Former Employee Shares Story

Thanks for this recent submission...

Hello, I'm going to give you some background on DR, even though I did indeed work for Duane Reade, I have to admit that it got to be one of the worst company to ever work for. I've been a loyal, dedicated and responsible worker for 3 years. I was a pharmacy technician. I loved with I did, I just hate whom I worked for. Employer treat they employees like crap then they wonder why customers get bad treatment at times. I'm not going to lie, there were a few occasions when patients did get on my nerves and honestly working in a pharmacy can be overwhelming. There are reasons why scripts take long, scripts are turned downed etc. However, I always kept a smile on my face .Never got a complaint from no one. I loved making my patients happy and knowing that I somewhat impacted their lives. All the regulars knew me and I knew them.

DR cooperate always complained and nag about small minor stuff but never want to show appreciation and say thank you to the good we did for the store. Everyday they would send emails about different task we must do, etc. There was so much they want done at the pharmacy with little time. They don't care about people, all they care about is money and prescription count. They want all the money but don't want to pay because honestly the pay is not that great. When I started, I was a full time worker. After 2 years, they automatically dropped it to part time without my knowledge. I was very upset because I have bills and rent to pay. I confronted my manager and was told that there was nothing she can do about it. The most she can do is give me the max of part time hours which was 36 hours a week. I said that's kool.

A few weeks later, I looked at my schedule and saw that my hours dropped tremendously to 30 hours a week. I confronted my manager once again and she said the district manager sent a email saying we were over budget and she had to decrease everyone hours. I'm like to myself how the hell were over budget but yet they stay opening up new branches, coming out with DR products etc. They got money for that but don't got money to pay the employees. We stayed under staffed(that's one reason why wait time was long). They wanted so much out of us. We had security in my store at one point, they stopped security in my store. We used to get secret shopper visits, they stopped that. We used to do prescription delivery,transfer and central fill they stopped that. We lost so many patients due to no delivery. I was very upset about that. Shoplifting increased in our store. They would send emails, saying look out for shoplifters. I'm like if they didn't cut security then maybe shoplifting wouldn't have increased. Honestly, they wasn't paying me extra for watching out for thieves so therefore I didn't care.

They want all the money. As long as they're rich, that's all they care about. I got terminated from DR recently and I'm kind of relief but the way they terminated me was totally unjustify. For 2 years, I worked with this obnoxious, arrogant, rude, disrespectful pharmacist. He only worked on the weekends. As long as I worked with him, for some apparent reason, I always felt he had something against me. Although, I was very nice towards him, never gave him a nasty attitude, he would always pick arguments with me over something pity but I never argue back because for one I did respect him as a pharmacist, colleague and as an individual. I've never got that in return. He treated other workers with more respect then he did myself. I always wondered why he treat me with such animosity. He treated some patients like crap as well. Many of out patients complaint about him to me and management but of course nothing was done about it. We did get along at times, but I always try my best not to push his buttons even if it wasn't purposely. Example, he actually screamed at me because I wrote a lower case l on a prescription bag for the patient last name instead of a capital L.

Once one of my regular patients came in, she gave me a prescription. I went to go see if we had it and we only had partial. I went back to her and told her we had to order it for the next day. She told me she really needed it and asked if we had some to give her so I told her we did. I went to the pharmacist and told him that the patient wanted the partial. He screamed at me, saying I shouldn't take matters into my own hands and that he's the pharmacist. He should give the permission, not me. I told him fine. All I was doing was trying to help and I got yelled at. I noticed that when other technicians do the same stuff I do, he wouldn't get mad but when it's me he would. I complaint about him to the supervising pharmacist whom works on the weekday and is really nice. He said he would talk to him. I got yelled at again from the weekend pharmacist for complaining about him. I'm like I can never win.

I got terminated because of the weekend pharmacist. One Saturday, he was helping a patient with his medicine. The patient had to pay for his medicine but it wasn't going to be scanned for until the next day(long story why). His previous co pay was $4.19 but he handed me a five dollar bill. Being that I didn't scanned a item, I needed a transaction to give him his remaining change. A customer came with a few items and wanted to purchase at my register. I told the patient to hold on while I take care the customer(because once I open the draw, I can just give him his change). He said OK. The pharmacist came to the register and saw that the patient was still there. Unaware of what was going on, instead of him asking me nicely why the patient was still there, he demanded me in a hostile tone to finish with the patient first then attend to the customer. I told him politely that I need to make the transaction to give him his change. The pharmacist went back into the pharmacy. The customer was very upset and took what the pharmacist said offensively. She told me that she wanted to say something to him but I just told her to leave it alone.

The customer had a friend with her and it was the customer friend who confronted the pharmacist. She told him that he needs to have more respect for his co workers and customers and he shouldn't talk to people in that tone. He told her to shut up and get out. They exchanged a few words then she left. After she left, he came at me, yelling and screaming at me, saying i was happy to hear that and it was my fault she insulted him. I told him I had nothing to do with it and that I was just doing my job. Instead he kept yelling at me, saying that's why he don't like me working with him at times and how I wonder why he yells at me. That's when I said enough is enough. It was becoming unbearable. I was so upset, I blasted back at him. I told him I'm not his child, he don't pay me and he don't need to talk to me like that. He kept yelling, so I said I was tired of his sh*t and he's not my f**king father. He told me to punch out and leave. Two customers witness the commotion. One left and the one that was still, I apologized to her for witnessing that. She was actually on my side and said no problem..

The manager came and pulled me aside. She told me how the two customers came to the front to complain about the pharmacist. I told her what happen so she told me to take the rest of the day off. I came to work Monday and was told how he sent a statement to cooperate. The supervising pharmacist asked me what happened and I told him. He said how the weekend pharmacist said I cursed him out. I admitted that I used profanity but I was provoked and was fed up with his foul mouth. I had put up with it for too long and I could only take but so much. I also said I didn't insult him using them curse words. The supervising pharmacist seemed to understood. I told him I didn't want to work with that pharmacist again. He said for me to send a statement to the PDM(pharmacist district manager). I did that very night. I did not get a response back till this day. I went to work the whole week and during that week I was told I had no choice to work with the weekend pharmacist. I obliged.

Saturday came and I was very nervous to work with him. I was so concern about what if he tells me to leave again, what if he starts another altercation, what if he really hates me now. On my part, I really wanted to apologize to him for cursing. I don't like to hold grudges but for some reason something was telling me don't apologize. It would have made me look like the bigger person but I figured maybe to him that would have shown a sign of weakness and I wasn't about to go for that. Surprisingly, the day went smooth. Even though we didn't have any personal conversations, he cooperated and was even extra nice to the patients. I was wowed and actually kind of glad to see him work differently for the better. I said to myself maybe that altercation was a wake up call or he had a meeting with the cooperate and told him to change his ways. Either way, I was impressed. I was like finally things look like they going to be alright. It's all over.

I was so wrong. I came to work on Monday and my manager said she needed to talk to me. We went her office and I was told that I was put on suspension for using profanity in the store. I was like "WHAT'...you got to be kidding me. It wasn't my fault and this is my first offense. I asked what happened and for how long I'm suspended. She said a lady from cooperate called her that morning and told her to put me on suspension and I have to contact my union. I'm like no one even ask or got my side of the story and I'm suspended. I said OK. I'm going to go home and call the union. I was upset because my manager could had called me at home to tell me instead of me going all the way to work to hear this. I was schedule for 3PM so she had plenty of time to call me. I went home and called only to get the secretary, so I had to leave a message. The next day, my manager calls me to tell me that I was officially terminated and that if I had any questions that I need to contact my union. I was like wow...ok... fine.

I called the union again and left another message. Its been a whole week and still haven't heard anything from the union. I came to the realization that DR really don't give a dayum about you. I bust my behind for 3 years for them. Worked on the floor, did front end, did extra stuff that my job title didn't require and I got treated like trash. They didn't even give me a warning and even my side of the story. I didn't talk to anyone from cooperate. They only concern is that I used profanity. My first offense and I got the boot. My supervising pharmacist tried to get me to come back and sent a email to cooperate saying I'm such a great worker and it's going to be a lost to the store and they going to send something back saying they don't care that I'm a great worker. I used profanity and they don't tolerate it so therefore I can't work for them. I don't even want to work back for them. The only good thing I can say is that I discovered my passion working for them and that's medicine. I came in knowing nothing and left out with so much knowledge and experience. I came across this website and decided to share my story. I felt I needed to. Not only customers hate it, they're employees that does as well.

I would never recommend any one to work or even shop there. There prices are too high anyway. I'm nothing but truthful here. No reason to lie. DR sucks BIGTIME. BTW, that weekend pharmacist still got his job and is still working there....SMH....Thanks for reading.....