tired-thirty

(Abbie made some fish and veggies for dinner the other night and it was really awesome- i had to take a picture- Mom- she used some fresh-squeezed lemon on that fish and it really made it pop!)

well i told myself i wasn't going to work this weekend again... but sure enough they called me during church this morning and sure enough (when i called them after i got out) i agreed to come in for the 4-midnight shift... dang!... thats cool- i feel fine- and i had a great night at work, honestly. I learn so much from Ron and Christopher on any given day- Christopher, only out of school a year and a half is easily the most talented pharmacists i've ever worked with- he's one of those guys who just knows any and everything there is to know about pharmacy... got his BS and Masters (in neuro-physiology) from somewhere in So Cal, his Doctor of Pharmacy from UT, and in a year or so will also have earned a PhD in nuclear pharmacy... i just have a lot of respect for the guy, because he conducts himself in such a professional and upstanding way- and he always stands up for what's right and doesn't cut corners or bend when doing so would break the rules or compromise his morals-even if that means making some people upset- but he does everything he possibly can to help someone when its within his power to do so- and i respect that. He's a hard worker (he's been pulling 60 hour weeks- 12 hour shifts- no breaks- on his feet- for the last 6 months when he only wants/needs to work 40 [don't worry- pharmacists do get paid by the hour so he does at least get proportional compensation for his work] and is just covering until they can find another pharmacist to hire for this store) he gives of himself to help other people and give a lot to the company when others would just say "sorry- find somebody else, i don't feel like it"... I may not be as smart as he is in some ways, but I at least hope i can strive to be as genuine and hard working as he is someday-

and Ron has just been doing this for just shy of 50 years by my count- Ron knows how to make people happy- and everybody loves him... he works 84 hours a week every week and doesn't take vacations... i'm not joking. He works from 8pm-8am 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year... he does take maybe 1 day off every few months, but when i say that in a year he works about 350ish of the 365 days, i'm totally serious... he's been there every time... and you know- for someone who has done that for years- he's surprisingly happy and not-bitter... he's always got a great story to tell and always has a big smile on his face... he usually comes in running on 3-4 hours of sleep if he's lucky and often times its less than that or just plain zero sleep- i have absolutely no idea how Ron functions as a human being- Ron actually stretches my concept of what we, as humans, are capable of... I know that sounds crazy... but seriously- think about that for a second... it takes him about 45 minutes each way to drive from his house to Rite Aid (which leaves him with- optimistically- 10.5 hours away from work- some of that spent for sleep- some of it spent trying to take care of the house (he still has 2 daughters and a wife that live with him) ... he never gets more than 4 hours of sleep... Ron, for all intents and purposes, lives in the Rite Aid pharmacy... he sleeps somewhere else.... but his life- or at least about 75% of it- is spent either IN the pharmacy standing (standing)/working or driving to or from the pharmacy- he doesn't have a stool- he doesn't even LEAN against things... he stands there... and i wanna say he's about 71 years old give or take a year... and he's been doing this for several years- I'm not saying i want to do that- or that i'm striving for that--- I'm just saying... you've got to admit that what he does reinvents the concept of a difficult job... and in a sense i think its a testament to the human body- he's in great shape- doesn't do any exercise, or diet or anything- he just does this... he's still a very sharp guy and an excellent pharmacist- its just crazy and i marvel every time he comes in and knocks out another 12 hour shift- i always expect that he'll just pass out or fall asleep on the way home, or have a nervous breakdown- but he's more stable than many people who work 40-50 hours sitting at a desk...



every pharmacist i work with i've been able to take a little piece here or there and use it to better myself- learn from their mistakes- learn from their victories- learn from their time-tested ways of approaching problems and dealing with difficult people... its been a great experience getting to share my time with them- and i hope that maybe one day i'll be able to pass on a fraction of the skills i've learned from these guys...