Nothing but opportunities

Well,

here's the story.  I'm in a small town and there was a rumour that another pharmacy was going to open its doors, a big one.  That was last year.  There was this new building being built and that was where it was supposed to be.  In the building, there was also supposed to be a medical clinic...  Yeah right.

Anyway, the owner of this building came to see me last year with these informations and asked if I was interested in moving my pharmacy there.  Now, in this town, there's already another pharmacy, we're two.  And the population isn't high enough for three.  His project is a good one but only in it's fetal stage at this point, and he has nothing concrete to show (regarding the medical clinic).

So I say no, and start working on plans to renovate the front of the pharmacy which definitely needs revamping.  I go with this company from a neighbouring town and they start aiming for construction in May.

Meanwhile, the other building owner works hard to find another pharmacist interested in opening up this other pharmacy.  Nobody's yet interested because the project of opening the medical clinic on the second floor still isn't panning out.

So May comes along, delays...  Renovations can't start yet.  Juin, the same.  July, again the same...  I'm starting to get doubtful that the project will start this summer at all.

So august comes along and the other building owner contacts me again.  He finally got 4 doctors to open the medical clinic in October, with 2 more doctors coming in in January.  Now a bunch of pharmacists are interested.

I jump on the chance now.  I guess the delays were a Godsend after all.  I should be opening in the new building in december or january.  We're expecting a 20 to 25% increase in sales in the first year.  Can't wait to see how everything will work out.

Still got a lot of work ahead though.  I have to create a brand new pharmacy within a barren local.

Should be fun!!!

Equal and opposite reaction

Ok,

Everything is done with.  She only has a week and a half left to work here.  Here's how it went.

So I get back from vacation on monday, everything is pretty much the same.  On tuesday, badaboom! I initially thought that she was going to be happy since she could take off earlier than anticipated.  Boy was I wrong.  It was the complete opposite.  You see, she's a bit of a control freak.  She completely flipped when she heard the news because she was no longer in control of the situation.  Wow, who cares who's in control as long as the end result is what you want...

Anyway, she eventually calmed down and everything's fine now.  Let me tell you though that she's not working alone for the remainder of her stay here.  I'm always close at hand in case.  You just never know.

I was really surprised by her reaction, but in the end I really don't mind it.  It was sort of funny in a way...

Happy days!!!

A tangled web

Wow, what a weird situation...

Well, remember the story about my pharmacist who was saying bad stuff behind my back (to put it lightly)?  The story is finally coming to an end.

I never got to confront her, and I think I never will in order to keep good working relations with the other pharmacy in which she will be going.

So on a quiet sunday evening, a friend pharmacist of mine sends me a message on Facebook.  She writes,  ''Do you want to talk?''.  That's it.  Well, knowing full well that my pharmacist was aiming for my friends pharmacy, and that same thursday, my pharmacist had asked for the day off for personal reasons, I answer  ''Sure, what do you want to talk about?'', deducing that thursday must have been THE DAY.

So I phone her up and she tells me that my pharmacist is now part owner where she works.  That leaves only her as a staff pharmacist with five pharmacist owners.  Not a situation that she likes at all, no prospects.  Therefore, since I'd be losing a pharmacist she asks me if I would hire her.  Of course I said yes, pharmacists do not grow on trees you know!!!

Well, on monday morning my pharmacist comes in and I immediately congratulate her.  See, cause I'm nice and she doesn't know that I know all the crap she's been saying about me.  So she tells me that she still wants to stay as a staff pharmacist until november because they have to many pharmacists and in november the only staff pharmacist they have left is leaving on maternity.  (yeah forgot to mention that because I actually like that situation as I have to save a bit of money for renovations and stuff, and I don't mind doing a wee bit more hours)  So I say ok fine.

Anywho, I then call back my friend and tell her that since it's summertime and to cover all the vacations and stuff it would be better to just give her 2 weeks notice on monday the 21st of july.  (The day I get back from Mexico with the family)  I didn't want any funny business while I'm away.  So I'm expecting a resignation from my pharmacist when I get back from vacation even though she's not expecting it.

All I can say to that is ''Goodbye and Good riddance!!''

Everything worked itself out without me doing much about it.  You really have to enjoy these moments as they are so very few and far apart.  Staff problems in a pharmacy usually require too much time and too much work...

Have a great summer everybody, I know I am!!!

Fruits and Passion

Well, we've got this line of products at my pharmacy called ''Fruits and Passion''.  There fruity smelling soaps, creams, bath products and stuff like that.  They are really great and sell well during Xmas, Mother's Day and what not.  Well, the company changed hands a couple of times and since that time the service really sucks.

Last Xmas, I finally got my order 2 weeks before Xmas and it was missing about half.  Because of this I sold 25% less during the Xmas season, which starts way before 2 weeks to Xmas.  For Mother's Day, I got my order 4 days before Mother's Day and only got 15% of my order.

I have a really nice setup at the pharmacy to sell the stuff, but the stuff is not getting here on time, or in the right quantities.

So here's what I've been thinking.  Our orthopedics products seem to be doing well and sales are increasing.  I'm thinking I might modify the space and use it for orthopedics, maybe even have one of those electric fourwheelers for old people on display for sale.  There's no orthopedics store in town, I would be the only one.  The closest store is 20 minutes highway down south.  My rep is going to send me all the info I need and then I'm gonna make a decision....

No solution yet

No solution yet for the problem with my pharmacist.  I tried helping out more to see if there really is a problem with the way to lab works and also decreasing the workload.  The pharmacist in question looked happier while I was there and didn't complain, but as soon as I'm gone it starts up again.  I think one of the problems stem from the fact that she was planning to eventually buy the pharmacy before I came along.  But when her boss was ready to sell, she wasn't ready.  I think she resents me alot, and blames me for the fact that her plan never came to fruition.

Anyway, since I couldn't see a real problem with the lab, I guess it's time for me to confront her.  We'll see how that goes.

Anybody have any suggestions??

Pharmacist problems

Well here's a problem I had hoped I would never have.  One of my pharmacists will be leaving in a few months to buy her own pharmacy.  That's understandable, but not the bigger part of the problem. Since she's been working on this, she has become overly critical of every, and very unpleasant to work with.  I understand how it is.  I went through the same thing before I bought my own pharmacy. You can't wait to start off on your own.  You start thinking about you will do things at your own pharmacy.  Every little thing is over analysed in preparation for when you'll be the boss.  What I did not do however is blame everybody around me for every little problem and blow everything out od proportion.

So now I find myself dreading the day when I'm short staffed, but also anxious to get rid of her.  I know I'm gonna have to talk to her soon, before I start loosing other staff members though.  Worse comes to worse I'll have to fire her before her time.  Hopefully she'll understand and it won't come to that though...

Here's to good times!

Bye bye PepsiCo

I just got rid of Pepsico as distributor for the pharmacie last week.  They suddenly decided to not credit me for my returns.  When taking that into consideration I would be selling pepsi products at a loss.  No thanks!!

So they're coming to get their refrigerator back.  I bought on at Costco and will be filling it up with products from there, all the while controlling my inventory and getting virtually no losses.

Bye bye Pepsico!!!

Employee Problems 2

Well,
I managed to defuse the bomb for now.  Don't know how long it'll last though since the employee in question is not liked by the others and seems to not have much common sense.  She's been through a lot in her life which could account for her view on life, but I'm not a psychiatrist and don't want to be.  We'll see how it all plays out...

Elections again???

Wow!  These elections in Quebec are a joke!  Fifth elections in ten years.  Are we really supposed to take this seriously when we vote every two years?

Once again there's lots riding on the elections but you have to get kinda tired of 'em.

For pharmacist, we've got the CAQ who in the last elections wanted to cut the honorarium paid by the RAMQ, but now this time around decides they're not going to touch them.  Then we've got the PQ who wants to rip Quebec out of Canada and won't give the Loi 41, which gives us pharmacists broader responsibilities, the go ahead.  Now the PLQ seem to not exactly know what the hell they want to do about anything.  All they seem to be talking about is what the other parties are doing wrong.  Ok, I agree that the other parties are doing tons of stuff wrong, especially the PQ which when they start something they end up scrapping it and changing their minds.  And now talk of another referendum?

Come on!  Referendums costs millions and the economy is worst off since the PQ is in power, not that is was all that good with the PLQ but at least we were in line with the rest of the country.  Now we're running last in growth when compared to all the other big provinces.

Anyway, to come back to the part that interests me most...  Pharmacists and the Loi 41.  The big thing around this is the PQ bitches that its gonna cost millions to finance all the new actions the pharmacists are going to be able to do.  Oooh!  The evil pharmacists are trying to get more money!  What they're not saying is that whatever they'll be paying us, it would cost at least double if it's done by a doctor!!!!  So they'll actually be saving money.  They just trying to get public support by divulging half the story.  That's politicians for ya!

Well, that was my beef for today!

Employee Problems

Well, I guess I am writing here again.  It feels good to get stuff off my chest anonymously.  Stuff that I can't really share with anybody around me.

I've been off for three days now and I already got a problem with one of my employees.  She decided to bad mouth some of her coworkers on facebook.  Not the best of ideas since everybody's wired there.  So now when I go back to work on monday the atmosphere is going to suck.  I'm gonna have to talk to everybody involved and take disciplinary measures.  What was she thinking?

Anyway, monday is gonna suck.  Not always fun being the boss!

First Entry

Well, this shall be my first entry.  God knows if I'll be writing again.

Last week, I ordered some urinary catheter leg bags for one of my patients.  My patient had none left and was using the same one for a few days now.  So the next day, the day I was suppose to receive the aforesaid bags, I get a note saying they're back ordered.  There's that magic word in the life of a pharmacist ''Back Ordered''...  Anywho, I call the company and ask when I can get the bags since my patient is starting to get tired of the stench of the old bag on his leg.  The company answers, and I quote, ''Let me check our inventory.  Hmmm...  That's odd.  We actually have 30 bags in stock.  Let me put you on hold while I try to figure out what happened.''  So I wait a while and think about my patient and how I'm gonna have to tell him to start taking Gravol soon if he starts to get too nauseated by the reek.  Then click,  ''It looks like we couldn't send you the item because you're in Quebec and the labels on the products we have in stock are not bilingual, but just in english.''  So I think, What the hell???

Now don't get me wrong.  I'm french and I do think we should help protect our language but come on.   Quebec's stupid laws shouldn't compromise patient care!!!  There's something seriously wrong with protecting a language instead of the health of the person actually speaking the language.  And like my patient told me when I told him why I couldn't get the bags right away,  ''I don't care about the language on the f******* box, my leg can't read anyway.''

So two days later I got the product after telling the company to send it anyway and that I would personally deal with Pauline Marois if she decided to file a complaint against me.  And by dealing with, I mean a swift kick in the....