Things that make my blood boil

You know, things were going somewhat okay recently, save for some front store drama reaching back and pulling me unwillingly into it. The pharmacy staff was finally, for the most part, getting along together, Terry included.

So I decided to take advantage of the good vibes and try to talk to Terry about a few things that needed fixed around the pharmacy.

There are two main things that have been making me very angry about Terry. The first is the way Terry staples our labels. It may sound trivial and stupid, but Terry puts TWO staples through the patient's information AND the drug name. Always has. I asked Terry to follow our previous protocol (two staples going down the side in the blank spaces). Terry asked why the other method didn't work, and I explained that it was difficult to tell the patient what medication they were getting, let alone to see that it's the correct patient to begin with. We'd talked to Terry about this a few months after Terry came to us, and Terry seemed receptive to this change back then. Terry seemed receptive this time, too, but Terry didn't even attempt to do it right this time. So, I got a staple remover, and every label that Terry put together (which was probably 90% or more, because I was running back and forth between the drive-thru and drop-off) I dismantled and put together the correct way. It slowed us down significantly, but it proved the point that it's much easier to read the information when the staples aren't in the wrong place. If Terry can't fix it next week, I'll be doing the same thing all week.

The second thing that really makes me angry about Terry is the refusal to clean up after themself. Terry has this problem with dirtying dishes, littering drawers with crumbs, refusing to vaccum, and refusing to empty the trash. The trash can next to Terry's station is Terry's favorite place to throw milk jugs with spoiling milk that wasn't emptied out, half-eaten food, etc, and when I went to change the bag the other day, I thought I was going to have to put my head between my knees to stave off the nausea. The stench from something Terry had left to rot had managed to penetrate the plastic bag and make a nice little home inside the trash can. I had to take all the bags out back then go in search of Lysol disenfectant spray. I created mushroom clouds inside the can, around the can, and around Terry's station, repeatedly. I think there were at least 3 actual clouds in that part of the pharmacy. Yesterday, when I changed the can after yet another quart of milk was haphazardly thrown into it, I could smell the stench back again. I don't know if maybe I'm more sensitive to it, because I'm the one who had to clean it up, but nobody else could smell it as bad. I'm going to have to go in search of a new can this next week.

This makes me even more angry, because when I talked to Terry about the stapling issue, I also discussed the reluctance to touch the trash. Terry promised to take care of it, but obviously, Terry didn't. Terry has family members at home who basically take care of Terry's needs, but there's no reason that Terry, a grown adult, can't do these things themself. It's ridiculous for me to have to spend more than half my week, let alone more than half my day, cleaning up messes Terry has conveniently decided to ignore. It's getting pretty upsetting to have to bring in my own cleaning supplies from home. I'm no way a neatnik or a neat freak, but at least I know how to clean up a mess I make. I just think that in a confined environment such as work, there should be no excuses for things being filthy.

So that's the latest update from CPhT's pharmacy. We'll see if next week when I get really strict with Terry, and I do mean REALLY strict, if Terry finally gets a clue.