Done

I passed. Don't ask me how, it was a complete shock to me. They really must have skewed the curve, but who cares, it's over. Beginning to throw out notes, index cards, scraps of paper with Schedule drugs scribbled on them. And yet, the elation has only lasted a day. Maybe it's that certain Thanksgiving weekend blues, or just the trough after the high, but whatever, it didn't last.

I've been thinking. Wondering about what type of job to get in pharmacy. No chains as you know by now. I figure I'll search high and low, scour the streets of New Jersey, to find that independent pharmacy with a kind owner, who gives out a decent lunch break and has a well placed chair for tired feet. I''m thinking ethnic, maybe a Pakistani drug store in Paterson, or a Portuguese pharmacy in Newark, that is assuming it's okay that I don't speak their language. Crazy? We'll see.

Tomorrow I'll start looking. Craigslist, I hire pharmacy.com, my Rutgers alma mater. This part is the fun part, meeting people, testing their sensibilities, seeing if we mesh. Yet why do I think the actual 'working' will eventually morph into just one more Acme.

Selling shoes in Bloomingdales?

It went poorly. Basically studied for two and a half months straight, on average four to five hours a day (counting six to seven in the last few days), and maybe, just maybe, there were 10 out of 90 questions from the Board's Laws and Regulations website, the Abood federal book, CDS guidelines, etc. Called the NJ Board of Pharmacy to ask if there is some type of tutorial service for the next time around, but the director was dismissive. "Our staff has gone from 14 to 8 and frankly do you expect me to spend time on this?"

So now I have to prove my worth at home, you know, stay-at-home mom, with no likely wage earnings in the near future, etc.

Maybe you didn't fail, my son and husband say. I guess miracles do happen. But it's unlikely, by question 20 I was mostly guessing and deep breathing, by question 50 I was a guessing ne'er-do-well, thinking let me get the hell out of here and take my mother-in-law for her orthopedic shoes.

OK, so herein lies the rub. A year and a half ago I passed the Mass exam with a score of 89 (granted I over studied), so now how is it possible that after working a thousand hours as an intern and still studying my tuchas off, that I fail, and fail miserably. I hate this lousy profession!!!!

Seeking National Lampoon

Seeing the headline in Newsweek magazine last week, "How do you solve a problem like Sarah?" made me think of a little ditty to sing at a pharmacy if and when I actually find a job. Something along the lines of "It's been a hard days night" while dispensing Viagra, or "I just had a case of urea" to the tune of West Side Story's Maria. Actually, now that I think of it, Walblues already does it with their annoying soundtrack of brain dead songs like 'He ain't heavy he's my brother' ...all you need is a Schedule IV appetite suppressant to go with it. Why do I think people wouldn't laugh. More to the point, that they'd call headquarters and get you fired. Let's face it, the 70's are gone, the days when National Lampoon inspired a mischevious smile and then you and your best-of-all best friend doubled over in laughter. Where the hell is the doubled over laughter anymore?

Ok, back to studying.

CVS...caught ya!

What more do we need to hear of these chains to understand that the system just isn't working. This week CVS Caremark lost bigtime with a $875,000.00 settlement to NY State for selling expired products-eggs, OTC (over the counter) drugs, etc. This isn't the first time, they were found guilty of this exact negligence back in 2003, but I suppose they needed a heftier fine to have it hit home. But that was small potatoes, the stock plunged in the last few days by 20% with a billion dollar single day loss.

So let's just take a moment and think about this. If the chain had simply hired a few more people --Walblues too has cut it's staff-- well, hmm, conceivably, some of those employees could have checked the stock, helped customers, actually improved the bottom line. But as things go, they are now forced to pay what they might have paid with improved customer service... and too late, you can't take back the tainted public relations.

Let's keep vigil on these chains, call Andrew Cuomo in NY or our own state's attorney general whenever we get a whiff of rotten eggs or tylenol melting in it's container or lumpy baby formula. But still, it's not as though they're in the health care business.

Almost there

Yes, yes I know, I've been a no show for quite some time. I'm starting to sound like those other bloggers, you know the ones with the big followings, but even with my small attempts I do feel guilty for letting anyone down. Actually there's not much to report, at least not within the pharmacy world, mostly just studying piecemeal, two hours here and there, around my birthday, a trip to NYC with my son, to Philly for a memoir festival, and now finally, it's just me and my law notes off to the library. I set a date for the test, November 23, 8 AM.

I've been trying to get refreshed with these outside activities, knowing each Monday it's back to the grind, but especially in the last few days, that hasn't worked. If anything, today I'm finding comfort in staying away from people, complex relationships, jealousy, etc., and glad to simply play robot with my books. Maybe later I'll share more on these feelings, but for now it really is a must that I get going and study.