During my freshman year in high school, my science teacher assigned us to interview people in the community about how they use science in their careers. Although I don’t remember most of the people I spoke with, I can tell you that I spent meaningful time with a local community pharmacist who changed my life.
What I saw was a man who loved his career and truly cared for his patients. In an instant, I knew that I wanted to become a pharmacist, and I never wavered from that goal throughout high school.
Knowing what you want to be when you grow up at age 14 is unusual, but it is very liberating. I simply had to work backwards to figure out how to achieve my goal of becoming a pharmacist.
After high school, I chose to attend Ohio Northern University (ONU) because it had a unique pharmacy program. Rather than attending college for 2 years and then applying to the pharmacy program, ONU students were admitted to the College of Pharmacy from day one.
Although it was expensive, being in pharmacy school from day one and avoiding the risk of rejection made it worthwhile for me.
In college, I spent a lot of time in the library. Although the classwork was difficult, I did well with one exception: organic chemistry.
I did fail organic chemistry—a notorious “weed out” course—but I successfully retook the class over the summer and graduated on time with the rest of my classmates. Failing a course is a difficult stumbling block, but I stood strong and persevered.
Today, I’m thankful for the wonderful pharmacy profession for so many reasons.
First, I’m thankful that community pharmacists are the health care professionals most accessible to the public. If my local pharmacist wasn’t accessible to me, then I likely would have taken a different career path.
Second, I’m proud of the work we pharmacists do, the diversity of our career options, and the relationships we share with our patients and fellow health care providers.
Pharmacy is a profession that makes a real difference in people’s lives. It certainly has made all the difference in mine.
Engaged, Flirting, home, Rude & Risque, Scotland, UK | Romantic | September 24, 2017
(My fiancée is currently working late shifts, so he is in bed when I leave for work in the morning. I usually give him a kiss goodbye, but I have a minute spare, so I climb into bed to give him a cuddle over the covers.)
Fiancée: “Are you naked?”
Me: “No, I’m just about to leave for work; why would I be naked?”
Boyfriend/Girlfriend, home, Rude & Risque, UK, Wales | Romantic | September 23, 2017
(My boyfriend and I are in bed at night, binge watching a TV series. We live with his father, so walking around the house in a state of undress is a no-go for me. I suddenly remember I bought grapes, which are my boyfriend’s favourite fruit.)
Me: “I bought grapes, by the way. They’re in the fridge.”
Boyfriend: “Really?!” *looks at me, hinting for me to go get them*
Me: “Now? Ugh, fine. I’ll have to find some PJs. I’m in my underwear here!”
Boyfriend: *flips the duvet cover off himself dramatically and points to his own boxer shorts* “What’s THIS?!”
(At this point he looks down and realises the button on his fly has come loose, and everything is on display. We both crack up laughing.)
Boyfriend: *in a tone of bewilderment* “What is this? I just found it!”
Boyfriend/Girlfriend, Jerk, Maine, Pet Store, Portland, USA | Romantic | September 22, 2017
(My boyfriend is the bad customer in this story. We’re picking up a few things for our dog at a pet store when he comes across an aisle of squeaky dog toys and gleefully begins “testing” each one, squeezing it once or twice before moving on to the next one.)
Me: “Do you have any idea how annoying you’re being?”
Boyfriend: “Hey, I just want to know what they all sound like so we can pick out the best one.” *continues squeezing the toys*
Me: “She doesn’t need any new toys, and anyway, they all sound the same. Don’t be rude to the people who work here.”
Boyfriend: “Whatever, they can probably just tune it out. They won’t mind.”
(I’m about to say something else, when an employee approaches with a forced-looking smile. Having worked retail myself, I know a “customer service” smile when I see one.)
Employee: “Do you guys need help finding anything?”
Me: “No, thanks; we’re just about done. Is he driving you all crazy?”
Employee: *still smiling* “I really can’t answer that honestly.”
(I turned back to my boyfriend with a smirk. He blushed, immediately let go of the toy he had been squeaking, and walked quickly towards the registers.)
Car, Dating, Spouses & Partners, USA, Wisconsin | Romantic | September 21, 2017
(My partner picks me up from university, with their sister in tow. We take their sister to the local pizza place to pick up her takeaway order, and while she’s inside my partner turns to me.)
Partner: *slightly evasive* “Hey, I need to run some things up if that’s okay.”
Me: “Yeah, sure.” *beat* “Wait, what? I heard, ‘I need to run some things…’ and my brain just filled in, ‘…by you,’ I guess, so I answered okay, but what?”
Partner: *flustered* “Pick some things up. Run and pick some things up. Yeah. After we drop off [Sister]? I just wanted to make sure you’re feeling up to it, since I know you had a long day.”
Me: “Oh! Yeah, that’s fine.”
(Their sister returns, and we drop her off. I mention to her that, as I assume, we’re going to go do some quick grocery shopping. While we’re in the driveway, I turn to my partner and ask
Partner: *hiding face in hands* “I was going to surprise you by taking you to [Ice Cream Place], because you were so sad last time we tried to go and they were closed. But I’m really bad at lying.”
Me: “Oh no! That’s so sweet of you, though. Thank you!”
Partner: “I was going to be so cool, just driving along, and eventually you were going to ask me where we were going, and I was going to say [Ice Cream Place]! But then you asked immediately and I didn’t have an answer prepared. I failed at being romantic!”
(I didn’t actually feel like I could stomach ice cream right then, anyway, so we did go to the grocery store after all, and picked up some dessert for another night. Next time, I’ll try not to be so nosy!)
Car, Dating, Spouses & Partners, USA, Wisconsin | Romantic | September 21, 2017
(My partner picks me up from university, with their sister in tow. We take their sister to the local pizza place to pick up her takeaway order, and while she’s inside my partner turns to me.)
Partner: *slightly evasive* “Hey, I need to run some things up if that’s okay.”
Me: “Yeah, sure.” *beat* “Wait, what? I heard, ‘I need to run some things…’ and my brain just filled in, ‘…by you,’ I guess, so I answered okay, but what?”
Partner: *flustered* “Pick some things up. Run and pick some things up. Yeah. After we drop off [Sister]? I just wanted to make sure you’re feeling up to it, since I know you had a long day.”
Me: “Oh! Yeah, that’s fine.”
(Their sister returns, and we drop her off. I mention to her that, as I assume, we’re going to go do some quick grocery shopping. While we’re in the driveway, I turn to my partner and ask
Partner: *hiding face in hands* “I was going to surprise you by taking you to [Ice Cream Place], because you were so sad last time we tried to go and they were closed. But I’m really bad at lying.”
Me: “Oh no! That’s so sweet of you, though. Thank you!”
Partner: “I was going to be so cool, just driving along, and eventually you were going to ask me where we were going, and I was going to say [Ice Cream Place]! But then you asked immediately and I didn’t have an answer prepared. I failed at being romantic!”
(I didn’t actually feel like I could stomach ice cream right then, anyway, so we did go to the grocery store after all, and picked up some dessert for another night. Next time, I’ll try not to be so nosy!)
Michigan, Pets & Animals, Pharmacy, Retail, Rude & Risque, USA | | Healthy | July 11, 2019
(One day at work, I hear my pharmacist and another technician talking about an unusual prescription that’s come in. Curious, I switch to a computer nearby and find them discussing a dog who’s been prescribed the generic for Viagra. Apparently, a recent study has indicated that it may be helpful for relieving coughing in dogs, for some reason, and we spend some time discussing how it might work in that regard. Later, as I’m working on the computer and she’s filling prescriptions behind me, she glances up and leans toward me, chuckling.)
Pharmacist: “You know, it’s hard enough for a person to talk to their doctor about this type of medication. I’d think it’d have to be even harder for a dog!”
Me: *playing along* “Well, yeah. Besides not being able to talk, it’s gotta be way more embarrassing for them, with everything all hanging out and no way to disguise it.”
(After a few moments.)
Me: “I can totally see the commercials, though. This gorgeous Golden Retriever stud going ‘Once, I was the laughing stock of the breeding kennel. But now, I’m back to being top dog, thanks to Viagra!’”
Pharmacist: *cracking up* “See, none of the other health care professions get to enjoy jokes like this.”
I worked at a pharmacy that was surrounded but seniors homes, so this made up the majority of our clientele, the pharmacy was in a mall which included a grocery store, when the grocery store was closed for Reno’s we brought in some basic staples like milk and bread and continued carrying them after the grocery store re-opened. our suplly was limited we carried only small CARTONS of milk, no jugs.
customerwith a jug of milk) I want to return this, its passed the expiry date, and I lost the receipt.
me: Ma’am you didn’t purchase this from us, so I cannot process a return
customer: excuse me?! I KNOW where I purchased my milk from, I got from here and you need to return it for me!
me: we do not carry jugs of milk ma’am, only cartons, so you cannot possibly have purchased it from us, perhaps you got it from the grocery store down the hall?
(note I look a lot younger then I am, it is very likely the customer presumed I was in school and only worked part time)
Customer: I bought it from from here, you just must not have been here when the jugs came in.
me: Ma’am we are only open 9 hours a day Monday to Sat and 4 hours on Sundays and I work 8 of those hours Mon-Sat and all of them on Sundays. I place and accept all the orders, I am telling you, we have never had jugged milk in stock, you did not purchase this from us.
Customer:….. oh..sorry *hangs her head and leaves*:
Bizarre, Jerk, Louisiana, Pharmacy, USA | | Right | May 21, 2019
(It is during the Obama presidency. The pharmacy phone rings.)
Caller: “I want to check and see if my prescription is ready.”
Me: “Sure. Could I get your information?”
(I look up the patient and see that his insurance wants additional paperwork from the doctor before they will pay for the medication. This is a VERY common problem, especially for expensive or name-brand medication.)
Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but it looks like your prescription isn’t ready because we are still waiting for the doctor to file some additional paperwork with the insurance company.”
Caller: “What do you mean? I was told that my prescription would be ready by five! Why isn’t it ready?”
Me: “Sir, this medication is name-brand and very expensive. Your insurance company doesn’t want to pay for it unless your doctor provides additional paperwork stating that it is medically necessary.”
Caller: “Well, of course it’s medically necessary! My doctor wrote it for me, so I need it! This is ridiculous. I need my medicine!”
Me: “I apologize for that, sir. If you’d like to pay the cash price of [several hundred dollars], I can have your prescription ready in about ten minutes. But unfortunately, if you want your insurance to cover it, you may want to try calling your doctor and making sure he’s filled out the paperwork we faxed to him.”
Caller: “This has nothing to do with my insurance company! You know what this is? This is that ‘Obama-Care’ and his death panels! He’s just trying to kill off all of us old people! I don’t know how he even got in office; he’s a Kenyan!”
(The caller continues spouting out conspiracy theories for another five minutes.)
Caller: “Well, I think I’ve wasted enough of your time. Goodnight.” *click*
Bizarre, Employees, Massachusetts, Politics, Retail, USA | Working | January 31, 2019
(I work in a major retail chain. One night, we get an unusual truck delivery. Our manager is waiting by the dock with us as we get ready to unload it.)
Manager: *sigh* “All right, everyone. This is going to seem crazy, but I’ve confirmed with the home office that the delivery inside is definitely intended to be ours just the way it is, so just go with it.”
Coworker: “Wait. What the heck is inside?”
Manager: “You’ll see.”
(Shortly after, the truck driver opens the door to reveal an absolutely absurd amount of tangerines. My coworkers and I alternate between staring at the tangerines in amazement and each other in shock and confusion.)
Coworker: “There’s no way this is right. I get that we’re a busy supercenter and all, but there’s no way even we can sell all these oranges before a whole bunch goes bad.”
Manager: “Yep, that’s how I feel, but apparently someone higher up than me disagrees.”
Me: *as I’m sliding my pallet jack under the first pallet* “What reason could there possibly be to make this seem like a good idea?”
Driver: “You want to know what these oranges are for? This is all about that Obamacare!”
(Suddenly, everyone stops what they’re doing to process what the driver has said.)
Manager: “What… What does that have to do with oranges? No, actually, what does that have to do with anything right now?”
Driver: “That’s Obamacare for you; it doesn’t make any sense!”
(We quickly gave up trying to figure out what the driver was talking about. For the next week, all our nightly meetings included a manager urging us all to get a bag of tangerines on the way home. Once the story of the delivery had spread, we would all say goodbye to each other with, “Don’t forget your Obamacare oranges!”)
At The Checkout, Jerk, Retail, Tennessee, USA | Right | July 8, 2018
(At the store where I work, it is policy to card for ALL tobacco and alcohol purchases. It doesn’t matter if the person has grey hair and more wrinkles than a Shar Pei; we still have to card them. Failure to card can lose me my job and cost me and the store a hefty fine. The customer I am serving here appears to be in at least his 60s.)
Customer: “I’ll take a can of [chewing tobacco], please.”
Me: “Certainly.” *unlocks the tobacco cabinet and gets out the can* “May I see your ID, please?”
Customer: “You’re kidding me!”
Customer’s Buddy: “The state of things now! Is this an Obama rule? This is ridiculous how things are nowadays! Is his one of Obama’s rules?”
Me: “No, it is a store rule.”
Customer & His Buddy: *laughs* “A store rule?!”
(The customer handed me his ID, I typed in the birthdate and told him his total, and he paid and left, both of them still laughing. This is not the first time a customer has railed about “Obama taking away their rights” when asked for ID.)
Bizarre, Jerk, Missouri, Retail, Silly, USA | Right | January 15, 2018
(I work at an office supply store in the printing department. It is a Saturday evening, and a coworker and I are currently putting out ads for the next week. We have just closed our doors, and everything is going fine until we get a call. I don’t pay much attention until my coworker calls me over to take it, as it is for my department. Keep in mind that we are currently closed.)
Me: “Thank you for holding. This is [My Name]. How can I help you?”
Customer: “Yeah, I was wondering if I could get a price quote on some prints?”
Me: “Sure thing! What are you looking to get?”
(The customer proceeds to describe what he wants, which goes on for a few minutes. The conversation goes well, nothing out of the ordinary, until we reach the end of the conversation.)
Customer: “Sounds good! What time do you all close?”
Me: “We closed about 15 minutes ago, sir, but we open back up at 10:00 tomorrow morning.”
Customer: “Aw, man, really? I am actually just right outside. Could you make an exception?”
Me: “No, I’m afraid not, but like I said, we open back up tomorrow.”
Customer: “But I’m from out of town and I really need this done.”
Me: “I’m sorry, but we are closed.”
Customer: “But I’m from Texas; does that change anything?”
Me: “Unfortunately not, sir. We are still closed, regardless.”
(We go back and forth like this for several minutes. He is getting irate the longer it goes on, and so am I. I try to keep the friendliest voice I can muster. It seems like he has finally decided to give up, until the customer says something I never expected.)
Me: “I’m sorry, sir. Like I said before, we are closed.”
Customer: *in a threatening tone* “Do I need to call Obama to confirm that you’re closed?”
Me: *legitimately speechless*
Customer: *click*
(After I hung up the phone, I told my coworker and manager. They both got a pretty good kick out of it! It was the strangest phone call I have ever received. We also never did get that phone call from Obama.)
(It’s the day before taxes are due and a few last minute customers are mailing out their returns. Customer #1 is addressing his envelope while Customer #2 is filling out a money order for a payment.)
Retail | Durham, NC, USA | Right | September 5, 2014
(I work in a high-end stationery boutique, whose clientele is generally upper middle class and upper class white women in their 40s to 60s – the sort of people whose spending habits didn’t really change when the economy nose dived. This customer appeared to be no different, and the address on the check she paid with confirmed as much.)
Customer: “Where’s your clearance section?”
Me: “We actually don’t have clearance sales, outside of our semi-annual sales after Christmas and Father’s Day.”
Customer: “So everything in here is full-priced?”
Me: “Yes, ma’am.”
Customer: *sighs loudly* “Fine, I’ll pay full-price. But I really need to be saving every penny, with that black man as president.”
home | Lexington, KY, USA | Related | June 15, 2014
(It is around the time the 2008 Presidential campaign is beginning to pick up steam, and since my family’s African American, everyone is buzzing about Barack Obama, although some of the older relatives are rather skeptical.)
Cousin: “Can you believe this? It looks like he may have a shot.”
Uncle: “Huh. He won’t win.”
Me: “What makes you think that?”
Uncle: “With the way this country works, he’ll never make it past the primaries. Mark my words.”
Me: “Actually, the primaries are over. He did make it.”
Uncle: “Oh… uh… he still won’t make it.”
(I really wish I could’ve been there to see his reaction when Obama won the national election… for both terms.)
Friends, Health & Body, Jerk, Money, Pharmacy, UK | | Friendly | May 16, 2019
(A friend and I have just gotten piercings. I have some already, so I suggest we get ibuprofen to handle the immediate swelling and pain. We go to our local pharmacy.)
Friend: “Which one do we need?”
Me: “One that has ibuprofen in it.”
Friend: “Ah.” *picks up the most expensive branded box*
Me: “Ugh, I’d rather go with the generic kind.” *picks up my own box*
Friend: “But look at it. It’ll probably kill you!”
Me: “They are literally the same. Yours is branded, though, so they charge extortionate prices.”
Friend: “No, this one is better.”
(I take his box and show him the ingredients on the back. By a stroke of luck, they are EXACTLY the same.)
Friend: *after spending a long time comparing* “Mine is still better!”
(I shrugged and we paid for our own painkillers. He paid £3.49, while I paid 39p.)
Bad Behavior, Great Stuff, Parents/Guardians, Pharmacy, UK, Wild & Unruly | | Right | May 15, 2019
(I am at the pharmacy with my one-year-old in her pushchair, waiting for my prescription to be filled. It’s five minutes before closing and the staff have been very helpful so far. A mother with a young girl storms in, slams down a prescription, and shouts at the employee, “And don’t take f****** forever!” Her daughter begins running around the store, picking up items and dropping them, screeching, and being annoying. Then, she spots the pushchair.)
Girl: *to me* “I want to pick up the baby!”
Me: “No, sorry, she’s not well at the moment. You don’t want to catch her cold.”
Girl: “I want the baby, now!”
Me: “No, no picking up or playing with baby today.”
(The girl goes to grab my daughter and I move the pushchair out of reach.)
Me: *to mother* “Could you come get your daughter, please? She’s going to hurt herself.”
(The mother looks at me, smirks, and looks away. The little girl then proceeds to fling herself at my daughter, but as I once again move the pram, she ends up face-planting into a basket of body wash. Cue screaming, crying, and a full-blown tantrum.)
Mother: *comes straight into my face, without picking up or checking on her daughter* “How f****** dare you?! You did that on purpose! I could f****** sue! I’ll smash your head in. You’re gonna be penniless when I’m done with you, b****!”
Me: *in my quiet, furious Mum Voice* “You might actually want to check on your daughter, though by the amount of noise she’s making I don’t think she’s dying. I’d like to see you try and sue. I asked you twice to control your daughter; if you’d actually been watching her this wouldn’t have happened. Now, get out of my face before I move you myself. Besides, I’m sure the CCTV of you threatening me would look lovely on Facebook.”
(The mother silently grabs her daughter and sits down, staring at me like I’m made out of spiders. She grabs her prescription and forces her daughter out the door as the girl shouts for a lollipop.)
Cashier: “Mrs. [My Name], here’s your prescription and the Yankee candle you ordered.”
Me: “I didn’t order anything, sorry.”
Cashier: “I guess this one’s on me, then. Thank you; that woman has been a nightmare for years, and no one’s stood up to her before.”
Me: *laughs* “If it hadn’t been for my daughter, I probably wouldn’t have, either. You know what they say about mother bears and their cubs!”
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with a jug of milk) I want to return this, its passed the expiry date, and I lost the receipt.
