The Walgreens Pharmacy Walkout
And why everyone should pay attention to it
According to anonymous sources (because I don’t want to get anyone in trouble), Walgreens, based in Deerfield, Illinois, has not been treating its pharmacy employees with dignity. They want better customer relations (because people yell at them all day), better pay (because they have to live), better staffing (how about underwriting more pharmaceutical degrees, big Pharma?), and more time with patients (because that’s us!)
I admit that I sometimes have questions (as do many of my fellow Boomers), but then there’s a giant line forming behind me, someone growls, and there are two others waiting to speak with the pharmacist, so too bad for me. I’ll just grab whichever drug is in the cashier’s left hand. That seems like a good, thoughtful way to choose from the vast array of over-the-counter medicine. What could possibly go wrong?
If employees hadn’t been given unacceptable loads and not enough support combined with disdain for their schedules and rarely being listened to, they probably wouldn’t have felt the need to protest with a walkout yesterday. I wonder if those who didn’t walk out are happy with their wages, content with their workload, or just accustomed to working nonstop under a huge amount of pressure, with little support?
CVS doesn’t come off that well either, but their employees walked out a few weeks ago. I have something to say to all of you at Walgreens, CVS, and other corporate pharmacies. First, you made sure to obliterate the little pharmacies, like where I used to get meds for my children. The same pharmacy assistants and cashiers were there year after year, asking about the family, helping me choose which kind of Mucinex to buy, and sometimes chatting about the weather. You know, human interaction?
One of the cashiers always called me “Honey,” and knew how to respond empathetically while I was falling apart during chemotherapy — she’d tell me about her sister-in-law who said that such and such oil helped soothe her skin, or her neighbor who mentioned that something-something soup helped with the nausea.
If I couldn’t make it over there, they’d deliver that very afternoon. I wonder if they’re still doing that, because thanks to corporate Walgreens and CVS and their ilk, nobody has time to be friendly. Is it HIPAA laws or corporate rules that forbid a cashier from telling me her mother liked a certain gum to deal with the metallic taste during radiation, or that her teenager had luck with X when she was battling acne? Can’t say anything these days, because some idiot is going to assume that he’s just been prescribed X, and he’ll sue the place if his face doesn’t clear up.
Walgreens built giant block buildings all across the country, took everyone else’s business, and is making gazillions of dollars selling medicines that many of us need to survive. Did I say gazillions? I meant katrillions, which, as everyone knows, is 3x as much.
We don’t care how much money you have to spend to treat your employees with dignity, Walgreens — just compensate them and create a workspace that does not run them to the ground. Make them feel good about what they do, and maybe they’ll even have time to wish us well. It’s not enough to say “Thanks, here’s your receipt.” Give them the training, the time, and the impetus to say, “Feel better.”
I got my meds just before they walked out yesterday, but I couldn’t get my Covid booster. The next opening (at Osco) is for tomorrow, so thanks, because I always react, and I’ll probably have to cancel our weekend trip to Toronto. I’m not so strong anymore and I’m afraid to risk getting sick while out of the country.
One of the meds I picked up yesterday is an inhaled steroid that’s controlled my asthma. It’s October, and I’m still paying nearly $200 (co-pay on top of insurance) for it. Because of it (and the other three drugs), I haven’t been in the hospital or on corticosteroids since I started. That used to happen. I wonder who else was waiting for some important medicine when the pharmacy closed at 5 pm.
You’re playing with people’s lives, Walgreens. Many people don’t worry about workers being dissatisfied and will shop at whichever store takes their insurance and is most convenient. You have 8689 stores with pharmacies in the United States, but guess what? If you can’t treat your employees with dignity, Osco is just a few blocks away. Come on, Boomers, remember when we boycotted lettuce and grapes? What do you think about that, Walgreens?
You go, Walgreens pharmacy employees. Hope you have a couple of nice days off from the drudgery, and hope your company gives you all the support you need and deserve.
