Bronwyn McLean

Catherine Patterson

COMM1715

November 25, 2019

Experience Working at the Pharmacy

Among the three years I worked as a cashier at the Bowmanville Clinic Pharmacy I

learned about customer service, medications, and what career path I wanted to head in. On a

daily basis I gained customer service experience by helping customers, putting away

prescriptions; as well as selling them, answering the phone, ordering stock, etc. Everyday there

were ill/injured patients, and I would help to ensure they were as comfortable as possible while

waiting for their medications. I would bring them a wheelchair if needed, help them walk to a

seat, or sometimes bring them a water. Throughout the years I learned demonstrating customer

service is also about knowing how to handle those who are difficult. I had some patients who

would call me names, and were rather rude, and I would just reflect and think that they were not

feeling well and may not be their best self. Many elderly patients were lonely and having a

conversation with them would oftentimes make their day. Over the years I got to know quite a

few of the customers very well and we would say little jokes when they came in, which is a great

demonstration of customer service. Working at the pharmacy also gave me knowledge on

medications; I learned about medication dosing, classes of medications, patient confidentiality

and a lot more. One of the things I enjoyed about the Bowmanville Clinic Pharmacy is the

medication bays were arranged by drug families, as opposed to the other pharmacies’ medication

bays arranged in alphabetical order. The arrangement of medications helped me to learn a lot
about them such as which were for sleep, anxiety, depression, diabetes, etc. There were even

times throughout the years that I got to mix up medications like amoxicillin. The pharmacy was

located in a medical building with many medical related services which increased my interest on

the healthcare field. The urgent care was located across the hall from the pharmacy and I got to

know some of the doctors, nurses, and receptionists. I noticed that nursing is all about caring for

those in need, and a trait I possess is caring for others. One of my memorable experiences at the

pharmacy was taking this lady in a wheel chair down to her husbands’ car at the pick- up point, it

made me content to have helped her. This experience made me realize I wanted to become a

nurse because I thought about how nurses must feel when they help someone walk again, help

someone give birth, etc. Therefore, thanks to the Bowmanville Clinic Pharmacy I learned about

customer service, medications, and what career path I wanted to head in.