Hazards of the Profession

   When I graduated from pharmacy school, several employers came to a job fair offered at college. One of them was a pharmacy located in a very large city. The salary they were offering was handsome and there were a few perqs as well. I gave the job a causal look. Despite the salary and benefits I elected not to try for it.
  There were many reasons. I would have had to move pretty far away. The city I would be living in was much larger than anyplace I'd ever lived before. Those were not the most important reasons. I would be working mainly behind protective bars and one of the benefits was an armed escort to my car when my shift was over.
  I went into pharmacy because I wanted to help people. I wasn't going to be able to help them behind any kind of protective anything. I also didn't want to live the kind of life where I would need an armed person to guard me.
  We all knew coming out of school that there were dangers working in retail. We had all heard stories about pharmacist who were robbed at gunpoint, knifepoint and any kind of weapon point. The fact is a pharmacist is in charge of many drugs that people want and are willing to do a lot to get. It is a professional hazard and a risk that you take.
  I started my career in a small town. Part of this was to lessen the risk. Crime does happen in small towns and cities, but the chances are much less. I knew that the risk was always there, but it was not something that really bothered me.
  A year or so after C and I were married, I took a job in Minnesota. I'd been working in Wisconsin for a few years and was really nervous about coming back. Minnesota had passed a conceal and carry gun law while I was in Wisconsin. This meant that some of my customers would be carrying weapons. Knowing the sometimes short fuse of customers I dealt with in the past I worried that someone carrying a gun might get pissed off at me or another member of my staff and shoot us. I have had customers spit, swear and throw bottles at me. I wasn't real happy about the fact that an angry customer would have a dangerous weapon on them.
  The store that I started working in was on the edge of a bad neighborhood. There was a possibility that some of my customers could be carrying illegal weapons and the risk of a robbery was going to be higher. I liked the store and the staff. It was a risk I had to take.
   Fast forward to a week or so ago. A pharmacy down the street from where I work had been robbed by a man with a gun. I felt bad for the store employees and wanted to ask them if they were all right. The next day another nearby pharmacy was robbed by the same guy, at the same time and in the same way.
   This brought the risk front and center. There was a chance that having successfully robbed two stores, the man would try another. That next store could be mine.
   I knew from the news reports that no one had been hurt in the other two robberies. Still, I was nervous. I'd been lucky that in the last 20 years I'd never been robbed. I really didn't wasn't looking forward to breaking that streak.
  The first thing I did was meet with my boss. Every pharmacy has a plan in place for how to handle a robbery. It's pretty simple. Don't resist. Give them what they want. Don't attempt to disarm the robber. Call the police as soon as possible and call a special at the corporate office after that. The main goal is to keep everyone safe. The drugs are replaceable, the people are not.
   Part of me rankles at this. I know it's the right thing to do,but the thought of meekly handing over drugs to someone who shouldn't have them and will distribute them to people who could hurt themselves or someone else with them doesn't sit well. Part of me wants to throw things at them or hit them with something heavy.
   Even though I knew what I needed to do I was still a little nervous. What if the guy was hopped up on something and decided to shoot anyway? Who would stop him?  I know that this is crazy, shooting would draw attention which is the last things a thief wants. Anyone crazy enough to hold up a pharmacy probably isn't sweating consequences.
   Other precautions were being taken as well and the police stopped by to check on us. Gradually my nervousness settled a little bit. There was really nothing that I could do. I had read someplace that one has to prepare for the enemy's intentions. You can't control what someone else will do, but you can prepare for the possibilities. We had done that. All we could do now was wait.
   I'm not so nervous anymore. Obviously I would prefer that this guy gets caught and put away somewhere before anything else happens. Since that isn't an option I'm as prepared as I can be. I just hope I can be calm, cool and collected if it does happen.
  We'll see......