Dudes Dig Me

Want to add a little spice to your life? Interrupt your normal daily work schedule and work the graveyard shift for a few days. That's just what I've done the last 2 nights, and it's been a joy. It reminds of of college, going on a solid 3 day bender, then suddenly waking up. For a few wild seconds, you don't know where you are or what day it is. I imagine it's how Nick Nolte felt in his famous mug shot. Right now, I'm pretty sure it's Thursday evening, but only because I keep checking the calendar on my trusty computer.

I got a call Tuesday (tuesday?) night from the district scheduler saying that a pharmacist at a 24 hour Corpopharm right up the street from me was sick. Really sick. Can't-make-it-in-to-work-tonight sick. Keep in mind that it's about 9 pm and I've been at work since 2.

Scheduler: I've been calling around all night and nobody can make it. Would you be willing to help me out?
Me: Sure. Bring it on.
Scheduler (incredulous): Really??
Me: Really. I'd just be sleeping otherwise.

It was just the response I'd expected. She sounded slightly taken aback (and a little concerned) with how quickly I agreed but was too relieved to have passed the buck to retract. Corpopharm cares about their patients.

Did I mention sleeping? Sleeping is what I wanted to do all night, but there are plenty of fun things to do to keep yourself awake in a pharmacy. For example, you can:

1. Count pills
2. Count pills. Wait, I already said that one.
3. Uhh...

What I really did was lots of push-ups, drink gallons of Diet Mountain Dew (70 mg caffeine/can), and walked around the store bothering employees and customers. Oh, and counted pills. I filled maybe 20 scripts from 10 pm to 7 am, when my backup arrived.

That was 17 straight pharmacy hours. A weaker person would have cracked under the strain, no doubt. So, when the scheduler called again yesterday reiterating our conversation from the night before, I readily agreed for another tour of duty. It made me realize that sometimes I do things solely to see how people will react to my actions.

I'm glad I went. I already wrote about a marriage proposal a few weeks prior, and something similar happened last night. I had just arrived, and it so happened that a couple of techs were scheduled to be with me until midnight. One of my techs was talking to a gentleman at the counter who she seemed to know. He kept eying me up, and suddenly cut off the tech he was talking to mid-sentence.

Guy: Who's your pharmacist? I've never seen him here before.

She continued on, ignoring his question, but he was a persistent little pup.

Guy: Who's your pharmacist? He's sooo cute.
Tech: He's just filling in for Iris, she's sick again. He normally works at Corpopharm down the street.
Guy (with a sly little grin): Well, I guess I know where I'm going for my scripts from now on.

Great. Hopefully he'll spread the word that there's fresh meat in town.

Tomorrow, my friends, is my last day of an 11 day stretch. I work open to close, and then I'm going out and getting destructively drunk. I'll be the guy stealing beers from my friends because the bartender (prudently) cut me off 5 beers ago. It's going to be great.