Life as a Newly Minted Pharmacist

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I graduated from URI, a newly minted, white coat wearing guy who slings drugs… Legally of course.  You know when people say do as I say, not as I do?  Yeah, who really listens to that?  I didn’t either.  My list of bad decisions could be considered nearly legendary…

What was my first goal when I graduated?  Come on, you must know….

Cue Bob Barker…. 

It’s a Brand New CAR!

               After years of driving junkers, I finally had the money to get something that I didn’t hide my face in shame when I went through the old neighborhood.  I even asked my boss to write a note to take to the dealership vouching for what I would be making once I got my license.  To be clear, I didn’t even have my license yet, and I’m spending money I wouldn’t get for a few months.  I ended up spending 25% of my gross salary per month on a car that in a few years would lose almost all its value. I lived with mom, in our townhouse, and hardly paid anything for rent, so that made it ok, right?  Whoopsie #1.

Mistake #2.

Late nights, and not enough sleep.  I’m 24, who needs sleep!  I’ll sleep when I’m dead!  Yeah, really really bad advice here…  Do as I say, not as I did.  I started burning the candle, at both ends, and in the middle.  What did I do to fuel that to not crash at various times of the day?  Soda, lots and lots of Coca-Cola, or Mountain Dew, but that was just in the afternoon.  In the morning, it was coffee, lots and lots of coffee.  On the way to work, back then, who didn’t stop at Dunkin’  for a coffee with extra cream and extra sugar?  I didn’t really like coffee, but I needed the CAFFEINE!  So, I made it drinkable, once it cooled down of course, by adding enough sugar and cream to give a Rhino da Diabeetus. 

My Talladega Nights Experiences:

               Since I didn’t get enough sleep, I was racing down the interstate like Ricky Bobby juggling my coffee, and probably a muffin in the other hand steering with my left knee.  I know it will be shocking to some, but the cup holders in my car weren’t big enough to handle a large coffee, so one-handed driving it was!  I got so damn good at weaving in and out of traffic that I could make it from the high-speed lane and shoot up the off-ramp then weave the side streets to work that I kept pushing the barrier to see how much sleep I could catch up on before I HAD to leave for work.  Today, MapQuest  says that it should take 20 minutes for the trip, but if memory serves, I left the house once at 8:46, I slept through my alarm,  and still made it to work in order to open on time at 9:00.  No Dunkin’ stop that day though.

When I got to work, either I was finishing up my coffee, or it was already gone, depending on traffic, and the muffin, or two, was a distant memory, in the rear view mirror of time, probably gone before even crossing the Mass. State line when heading in to Providence.  So, we set up the coffee maker to keep us going for the morning.  By us, I mean me and the Pharmacy Tech.  With coffee brewing, we warmed up the computers, and got things ready for the day.  Usually with only seconds to spare before 9:00 when we had to open. Typical Pharmacist life in the 1990’s.

10:00AM, Is it time for lunch yet?

About 10:00, maybe 10:30 depending on how much residual adrenaline I had pumping after the drive to work, I started feeling a little worn down already.  More coffee, and since we had food in the store, the owner didn’t really mind if we went out to the shelves to get what we wanted as long as we wrote it down to pay for out of our checks, so we did, often.  You know those mini-chocolate covered donuts?  Yeah, me too, we were on a first name basis like the Pizza guy back in college.  I would consume more of those than would be reasonably prudent.  Oh, and Pop Tarts!  Frosted Raspberry was my favorite. 

Noon…  well bring on the Coke! (In the bottle… I know I said I was slinging drugs, but just the legal ones!)  Add that to the list of things we need to pay Richard for out of our check.    Who is going to make the lunch run?  I can’t leave, I’m the Pharmacist, so someone had to run to the local Deli, sub shop, etc.….  Let’s make the delivery guy pick stuff on the way back from a run.  Sometimes it was pizza, but my favorite was usually a large sub with a big bulky roll of a bun, filled with meat and cheese.  Veggies?  Nah, who needs them, maybe some lettuce, but more of an afterthought, or something they threw in without having to ask for it. Providence had, and hopefully still has, some really good Deli’s, I would venture that we hit up all of them on the East Side in the couple years I worked there.

If you hadn’t guessed, the workplace eating habits were D’oh #3…

As the day was beginning to wind down, and we were heading into the shift change, Joe had come in a couple hours previously, so we all were trying to get things ready for the evening.  In thinking back to that time, it was really special, things were so innocent, and carefree.  Even though I was making stupid, and terrible mistakes, I was enjoying life for the first time in a while.  While writing this post, I flipped to check on the old Pharmacy, and I’m sad to say that it has ceased operating as a Pharmacy.  As far as I can tell, the owner is going strong continuing operations as a specialty Beer and Wine shop, which was really his true passion as I remember. 

So, when the tech asked if she could have a ride home from work, because her car was in the shop, little did I know I was walking head-first into a whopper of a mistake.

“Sure, I’ll give you a ride home, it’s on the way. Do you want to stop for dinner somewhere?” 

Yep, that would be mistake #4.

-Todd