Omnicare... like the reviews you will find on indeed and Glassdoor, the people I worked with are by far the very best team members, friends and family it has been my honor serve patients to the best of my ability with. Management is listed as primary complaint by 1 out of three reviews, followed by understaffed and CVS trying to run wholesale like retail. In my search for a new Licensed Pharmacy Technician position, I found that my lack of training in any other position than staging has left me with a worthless piece of paper. Here’s what happened to me over 4+ years of service to Omnicare, abridged version.
3 month’s after my hiring
What would you do? A manager comes thru the staging doors looking for my manager and say’s good morning, after greetings, the manager who seems to be a kind person, concerned about my out of the ordinary frustrated demeanor asks “are you ok?”. I had just been subjected to my managers endless fat shaming of a colleague and myself by others who witnessed and joined in because my manager had the ability to do favors for those who he deemed on his side and cause major problems for those who are not. I told the kind and fair manager that I was dealing with racism, s-xism, fat shaming, p–nography and... the happiness fell from the managers face and she said “I hope it gets better for you” then she walked back out the door. The following week a general manager asked me to step outside to talk, after we walked down the loading ramp from staging. He said “I’ve always been a straight shooter, the manager that you spoke with last week reported to me and I will file the HR report, I will take care of it”. The GM walks away aggravated, back up the ramp, as I am trying to ask what report? He is hearing impaired and doesn’t seem to want to talk to me anymore. Several colleagues are watching this happen from the staging area and ask in unison what was that about? I don’t know the full story and they fill in the gaps about our managers long standing history of alcoholism and favoritisms shown to female colleagues he deems attractive and respond positively to his s-xual advances of harassment. I did not know that there was already an investigation going on into my managers use of lipstick models with s-xual provocative screensaver images and for showing off p–nography on phones by the manager and colleagues in his circle that see him as a role model and do as he does. The facility manager at the time is the same person that works for the legal department most likely responsible for handling my current situation. He takes me into the GM office for a conference call with HR, the GM is not able to make it. HR questioned me directly and only about colleagues I had seen or had been shown p–nography by. While looking at the expression on the facility manager face, I decided to say “those colleagues don’t work here anymore” and then HR said “ if you don’t testify, You could be fired”. I said “I didn’t even file this report to HR, go ahead.” The facility manager told HR this call is over. He presented the exit to me and told me to return to my station. From that day forward, I received no training of any kind and have systematically been crushed by several managers at the behest of my manager into doing more, for longer periods of time, by leaving me to do a three person job by myself. I was always on time, always completed my work with the team against all odd’s to get the medications to the patients.
5 months into the job
What would you do? You have been on the staging floor for almost 5 months, the manager comes to you and says “your taking the test for a pharmacy Technician license on Thursday”. You have had no training in any other part of the Pharmacy and haven’t been given any study guidelines. The manager says “There is a cheat sheet available”, my reply “no, I’m good”. After stumbling into the investigation of my manager a couple months earlier, several people came to me and said that my manager was talking serious trash about me saying that I am a bad person. I take the test after 36 hours of self guided study and wait for my results, the visibly angry manager comes thru the staging doors and glares at me saying “you passed”, my reply “Fantastic! What was my score?”. Manager “you passed”, me “seriously what was my score?”, Manager “YOU PASSED!”. Now, after over 4 years of retaliation by management, terminated in secret during a pandemic while on FMLA for being high risk and having PTSD... I still don’t know what my score was.
November 2019
A colleague finds that a bottle used by every one in that area for filling, has a pe–swith testicals drawn on it. The colleague takes the bottle right away to the manager as this is a clear sign of s-xual harassment. The manager proclaims loudly “I drew it, so what? Put it back”. The manager in question has already been reported several times for s-xual harassment in the work place to HR and management. The colleague blindly follows the instruction, the company shows the same privilege to management as the manager does to colleagues, they are granted special status and allowed to do as they please thru manipulation of schedules and actual hours worked. The colleague knows these things and more but he looks up to the manager as a role model.
A colleague finds the bottle on the next shift and has already heard the story from the other female staff that have had to either fight for equality or commit to the corporate way of s-xism in the work place. Seeking advice from other colleagues she decides to take the most courageous step that any employees takes. She’s young and smart, forward thinking, takes the extremely offensive bottle in question to another manager, they agree it should be passed to her manager for being s-xual harassment. The facility manager is distraught with anger over such childish behavior from a manager, legal paperwork had to be signed by everyone involved to protect the company from a s-xual harassment lawsuit, turning everyone involved into a victim. The colleague that had the courage to stand up to s-xual harassment should have been written a letter of commendation for being a excellent lead by example. Instead, another cover up to defend a long standing problematic manager that has no remorse for those he hurt along the way.
2 months after that event
A staff meeting was held to announce that a employee was released from service on the grounds of mental instability. I returned to my station in staging, my manager and a colleague come to me, makes solid eye contact, the manager says “ now we need to find the next crazy person to get rid of”, my response “go ahead, I’m Certified PTSD” this makes the manager and the colleague howl with laughter. I leave my station in shame and frustration.
There is a lot more to my story being filed with the EEOC, DOL, FDOH and OSHA the very best I can hope for is a settlement because cvs and omnicare both have major legal resources and I’m unemployed with a family to protect. Those of you that have been payed off in phase 1, there’s going to be a lot of anger and fear in your heart and mind... talk with others, you are not alone, you can get through this by using the same strength and it took to go to work everyday.
The healthcare industry will be the engine that drives the economy to recovery. Mask factories, machines and the life saving PPE’s that are needed now, will continue to expand in need for years into the future. More than 20 categories of jobs in the healthcare field are required to run a single hospital, creating a thousand plus jobs for each one. Supplies for hospitals, ATF’s, LTC’s and urgent care locations employ millions nation wide, along with delivery and redistribution of products to facilities. Healthcare will become a nation wide right to every person in need, equal rights for all must start with affordable mental and physical healthcare for everyone.
Do No Harm