esrosedotblog

DRUG COUNTER

I went to get a prescription today and it was just being prepared as I walked in.

The guy went to the back, got the big bottle and proceeded to count out my 60 pills.

I couldn't actually see him doing it but it seemed as though he was doing it by hand. I asked. Yes, he was.

There are automatic counters or, actually, weighers but they "drift" and tend to create errors. "Besides", he said, "it gives me the feel of my work".

How nice.

I told him that my first job was in a drugstore when I was 14 and that the job involved back room work with the pharmacist. Counting pills was part of it. Washing bottles. In those days we reused the bottles.

I remember the smell. I loved it.

My today guy wanted to know if it had a soda fountain and all. Yes. I worked there too. We made all kinds of drinks you would not see today. Phosphates. Things like that.

It was a great job for a kid. I learned a lot. I was really independent. They left me alone. I had a job and I did it and when that job was over they gave me another.

Eventually, I was allowed to wait on people.

The whole prescription thing was different then. There was a counter and the pharmacy was behind a high wall. You couldn't see in there. Good thing too.

Me washing bottles and them reusing them.

I remember clearly the first time a guy asked me for "rubbers". I went into the back room and went to the condom drawer. Tommy, the pharmacist, grabbed me and took over. They didn't want a kid to be seen selling rubbers.

There was a lot of that kind of thing. Kotex was wrapped in plain paper. That was hard to do and then, while I was working there, they went to prewrapped boxes. At the factory. Salvation. A kid wasn't supposed to see the customer buying a sanitary napkin either.

I guess I was a little over my head but that is a good thing. I was over my head throughout my work life. A trend was started. Never quite knowing enough to do the job I was doing but doing it anyway.

A happy work life. Always. And when it wasn't, when I knew everything, I got bored and walked.

Labels: life