After years of complaining about her antics, I can now finally announce that Betty is no longer an employee at our pharmacy. I always thought that I'd be overjoyed the day she was finally gone. Trust me, I am happy.... Just not as happy as I thought I'd be.
You see... Betty was possible the most annoying person I've ever met. I couldn't stand her. The sound of her voice was like nails on a chalkboard to me. I used to intentionally avoid all conversation with her just so I wouldn't have to listen to her talk. She was so irritating to me that seeing her name on the schedule on the same day as mine would fill me with anxiety.
I know you're all thinking that you know someone just like that, but I can assure you that most of you have never met someone like Betty. She just rubs everyone the wrong way. It doesn't matter what she's doing or what she's saying, she just pisses you off. She could tell you that you just won the Powerball Jackpot, and you'd want to punch her. Literally everyone she meets says the same sort of things about her. You might not hate her, but you certainly don't want to be around her for longer than you have to be.
However despite how annoying she was, that was never the reason that I wanted her out of our store. My major complaint about her was that I thought she was a horrible pharmacist. She made more mistakes than anyone else on our staff. She provided horrible customer service. She was lazy, so the rest of us had to do more to make up for the weight she didn't pull.
That brings me to the reason I'm not overjoyed. Her deficiencies as a pharmacist had nothing to do with her removal from our store. I don't want to share the whole story, but basically one particular pharmacist and one particular technician decided that they both hated her, and they made it their goal to have her removed. They both went to the district manager threatening that they would quit if they had to work another day with Betty. This was the third time that these complaints reached the DM, and he finally decided it would just be easier for him to move her than have to listen to anymore complaints.
It's not like I'm going to go to the DM and plead Betty's case on this matter. However, I'm really not happy with the way things played out. Betty got kicked out of our store because nobody liked her. It had nothing to do with her performance. She was not reprimanded in any way. Two members of our pharmacy staff basically decided that they hated her so much they had to get rid of her. It was like something we'd see out of a group of middle school students. They talked behind her back, spread gossip, and twisted every word she said trying to make others hate her too. In short, they were doing the exact same things that they complained about her doing.
Like I said, I couldn't stand her, but I got along with her. As much as I hated working with her, I sucked it up every day, and did my best to coexist with her. I knew I didn't have to be best friends with her, but we had to work peacefully together. And we did (her job performance not considered).
I just don't think someone should lose her job (she got transferred, so she technically didn't lose her job, but it was against her will) because she's not liked by her coworkers. We're adults. Childish things like that should not get in the way of work. If you wanted to get rid of her because she sucked at her job, I'd be all for it. That wasn't even a factor in the decision though.
** I must say though... It is pretty nice that I no longer have to dread going to work on certain days of the week anymore. Whether I think the reasoning was right or wrong, the work environment and our performance as a pharmacy is better without her.
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5 comments:
Repulsive as she might have been, the real intolerability in a busy pharmacy was someone who was taking up space and not working enough. That is the case that should have been made.
I work with someone I don't care to work with, but the person is smart, and helpful to me. I have no case.
Thanks for the honesty in this matter.
One job I was at sort of had this result of a 'hate ambush' play out yearly. It seemed the manager and assistant decided steady turnover provided innovative ideas (new grads) yet a bootlickingly loyal staff. Near to an individual's annual review, hints of who had been selected to target with innuendo and gossip would be dropped to those in the middle of the pecking order.
Then, verbal insults by management would be casually overheard, occasionally personal files and mail left open for others to observe, and the person that made out the schedule would start arranging shifts back to back. If this was unacceptable and there were complaints, the matter was brought up to management and the 'target' was brought down summarily as arrogant, and other accusations were brought up.
If the 'target' didn't start losing sleep and making a few mistakes here and there, then there would be social gatherings with uninvites, as well as other subtle and not-so-subtle hints that the staffer should start looking for another job.
It was a devil of a climate to work in, jerking everyone like members of 'Survivor' and making it everyone for themself + dog eat dog. I'd leave work with not only a stomach ache, but tension in large muscle masses as well as nervous system, as well as a sense that I'd go crazy eventually,
I don't think results such as firings, transfers, and resignations were totally because of childish staff interactions. It seemed the plan of a diabolical strategist to incite workplace harassment.
The sad part of this scenario, Mike is that a dangerous pharmacist is still at work, just not at YOUR store. If she is an incompetent as you describe, it wouldn't be a bad idea to take the DM aside and say "dude, I am as glad as everybody that Betty is gone, but for different reasons, she is unsafe and a poor employee for the following reasons...(and then list them)."
We have our own issue. Its not in my store however. We have a pharmacy with a staff position that has been open for almost 2 years. NOBODY wants to work there because of the manager. Its well known but since the problem will not be solved...nobody wants to take the staff position.
what a sad story, If Betty was that incompetent then mebbe the environment was that terrible to her? I'm curious to hear if she does well in her next pharmacy. If not, then that explains it. I recall being really motivated at the start of my new job, and as time progressed and realized it sucked the people sucked the work sucked, I was Mentally defeated. Wish me luck on my new job interview tomorrow. I can only hope it is better situation than now!
“If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us”--Herman Hesse
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