Monday, June 9, 2008

It's 12:40 AM, and I feel like an idiot

I feel like an idiot because I just realized that I forgot to send the order on Sunday. That means that we won't be getting any of the items we needed to order over the weekend. It's the first time I ever forgot to send the order, and I feel like an asshole.

My day was all screwed up. I wasn't supposed to work at all today. Something came up for the pharmacist scheduled to work today, and I said I would come in to cover the last 3 hours of the day. I didn't mind doing it. The last 3 hours on Sunday are very slow and stress free. However, since it was a break from my normal Sunday routine when I work, I never quite got into that working mentality. I'm pretty sure that contributed to my mistake.

I just feel so stupid now. I pride myself on being responsible and dependable, and I screwed up. I know that in the grand scheme of things, it won't mean much. It will probably just be a minor inconvenience for a few customers. However, I feel like I let myself and the rest of the pharmacy staff down.

Well.. I'm going to bed now feeling stupid, and tomorrow, I'll go right back to being my responsible self. No one's perfect, including myself. I try to be perfect, and when you strive for perfection, you're occasionally going to be disappointend. I understand that. I'll learn from it and hopefully not repeat the same mistake.

I still feel like an idiot though...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

F@#% those who won't get their order tomorrow what did they ever do for you?

Anonymous said...

Part of being a professional is being responsible with the things that count, and making sure they are done.

Anonymous said...

Mike,

One morning at 9:10, I was sitting at my desk at home. The phone rang. It was my store manager. "Ole' Apothecary, where are you?" My heart fell to China. I had forgotten that I was scheduled to work! Zoom; I was there in five minutes. This was back in the days when the whole store was licensed as a pharmacy and the staff could not open the front door for business without me! Mike, we all make mistakes. You can move on with from this with confidence.

Pharmacy Mike said...

I'm not sure of the intent of that second comment. It seems like it's questioning my professionalism because I forgot to send the order 1 time in 2 years. Everyone makes mistakes. You can't be perfect all the time. Usually, I am the one that makes sure that everything gets done. That's why I feel lousy about the whole thing. It's dissappointing.

I'm chalking it up to not being supposed to work yesterday. I filled like 8 prescriptions in those 3 hours, so it almost felt like I was just there visiting. I never got into work mode.

Anonymous said...

Oh ya, the forgetting to send the order....been there done that.

Lets see, I have been a pharmacist for 3 years, I have been in my current position in a pharmacy that has to send an order for 2 years. About 8 months ago I forgot to send the order...my partner pharmacist who has been doing this for 35 years, gave me a hard time....3 weeks later...he forgot to do it!

Anyway, not a huge deal, crap happens, you get thinking about what to do AFTER work, and go on without sending it. (that is what both of us did...both on Sundays)

In my state we have to alarm the pharmacy separately from the building, so we have to arm the pharmacy and then the store arms the rest of the place later...Both of us have also forgotten to set the alarm.

Shit happens, learn and move on!

Anonymous said...

I literally do not know a pharmacist who hasn't forgotten to send the order at least once. Hell, we have an alarm for it at my store and it still gets forgotten occasionally.

What's important is how you deal with it the next day. Make the effort to call everyone who was expecting something to come in so they don't waste gas driving down, and you will be forgiven.

Anonymous said...

Gads Mike, what pharmacist hasn't forgotten to send the order. I have sat bolt upright in bed remembering when I have forgotten to sent it AND I HAVE A SIGN ON MY DOOR THAT SAYS: SEND ORDER!
Use my back up plan: Call your patients and tell them there was a "transmission failure"..its not a lie. We are human beings, both sides of the counter, just like the doofuses we write about, we have our moments, just fewer than they do...cuz we are so smart...
by the way, welcome back

pharmacy chick

Shalom said...

S'what I like about Kinray. You just add items on their web thingy, and whatever's in your order at cutoff time just shows up the next day. None of this "OMG it's 7:59, where's the Telxon!"