For whatever reason, resistance to change seems to be built into our human nature. Or at least it's alive and well in my nature. There are some changes that I have learned to appreciate, like the changing in the seasons. As much as I detest winter I don't think I'd be perfectly happy living somewhere that didn't have all four seasons. It would be fine with me if the warmer seasons took up a disproportionate part of the calendar, but I would still want the change. And I enjoy the change of pace that I regularly have with my work. I know that I will usually work the same shift with the same guys. I know that the day will start out working in the lab with the drugs, the drugs will be delivered, the returns will be dealt with, & then we will prepare for the next day's work. But with all of that planned activity there are all sorts of monkey wrenches that can get thrown in. Sometimes our supply chain gets interrupted. This time last year we had major shortages because of two of the world's largest reactors were shut down. Then there was the volcano in Iceland that erupted & shut down all of Europe's airports. Every day we had a puzzle to solve to see how many doses we could supply out of our store of radioactive material. It wasn't fun exactly but it was definitely not boring! Another monkey wrench that can get thrown into the day's schedule is an unscheduled dose for one of our customers. That almost always puts me on the road to make the delivery. So when I clock in I'm just not quite sure what the day holds. And that kind of change I like.
But there's a different kind of change that's coming to our little pharmacy on July 1st. The location in the Big City has lost some of their business to a competitor. We have lost some business as well just by having customers run fewer tests. The Decision Makers have decided that the best way to handle this situation is to shift some of our business to the Big City location & make our location more of a satellite. Acutally the official terminology is 'hub & spoke'. They are the hub, we are the spoke (I don't know why, but that hub & spoke stuff triggers a SheDaisy song in my mind, "You got the bucket baby, I got the chicken..."). Ahem...where was I? Ok, the Big City location will be dispensing our first run of doses, one of our drivers will go pick them up, & then we will deliver them. One of our pharmacists will no longer be needed so he will be relocating to the Big City. The other pharmacist & I will come in, get things going & then dispense our second run from this location. That whole process is familiar to me because it is what we do when we have a pharmacist on vacation. But it will be strange doing it all the time. There are still a lot of questions in my mind about how other tasks will break down - things that are inherent parts of my job like returns processing & billing. At this point it is most likely that the Big City location will handle all of that so that our customers can receive just one invoice. This is not my favorite part of my job but one that I take very seriously because there should be no errors in billing. It might be a bit hard to let go of the control. And it concerns me that a part of my workload is going to disappear. At this point there has been no discussion of staff changes or cutbacks. That is encouraging. My boss also mentioned that he would like for me to be trained as our location's Radiation Safety Officer. This is something I would love to do. However, he is already trained for it so there is no guarantee that his boss will think it necessary.
It's kind of interesting. It's kind of an easy thing to worry about - is this the beginning of the end for our location? What if I have to work full time in retail pharmacy?! That has crossed my mind multiple times. But I'm constantly reassured that the Lord provided this job for me. If it goes away it will be because He allowed it & because He has a better place for me to be. It's all good with change when the Lord is the One orchestrating it!
2 comments:
I have always been resistant to change, it's good that you're approaching this with an open mind. I hope the transition goes smoothly and while some business has gone to a competitor, that it just means a bigger and better account may be in the future. For awhile Brad went down to four days a week and we had some nervous times, but things have picked up and he's almost too busy now. While we had a temporary cut in income, in hindsight I think for me personally, it was God's way of reminding me of how I can do just fine with less and to refocus on what's important.
Katie, isn't God so gentle & good to teach us things with uncertain circumstances? Hopefully those lessons lead me back to Him each time. My husband was only working 4 days a week for almost the entire time we were engaged & we were concerned. Almost immediately after our honeymoon & he got back to work he has had a 40 hour + overtime week (that's almost 2 years running!). And I think you are right - some things have to leave us to make room for the next thing. And this afternoon while I tackle an unpleasant task regarding the switchover, I'll be reminding myself that it's God's plan! Thanks for dropping by :-)
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