Slipknots and Stupid Questions

   Sometimes I have days where I sit down at the computer and my mind is a blank. I can't think of a single thing to write about. Then there are the days where I have several topics and I have to choose. There are also the "in-between" days. These are the days when I have several topics to choose from, but none of them are enough to make a whole column by themselves. Today I am going to write about two things that happened this week. They have no relation to each other.
   On Sunday I was going to start another knitting project. I had finished two washcloths and was going to knit a set of coasters from some brightly coloured yarn. The first thing a knitter has to do is to cast on the first row of stitches. The first thing that needs to be done is to make a slipknot. Then the rest of the stitches can be cast on.
   My knitting teacher taught me how to make a slipknot. The trouble was I couldn't remember how she did it. I worked with the thread a little bit. It was clear that I wasn't going to be able to figure it out on my own. We had two missionaries visiting. (They are used to me doing needlework while we talk.) Knowing that many young LDS men are in the Boy Scouts,I asked if either of them knew how to make a slipknot. (Boy Scouts do learn how to make knots, right?) Neither of them knew.
  I looked at my knitting reference book. The first step was to make the thread into a pretzel shape. I couldn't remember what a pretzel looked like. Fortunately there was a picture. I did exactly what the directions said to do, but the result was not a slipknot. I know what a slipknot should look like. What I was doing with my thread wasn't it.
  C looked up some step by step directions on his phone. He read them out loud to me and I followed each step. One of the steps was to pull a loop through the bottom of another loop. I did that. It didn't work. I was getting frustrated.
   The challenge is that sometimes directions make no sense to me. That's why I need to have pictures or be shown. Once I've done something myself several times, then I know that I have learned it. The spot the the directions called the bottom of the was not where I thought the bottom of the loop was.
   C, the missionaries and I finally figured it out. Within a couple of minutes I had a nice row of properly cast on stitches. I could now start knitting. (Note to self-Find slipknot making directions and bookmark them.)
   I was talking to a drug company representative a few days ago. He had called to tell me about a new program the company was sponsoring. After he went through his script,he asked me a question. "Are you a PharmD. or an  Rph.?"
  I need to take a break in my narrative because some explanation is in order. PharmD. stands for Doctor of Pharmacy. It is the degree that a person must now have before they are allowed to sit for the state boards examinations for licesure. ( When I was going to pharmacy school the entry degree was a BS Pharm.) As far as I can tell it is closer to a master's degree than a PhD. PharmD.s are allowed to sign the letters after their names and can be addressed as "Doctor" if they choose. (Thankfully, most don't.) RPh. stands for registered pharmacist. This means that a person has passed the board exams and is able to legally practice pharmacy. I suppose it is more correct to say "licensed pharmacist" because it's have a license that must be  renewedevery year or two as opposed to a registry, which to me is simply a list of names. That's a topic for another time.
   Back to the narrative. I get this question anytime I talk to a drug rep on the phone and it always makes me a little angry. It's a stupid question. I asked the drug rep, "Are you asking me what degree I hold? If you are then my degree is a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy." The rep spluttered on the other end of the line. I continued, "It's a stupid question. All pharmacists that you talk to are going to Rphs because all them of them have to be licensed in order to work in a pharmacy. I assume you are calling pharmacies only." The spluttering stopped for a minute. "It's a question we are required to ask", the rep said tentatively.
   "I know," I said,"And every time I get asked this question it makes me mad. It is an insulting question." The drug rep quickly got off the phone.
   I admit I'm a little sensitive sometimes about the whole Pharm D. thing. To me it creates a class distinction in the profession that should not be there. The assumption is that someone who is a "doctor" is much smarter and much more capable then someone who is not. I don't think that is true. The PharmD.s get an extra year of field work and some academic classes that didn't exist in the old BSPharm programs. The PharmD.s are educated and taught they they will have the kind of practice where people will make appointments to see them. While that may be the future of pharmacy that isn't the reality. In community pharmacy, which is what I do, the reality is that there is no difference between a new PharmD. and a BS Pharm with experience.
  I encourage my customers and students to ask any questions they may have by telling them there are no stupid questions. I may need to revise that line.