'There's screaming and swearing on my answering machine': Manager constantly tries to force pharmacist to work off-schedule, sets trap but walks into it herself and gets slammed filling 500 scripts alone

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Isabella Penn
Apr 28, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

When you don't have a typical 9-5 and work varying shifts, you're bound to get called in when you're not on the schedule. And there's nothing more infuriating than a manager trying to guilt you into working when you're very clearly off. In this case, the manager wasn't even technically in charge of this employee. "Deb" was the assistant manager of the store, and the employee for whom she was determined to work off schedule was the pharmacist. Who, in fact was working, but Deb couldn't seem to grasp the concept that the "X" on the schedule meant this pharmacist was working at a different location, not just chilling at home waiting to cover her shift.

She cooked up the perfect plan to trap the pharmacist into extra work as payback, or so she thought. In reality, the plan backfired magnificently.

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  • After ignoring warnings, misreading the schedule, and making more than a few condescending comments, she ended up alone with 500 prescriptions to fill… and absolutely no help.

    Karma doesn’t mess around.

  • WAOAD W
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  • "She thought I was working that day. I was just not at that store."

    In the early years of being a pharmacist, jobs in my city were hard to come by. I managed to get full time hours by working for a couple of pharmacist friends at both of their stores. They would work
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  • out my schedule together and put an X on my schedule on the days I was at the opposing store. One store was downtown and one was in the suburb I lived in. At the suburb pharmacy I had a coworker "Dee"
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  • who could just not wrap her brain around the fact that if there was an X by my name I was in fact working... just at the other store. Multiple times I would have call after call on my cell phone and hang ups on
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  • my answering machine at home because she wanted me to cover her shift at the suburb store when I was already working downtown. Worst thing was my cell phone charged me for every single call so after
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  • the second time of her pulling this I would get downtown and immediately pull the battery off my phone. This made her angry at me for "ignoring" her and we had a tepid relationship after that.
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  • Time went on and the suburb store started expanding their nursing home operation so I was able to work there full time instead. I still had a great relationship with the downtown store and they had me keep the
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  • keys in case of emergencies. They would. occasionally come up and the X would be on the schedule by my name. Sadly Dee became the assistant manager and now thought she was "the boss" of me.
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  • Now downtown pharmacist's daughter was getting married and suburb pharmacist was invited to all the festivities. I got scheduled to work the Thursday before at the downtown store. The X went by my
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  • name on the suburb schedule. I was also going to the wedding -I was good friends with the daughter but missing the Mendhi party on the Thursday I was working for her mum. I was on the phone with her on my
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  • break one time and she was saying how sorry she was I was missing it and I said "don't worry I'll just doodle brown sharpie all over my hands and pretend I was there when we aren't busy".
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  • Now at that exact week we were getting new pharmacy software downloaded. Nursing homes are run on a batch system where all the labels are run about 5 days before and then all the bubble packs are made up during that time
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  • and then the actual billing is done on the Thursday for the meds to be delivered Friday. Dee decided that she did not want the batch to be done and just wanted everything to be processed and made up
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  • on the Thursday for just this first week. My technician was freaking out so I just told her to make up the usual dog cards (Lipitor, aspirin 81, multivitamin, Altace etc) without any patient data just to help speed things along. Dee overheard and
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  • told the tech that she wasn't allowed to do that and "this younger generation is just scared of hard work". I panicked a bit because I was the only one of my age (gen X) as all my coworkers were boomer aged or older. I went and checked
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  • the schedule... yep there's an X by my name.... I won't be there for the sh*tshow but somehow Dee thinks I am? Why should I tell her any different. Thursday rolls around and at 12:30 my cell phone starts blowing up. It's in
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  • my purse in the safe because I don't get a lunch break (only pharmacist) and everyone can hear it. Out comes the battery. I get home after work and there's screaming and swearing on my answering machine. A locum
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  • pharmacist worked the morning shift and wasn't instructed to do anything so everything was left for Dee when she arrived at 12:30. She had to work late to finish over 500 prescription d g cards. I come in the next day and she's still furious. "You
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  • said you were working! I heard you talking about the effing mendhi thing". I told her I was working just not at that store as evidenced by the X by my name. I learned then that she could eavesdrop on the
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  • break room from one place in the pharmacy when she herself was the only pharmacist working at the time. All my breaks were taken in my car after this.
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  • yearofthesquirrel Ahhh, the satisfying sigh of complete joy and satisfaction when someone falls into the trap they set for themselves...
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  • OutsideSuitable5740 You guys can't see it but every time these morons think they can screw over other people and end up themselves I get a warm and fuzzy feeling inside and do a victory dance
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  • Western_Ad_6342 I'm disturbed that someone so stupid is working as a pharmacist.
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  • loneknife_blackblade Looks like dee is afraid of a little hard work.
    via loneknife_blackblade

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schedule employee satisfying manager job work petty revenge entitled people karma workplace Horrible Bosses pharmacy pharmacist store
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