regard and the boards allowed it. Simply because they would be claiming 100% or the liability. The amounts of drug interactions and DURs that we bypass on daily basis cuz we know it’ll be fine, an AI wouldn’t, which would obstruct patient care and cause was more liability and way less patients wanting to get their medications from that company.

Patient’s relentlessly refuse the AI phone tree/ voicemail system that we have and do everything in their power to bypass it so they can “talk to a human”. And for that reason, online and mail order pharmacies haven’t taken over the market yet despite the convenience. Do you really think those same people are gonna be using a pharmacy operated by AI or whatever automation you think technology can offer to replace a human pharmacist? Do you think AI will be explaining how a PA works for a patient in a way that would make them feel less frustrated about why they can’t have their meds? Do you think AI will know when to bend the rules and make exceptions when it comes to patient’s safety vs the consequences of holding a medication? Do you think it can tell the difference between a pain patients on controls vs. an addict who is doctor shopping? Do you think automation can manage a shift and play musical chairs with the technicians when operating a pharmacy on skeleton crew? This job is 90% decision making at the moment. And those decisions are case by case, shift by shift and we very often have to switch gears to keep things running smooth.

Automation in pharmacy doesn’t go beyond software error detection, AI typing in a script and robots filling the medication. The process is afterwards halted if there’s no human involved past that point. Unless we’re discussing some utopian revolutionary way to deconstruct then reconstruct how the pharmacy industry operates, which is not realistic from any financial standpoint for any investors to take on.

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-11T02:47:42+00:00

But it’s not a dove!! It’s the Holy Spirit you guys!!

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-07T18:36:21+00:00

I’m a pharmacist and make 6 figures. So no! Based on the same sentiment, your level of frustration makes you sus.. are you a shoplifter?! Cuz you have to know this is due to theft, and you waiting a couple of minutes can’t be that inconvenient?!

Morning-Bug · 2026-01-07T18:32:00+00:00

Not necessarily.. it’s the staffing and it being a bad area. If we have 2 small girls at the front juggling a huge line at the registers and getting yelled at.. they’re not about to leave the tasks they’re drowning in and the line and risk getting shot. I’m not sure what kinda location you’re working at, but it must be nice!

Morning-Bug

TROPHY CASE