A Random Update

I’m sitting in a Barnes and Noble about an hour’s drive from where I live, proctoring three community college students who needed to take a test on Sunday. The community college’s test center is closed on Sundays, which left me in the happy situation of being able to earn $20/head for sitting around reading books and handing out additional sheets of blank paper as needed.

The additional income is welcome – unemployment has officially run out and the new part time job pays less than a third what the unemployment brought in (which was about half of what I was earning at my job). Hard to believe that the second anniversary of my lay-off is coming up this Friday. I don’t miss the job, but I sure as hell miss the financial security.

The new job is going OK. The pharmacists I work with are a congennial bunch, and all have been patient with me while I learn the ropes of my new position. The job is far more stressful than I ever realized it would be, though. I am the only technician on for all of my shifts, which means I don’t have anyone at my level to show me the ropes. The pharmacists, while patient, are erratic teachers, each with their own way of doing things and each convinced their own method is the best. One wants me to use the mouse while navigating the computer, another tells me not to use the mouse because it will slow me down. One is content if the label sticks to the vial, another wants labels to be absolutely even, with edges matching perfectly where they meet on the back of the bottle (a skill I have not yet come close to mastering). One uses the scale to count pills in excess of 30, another hand counts all pills regardless. Keeping track of who wants me to do what how has my head spinning some days.

Friday things became even more complicated when a monster thunderstorm swept through my area. Our pharmacy lost power six times in twenty minutes. Each power outage lasted less than a handful of minutes, but we never stayed up long enough for the registers and computers to reboot. By the time the power finally came up to stay, the registers were fried and (fortunately) my shift was over. I felt guilty about just abandoning the pharmacist to a line of customers waiting to pay for their meds, but it was made clear to me that absolutely no money is available to pay me for more than the hours I’ve been assigned.

Driving home I found the streets littered with debris and downed branches. I found out later that if I’d turned right instead of left turning out of the parking lot I would have come across a house crushed by a tree only two blocks from where I work.

The last test has been returned and this missive is abruptly terminated.