Emotions taking me over........

[Lazy Nite]

Do ppl find that as a student or a newly qualified that you get bullied in the work place, especially by;

Assistants/technicians (who don’t like listening to the newly qualified because they have worked over 20 yrs and can’t accept the pharmacy student will be in a senior position to them in the next year or two)

More senior staff (as they have more control over you)

????????

[SolomonQ]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

The key to this is never let on your newly qualified, and always keep an air of authority about you. If there's an issue that comes up that you are unexperienced about hiding or freaking wont sort it out or make it go away,best best way is to look at the issue and deal with it as well as you can. Keep the faith.

If you work in places where you've worked as a student e.g. summer placement or pre-reg placement, it is hard to be authorative, as the staff could be friends, but you have to let them know, that because your the pharmacist that day or now, whatever you says goes.

[Fleegle]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

Good advice from Solomon...I handled the problem by simply blowing up their kettle..switch it on with no water in it..works every time, as they then have to come to you to ask for a new one. Further, the "experienced staff member" will eventually screw up..in my case, the old dragon accepted a forged £50 note in return for the sale of a lollipop..she wasn't so bloody smart after that!

Alternatively, loosen the cap of a bottle of Maalox, and ask her to shake it..Stand well back and enjoy!

[SolomonQ]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

wouldnt the pharmacy owner be pissed off, with the kettle blown???? i wouldnt think of damaging any of the pharmacy's property, and chance is that the workers probably chiped in to buy the kettle, I wouldnt be able to bring myself to do that in that case.

What one needs is a course of action that will put the pharmacy staff on your side, strong leadership instils confidence in staff,


If they are hopeless inexperienced staff, thats what you've got that day, acting all pissed off etc.. wont help in this situation, you can inform the relevant person (area manager, super intendent pharmacist, your agency) about your concerns later, but for that day the best solution is try to get as much as you can out of them, one can always make suggestive comments in a nice way

e.g. rhetorical questions asked in a way that it creates an impression that an answer is expected e.g. "arent you normally expected do any work" asked in a non patronising, non-sarcastic, serious way/tone. Iif the person answers "yes" enquire whats different/wrong today, if answers "no" (even as a joke) say you want them to work atleast that day especially since your a locum. and you need their help

other quick tips:

-dont feel reluctant to teach them things e.g. about medicines, or odd facts here and there, treat it like trading information you're telling them stuff in return for them informing you of things
-If they make you tea/coffee always compliment and thank them, a higher more safisticated thing to try and pull off is if they make the drink not to standard, this includes, drinking part of it, enquring about the tea bag or milk, suggesting they might be bad, abviously
the faults with the one who made the tea, after (acting) like youve realised that pass it off as irrelavant, say a compliment e.g. "thanks for trying", and dont drink the rest of the tea. when i last used it the second cup of tea was the best one i've had made for me.(big tip always watch 'em with your peripheral vision )

[johnep]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

Next time they may put a bumetanide in.
johnep

[Sir_Dispensalot]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

Alternatively, loosen the cap of a bottle of Maalox, and ask her to shake it..Stand well back and enjoy!

good trick fleeg! i did something similar with a bulk bottle of calamine lotion once. I laughed so hard i blew my drink out of my nose...

another time i just simply took each 'naughty' staff member quietly into the back room and explained slowly and carefully that i am a nice guy most of the time but if they dare to cross me in any way they'd be on a disciplinary so fast it would make their head spin.
amazingly, the 45 minute coffee breaks quietly evaporated then...I wasn't exactly flavour of the month but the branch ran the best it ever had after that...

thankfully most of the time the teams i land with are wonderful bunches of hard-working people who appreciate you coming to work with them (or helping out when you're the locum!)

[zakkaz]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

Lol at blowing up a kettle, bit extreme/childish?
Let them know you're the boss now (most of them have issues/spinsters, etc), if they still give crap, let the area manager/store manager know. If the staff have some intelligence after being spoken to by the store/area manager, they will know when to shut up, especially if they have company pension and the job centre being round the corner.
It is simply unacceptable. Just because they have worked there since the 60's does not give them the right to speak to someone who has actually progressed.

[zakkaz]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

good trick fleeg! i did something similar with a bulk bottle of calamine lotion once. I laughed so hard i blew my drink out of my nose...

Or sweeten the tea with some laxative (never done this though)

[Fleegle]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

Yeah..you're bang on there Sr. D....No matter how anyone else sees it, as a locum, we're the guys who turn up on time, usually waiting for an as yet unknown staff member to turn up with the keys to what, can often be, a foul-smelling dump of a shop..crap computer, and bits of paper everywhere.

We put on our pharmacist hat, and do our best. Here's a couple from my book..The guy wouldn't spend the cash on commercially available computer labelling programs, so he wrote his own...unfathomable!!! (Handsworth, Birmingham 1990).

Then their was the guy who stored his POM's by manufacturer..forget the alphabet! Also sat on a toilet once which had a pile of fag ash next to it the size of an anthill..the "assistants" took their break there...God bless Lloyds. Finally..Never ask a Birmingham bus driver how to get to Cape Hill with a Scots accent..you'll end up in Millwall.

[Fleegle]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

Lol at blowing up a kettle, bit extreme/childish?
Let them know you're the boss now (most of them have issues/spinsters, etc), if they still give crap, let the area manager/store manager know. If the staff have some intelligence after being spoken to by the store/area manager, they will know when to shut up, especially if they have company pension and the job centre being round the corner.
It is simply unacceptable. Just because they have worked there since the 60's does not give them the right to speak to someone who has actually progressed.

Are you in any way familiar with The Solly??

[Tony Schofield]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

I did my pre-reg in 1977. I remember a dispenser telling me, once I had qualified that she refused to let me check her work. I dialled the office of the TGM (area manager now!) and handed her the phone saying that if he was happy that I don't check her work I was. She returned the phone to the cradle and I got no more trouble from her.

It is difficult to give an air of authority when you are unsure of your new surroundings. I have always found it useful to accept my limitations and ask for advice if I needed it, no matter how "lowly" the position of the staff member. Back in those days there were a lot of latin names in use that old timers were familiar with and I didn't pretend to know them or care about knowing them. It was easy to engage staff on that level but to show your ability when dealing with GP queries etc.

In answer to your question Lazy, bullying has always gone on and always will. However it can be overcome and if it isn't, it is time for operation "shock and awe"!!

[SolomonQ]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

Are you in any way familiar with The Solly??

what is ment by such a statement, I wasnt the one suggesting blowing up th kettle!!!

[Fleegle]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

Just to clarify, I blew up THE kettil. The log fires are 30% off at B&Q, Mr. W

[Sir_Dispensalot]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

the old quote "speak softly but carry a big stick" often seems to apply well in our sort of work environments...

[SolomonQ]

Re: Emotions taking me over........

3.Pyrrhus of Epirus
2.Alexander III of Macedon
1.Solomon of the east