Did a customer chase me while I was on lunch break as a pharmacy tech? #customerencounter #worklifebalance #pharmacytech
Pharmacy Tech Lunch Break Encounter
Yesterday, as I was returning from my unpaid 30-minute lunch break, I encountered a customer in the store who seemed to be following me. Here’s what happened:
Details of the Encounter:
- Scheduled shift: 9am – 8pm
- About 7-8 minutes left on my break
- Customer with store flyer started following me, even though I wasn’t in uniform
- Questioned if I worked at the store
- Politely informed customer I was on lunch break and disappeared behind backstore doors
It felt empowering to stand up for my work-life balance and not spend my precious last minutes of break doing unpaid work. #selfcare #empowerment #knowyourworth
Good for you! Set your boundaries and enjoy those 30 (unpaid) minutes without interruption.
Lmao that’s pretty funny
I can believe it. I came out of a store once where a news team had assembled. I finish shopping and came out of the store when the news reporter followed me and asked if I’d like to weigh in on a political event. I asked her if she was on the clock getting paid and she dumbfoundedly said yes. I told her my fee would be $100 to speak with her because my time is also money. LOL…I really just wanted to get home and take care of things.
When I worked at Lowe’s we were told we weren’t allowed to talk to customers on our lunches. Guess who got threatened with a write-up for telling a customer I couldn’t talk because I was on my lunch?
I’m salaried so it doesn’t matter when or if I take lunches. Right?
However my boss decided it doesn’t look good for corporate if I show my real times at work. No lunches, in early.
I explained that even if I wanted to take lunch that’s when we get the most patients. And even if I go early or hold off coworkers don’t even knock they just barge in because they feel it’s their right.
I told her all this. She had these great ideas like leaving. Except go where? Home? Hahaha, I’m not driving that and back in an hour. Why can’t I just lock my office and sit in my office?
So I made the time sheets, all online, look great and uniform and exactly 40 hours.
Of course the first time I leave to actually go get food (the first ever) someone that isn’t my boss but likes to think she is calls from corporate. She has me on speaker phone and says “(MY BOSS) let’s you go to lunch this early?!?!?” It was 1145. I said, yeah, we get it when we can out here. You should take it up with (MY BOSS).
Then there’s the non stop busting in my office for trivial stuff. Like, on non clinic days I have very little going on. They have all this tike to come see me, but they wait every time until I’ve gotten food or my door is locked.
Yesterday: coworker bursts in while I’m eating because her client has pills and needs a pill cutter. Ok. You couldn’t message me over teams? Is my door broken- you can’t knock?
And when they do knock, if I don’t lock the door, they just knock as they’re opening my door. Like, maybe I’m picking my nose, give me some space. Jesus.
So I’ve started taking these episodes as work interruptions and taking 30 minutes off my lunch for them.
Because of this, and the distance I travel for clinics, i now get out of work around 2 or 3 every Friday. Sometimes even earlier.
Besides, I’m already the only nurse that works in the entire clinic system on Fridays. The only one. Because my boss likes my presence. No provider works, so all the other nurses have nothing to do. Just me. Sitting.
The pharmacy near me is always crazy busy and incredibly understaffed. The worst part isn’t waiting in line, the worst part is waiting in line with a bunch of old, out of touch retirees. They just complain nonstop about waiting in line at a pharmacy in the middle of the day without understanding that low wages and high barriers to entry are the reason for a shortage of pharmacists and pharmacy techs.
Also, I’m there during my lunch break. If you don’t have a job, why don’t you get this knocked out in the morning when they open? I have had the luxury of going early, and there is no damn line.
I hope that person was an understanding individual who realizes that you aren’t getting paid, but chances are that lady is complaining to her friends about how work ethic is gone these days when people are unwilling to put in unpaid time despite being woefully underpaid.
Pharm techs do not get paid enough to deal with the shit they have to deal with. CVS was a horrible company to work for C. 2014-2018.
This is so true. Supply chain issues are adding salt on the wound as well with prescriptions getting delayed and pissing off customers. People gotta remember that this is out of their control. Every time I go to the pharmacy now I feel bad for the workers.
On a tangentel note, but similar. I left the back stockroom on the way to the office to clock out for the day. A customer stopped me, asked where something was; so as per policy I walked them to the aisle. They asked for a 2nd thing and I did my due diligence.
I got back to the office, clocked out at 3:16pm instead of my 3:00pm end time.
The literal weeks of badgering I got from the district level management for getting 15 minutes overtime. They wasted more time and money bitching about that extra $4 I earned in overtime
My store manager? Didn’t give 2 shits. Our talk was: “What happened to cause you to get 15 minutes overtime?” “A customer stopped me.” “Good enough, on your way.”
Wait 9 am to 8 pm that’s 11 hours. You should get 2 lunches in most states I think. I could be mistaken but the state labor laws should be posted somewhere in the break room.
Get an out of office sign that come with a little clock face indicating when you’ll be back, and hang that on the outside of your door
I would do this when I worked retail. Those customers would get a call out on the Walkie out of the goodness of my heart but there was no way I was wasting my break on them.
As someone who picks up meds on a regular basis and sees how busy the pharmacy gets, I would feel horrible if I accidentally put someone in this position. I try to build a good rapport with staff, who I notice do remember me and seem to give me extra effort. Thanks for doing your job, and enjoy your full undisturbed break!
If I’m asking for help in a store and the employee is not obviously engaged in a task, I always, always ask “Are you working right now?” A lot of times they’re surprised by the question but they always seem appreciative. About half the time when they’re not working they still offer to help me or at least help find someone else you can, but I just wave them off and tell them to enjoy their time off.
Why is it 30 minutes for a longer than 8 hour shift?
This is what it’s like in the service industry (especially bars that don’t serve food). Open at 1:00pm. Patrons at the door 15 min early in the middle of summer in the south. Oh I left them out there lol! They expected me to open for them because they are regulars. When they asked, my response was “what if I had to take a poo, and I actually needed those 15 min?”
This is the way. If you’ve got a 30-minute lunch break during your shift, take every last second of said break for yourself!
You probably will never step up.