You are not a south side of Chicago single mother with no food for her children, no money and no prospects. You are not an eighty year old widower whose breakfast every morning is the one egg that the manager of the Safeway store lets you steal.
You are a pharmacist. A member of a proud and dignified profession. Start acting like it.
Your neighbor had his McMansion foreclosed. You watched the moving trucks. The family drove away before the first light of the day. The wife grim-faced. The two teenage girls crying.
You are a pharmacist.
You have your house paid off. Your biggest expenses are insurances and taxes. You won’t lose your job. The wife wants to take that long weekend at the south shore of Lake Tahoe. You told her that you’d rather take advantage of the very cheap flights to Cabo. You want different things. What a great problem to have.
You are not the poor kid who fought for his Ph.D. in Philosophy. He keeps trying to publish, but works nights at Borders to supplement the income from days checking groceries.
You are a proud pharmacist and have earned the right to have self-respect.
When you started, you thought that it was always going to be rewarding, that each day would be an adventure. Can it be possible that a profession is just working too? None of us will get laid off, chances are. The paycheck will always be there every Friday. Most of us will always have the tip money for the valet parking at the club. It can’t be that bad. You are spoiled like a teenage kid who got bored with his Play Station and now whines about Wii.
You are not an attorney. In tough times, they get put down at the bottom of the priorities list. You are not an electrical engineer. Shazam. That degree is outmoded in only 8 years. You aren’t working selling Barcaloungers because nobody wants Hummers and the dealership you sunk every penny of the wife’s inheritance into went bankrupt.
Integrity is what separates a professional from trades job like TV repair. Start acting like a professional. Demand Dignity, Self-Respect & Integrity in your job.
You are not a 19 year old, trudging down a close-in, dirt track between houses in a dark midnight neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, scared to death of an explosion any second.
You are a pharmacist in the United States of America. Life is terrific. But, we have work to do.
Excellent point, and it should be emphasized and re-emphasized: that a TIRED, UN-UNRINATED, UN-DEFECATED, OVERANXIOUS,and STARVING pharmacist is an IMPAIRED pharmacist, just as if she or he were under the influence of substances that alter the higher functions of the central nervous system! Yes, the regulators and management would NEVER allow a drunk or high pharmacist to be on the job.