Pros
if you want hours, and are on an hourly pay, chances are that you will get it (if you are salaried, I'm sorry) The certification program for technician is quick enough, CE provided, and medicine is a fascinating field (that is the only benefit)
Cons
soul sucked from the holy trinity of industry: pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and corporate greed. Guaranteed to lose all faith in humanity, and do not consider myself a sensitive person. Witness to the monetization of COVID and its impact on all pharmacy staff to succeed in completing the actual pharmaceutical duties in an efficient and logical manner due to the addition of vaccinations and swab tests. Side note: I find it almost dystopian that I was incentivized $5 bonus pay per vaccination administered without an appointment during my time working here; that is actually insane to me lmao. Pharmacists should not be forced to be a pseudo PCP with all the bullsht they are put through in their position: glorified babysitters. Training is abysmal: training consists of being thrown into the deep end with no prior knowledge (a few days' worth of online modules discussing how not to be sexist and racist in no way trains you for how to handle insurance claims efficiently, lack of staff to actually complete daily tasks, or having to juggle the work of three as an individual). Given how much money the company makes, it is alarming how run-down and inefficient their physical pharmacy is, and how incompetent their script management programs are. Update the software. ENSURE EACH PHARMACY LOCATION HAS A BACKUP GENERATOR D@M IT. If you cannot afford to do this simple task, then the locations should not be open in the first place. Patients should not have to suffer from pharmacy power outages. The concept that patients cannot pick up their scripts because I cannot 'ring them up' is an abhorrent concept and you should be ASHAMED of yourself. Patients refrigerated medications are succumbing to temperature excursion, and it is embarrassing that this issue can be easily resolved with a generator; the patients also have to wait DAYS for their medications to be shipped back to us due to this lack of care for refrigerated items. Finally: if a pharmacy lacks sufficient staff, that location should not be open to the public, PERIOD. You quite literally have people's lives in the palms of your hands, and have taken the voluntary responsibility to care for them. I would rather a tech/pharmacist be relocated to a single location that operates properly than stretch staff so thin that you are gambling patients' lives for the sake of convenience, as per your business model. My nine-hour shifts often turned into 11-12-hour shifts, and the patients I saw on a weekly and monthly basis were what motivated me to catch up on the essential job functions needed to perform my job properly. These people deserves someone who cares, and it was the only thing I could do when be sandwiched between your corporation's monetary desire, and the medications that allow people to live their lives to the fullest. Not one person should have to suffer from a worn-down and debilitated pharmacy team. It is selfish, it is cruel, and it is a vile way to play God.