I've been a pharmacist for over 20 years, and worked in pharmacy nearly 30. Oh the things I've seen. I've worked with outright incompetents, but by far the saddest case was my partner at a busy physician owned clinic/pharmacy. She was a sweet lady, but always very...jittery. Her handwriting would progress from legible to downright Parkinsonian over the shift. Hands trembling all the time. Often her eyes were glazed and her mouth agape by noon. A chronic insomniac that needed 20mg Ambien to get a fitful night's rest.

And she was the PIC.

She'd been hired on after getting in trouble at a big chain for stealing meds. She was on probation with the state board and knew that all eyes were on her. I was asked to be her probationary supervisor in a meeting with her, me, and the rxm. It looked like she was turning over a new leaf.

But addiction is one hell of a monkey. So one afternoon I get a call at home from my rxm. I immediately think, oh shit - what did I do? Nope. My lead tech reported that midshift, homegirl straight up made a beeline to the fast movers and popped a few Soma and Vicodin right in front of her. This was last straw time.

My rxm asked if I was willing to work the full 12 hr shift since I was already opening. Sure. She comes in for her afternoon shift and the phone rings. It's our rxm asking her to come to his office. It was so sad to hear her ask in a pathetic voice, "am I in trouble"? Breaks my heart to this day thinking about it.

She was shown the video footage and fired. Ended up losing her license. I worked nearly 2 months open to close, 7 days a week until we found a decent replacement.

At least I'm happy to report that she's still alive and seems to be doing better 4 years down the road. I think about her all the time. I've lost a brother and a wife to pills and booze and suicide. I don't know if she's a Redditor, but if you're reading this, I'm glad you got the help you so desperately needed and I'm rooting for you still.