Cynthia Forbes

Darren Chiang-Schultheiss

English-1

May 5, 1997

Two years ago, when my boss retired, he merged his pharmacy with another pharmacy down the street. We knew that the new boss could not keep all of us on his staff. The people I had been working with for the past ten years or so were about to be separated. None of us liked the idea of having to work with new people after being together for many years. The new bosses came in and told us who they were going to keep and who they were going to let go. Those of us staying thought it would never work out. At one time or another we had all been in the new boss' store and had seen how the business was run. It was very different from what we were used to.

It was clear the first day under the new owner that the work ethic between the two sets of employees was completely different. ( I will call the old employees the old group and the new employees the new group.) Normally the store opens at nine o'clock. The old group was there between 8:30 and 8:45, which was normal for them. The boss of the old group always said "You're not on time unless you're five minutes early." They liked it that way. They had time to get coffee, set up the computers, and get other opening procedures done before the store opened. The new group began to arrive somewhere between 9:00 and 9:45. Once everyone was there and working, we could tell this transition was not going to be an easy one. It appeared that the old group was concerned about making the merger work as smoothly as possible, while the new group was there just to collect a paycheck. I found it hard to believe that both stores could be successful for so long with such differences in attitudes.

Both groups had to adjust to the new environment. The old group had to learn a new computer system. The program on the new system performed all of the functions as the old system, just on a different format. They were used to the store arrangement, so they were comfortable there. The new group on the other hand knew the computer system, but the store was unfamiliar to them. The old group was used to picking up the pace from the start. They believed the customers should get good service and not have to wait long for their prescriptions. The new group felt differently. They provided services that most other pharmacies did not. They had a department for workers' compensation billing, one for compounding medications, and one for home health care (hospital beds, wheelchairs and the like). Customers who came to them for these services had very little choice where they could take their business. The feeling of the new group was to let the customer wait. They will not go anywhere else.

Courtesy for fellow employees was another area where both groups differed greatly. The time taken for lunches is a good example. The old group would go in groups, one from each department. We had thirty minutes for lunch, so they would go to the hamburger stand out front or bring lunch from home. Doing this made it easy to be back on time. The new group would do the same. The difference was whole departments would go together, leaving no one to handle their business. For some reason it took them about an hour to do it in. Either the new group was either very sloppy or very lazy. They would not clean up after themselves for anything. Asking them to wash their own dishes was asking them to do something far beneath them. Dish washing was not in their job description.

Time management was another area where the two groups differed greatly. The old group liked to get their tasks done quickly. Besides printing labels, calling doctors, and billing insurance companies, much paper work had to be done. When the pharmacy was slow, then was the time to get the paper work done. If they caught the paper work up, there were always shelves to clean. If everything was done, there were always catalogs from which to shop. The new group on the other hand would stretch jobs out. Giving the impression they were working much harder than they were. For example the new boss asked an employee from the old group how many hours per week it would take to do the account receivable for customer charge accounts. She told him it would take four to five hours a week. He looked shocked. The person that had been doing the same job before was taking three to four days to do the same thing.

Up to that point it seemed as though they should replace the new group completely. This was not so. All of the employees from the new group were very capable workers. They knew their jobs and did them well. They were a fun group to be with and everyone got along with one another. When dealing with customers they were very efficient. If this were not so, their business would not have survived for forty years. I am sure the old group had faults as well. Being part of the old group, I just did not see them.

The difference in employee attitudes began with the differences in employer attitudes. The employer of the old group treated all of the employees the same, like family. They discussed any decision concerning the business with everyone. We all felt we had a part in how they ran the business. The employer of the new group was quite different in that aspect. For example, the way each employer handled the merger itself. The boss of the old group told his employees he was selling the business, and was going to retire nearly six months before it was to happen. This gave the employees plenty of time to prepare for whatever might happen. The boss of the new group did not tell his employees of the merger until two weeks before they moved their equipment into the new store. I guess the differences in the attitudes of the employers may explain the differences in the employees' attitudes.

These two groups have been together for two years now. I believe the good from both sides have rubbed off on each other. (xcept getting to work on time.) The bosses themselves do not arrive on time, so why should the employees ? They have installed a time clock since then. With any luck this will solve the punctuality issue as well.