Monday, December 5, 2011

The Pilot

Well, world of bloggers, I appreciate you reading my blog! But, it all starts with some warnings:

I don't have much to say and what I do/will say isn't always very interesting.

I like to use exclamation points! (often times every sentence I write ends with one!) I assure you though, when used, it's truly because I'm exclaiming!

I don't claim to have any point in writing this blog- at all.

I will deliver more warnings as they come to me.

I haven't written a paper in a very long time, so my writing skills may not be up to par ;)

So, here goes.... today was an interesting day! On a whim last night I decided that today I would call and make an appointment to see my Primary Care Physician for a check-up. I slept in a bit after working 38 hours over the last 3 days and called my doc's office at about 11 am. The all-business appointment lady asked me when I wanted to come in- and, again, on a whim, I asked if she had anything today. As it was, she had an opening! When I say "all-business appointment lady" I mean she didn't really want to answer the phone and make me an appointment, but it's her job so she did. And, truthfully, I didn't hold it against her. I have had days like this too since becoming a professional- and it makes me have a little more patience and a lot more empathy for other people who work with the public (well, that's mostly everyone!- more on this later).

In hopes that I'd be able to squeeze some blood work in, I continued fasting. AKA, growling stomach at doctor's appointment. No worries. My doctor is wonderful- I had a few things I wanted to discuss with her and I was a little worried she'd try to hurry me through- but she took SO much time with me! So we talked about this and that- and then I asked her about work-related stress and things associated with that.

So all this chatter got me thinking... I've been a pharmacist a little over 2 years now... and I'm definitely in the career I'd like to retire from (hopefully less than) 40 years from now. So... how do I keep it fresh? How do I keep the stress level low? How do I enjoy doing similar things 40 hours a week for 40 years? How do I take advantage of the opportunities I have? How do I make a difference instead of just pushing pills? How do I use my career for God's Glory?

I'm not going to say I answered all these questions- but maybe as this blog continues I can make an attempt...

Whilst (yup, whilst) pondering these things, I received an email from a great friend of mine with a blog post she wanted to share with me. It was hilarious! It was a pharmacist blogger who apparently aimed to answer the infamous question "why does your prescription take so long to fill" 18 months ago when he began the blog. He took a stab at it recently- with a hilarious depiction of a few minutes in the life of a (retail) pharmacist. I immediately emailed it to all my friends and family and told them to PASS IT ALONG! Seriously- if everyone read this thing, they'd be SO much more compassionate when they go to the pharmacy and we tell them their wait-time is WAY longer than they're willing to wait (you know, even though they'll wait an hour to eat at Olive Garden on Saturday night).

So, what this blog did (combined with the other events of the day), was put things in perspective for me. First of all: I'm definitely not the only pharmacist going through these things. Second of all: it's not just pharmacists that deal with people. In all reality, anyone who works in retail, which is almost everyone, has to deal with the public. Sooo, it would seem reasonable to conclude that the working public would have compassion on all other people in their work setting. Is my logic lacking??

Moral of "The Pilot": next time you get aggravated with one of your patients or one of your customers, remember, that often times you yourself are an aggravating patient or customer. I must love people better.