Work Work Work

Well now. Have been locum-ing for a month. Must say that working in various branches is rather...fun. The variety makes it that we don't really get bored of a place too fast (we would still gripe somehow).

Store check:
Guardian 1 Utama - Our 1st store! Busy but lots of staff so it was nice!
Guardian University Hospital - Very small store but busy due to UH!
Guardian MidValley - Another crazy-busy store! Can dread the queue if you're working alone!
Guardian Bangsar Shopping Centre - Waaa this store very affluent crowd one...all angmohs!
Guardian Damansara Utama - Quiet store on weekends.
Guardian Bandar Puteri Puchong - Giant-Guardian (think Tesco-Apex) branch! Unfortunately crowds come in at night which we don't like to cover.
Guardian Sunway Pyramid - Okay crowd. Shocking man the amount of students coming in for Postinor 2!!!
Guardian Tun Perak - Our current store! Quiet weekends that allow for rest. Pet peeve is the fact that we have to commute instead of drive, which means we spend more time travelling (and pay more).
Guardian Endah Parade - The only reason we covered this branch for Hari Raya 2005 was because as an IMU student it would be embarassing to not know this place, whatmore a student that has stayed in Vista Komenwel for some 3 years! Since we were familiar with the branch we didn't mind trying out for the couple of days. Only scary bits were the hearsay of nasty Chinese customers (which we didn't encounter).

That's 9 stores we've experienced working in in 1 year man! Of course 5 of those branches we only worked 1-2 days la but hey, most people are just stuck in one store for years man! The variety seen from store to store makes the job more interesting. 1 Utama and MidValley are crazy-busy branches at times such that the hours just fly by, while DU and Tun Perak on Sundays are great places to take a break from the hectic pace while at work. UH branch is fun because you get to deal with Group B drugs and prescriptions!

Also ya, working as locum hor, can be more irresponsible flexible compared to working full-time. Hours more open to negotiation ("Can only work till 5pm today ya."), don't do any much paperwork, work days also rather free ("Can't come in today ya."), and job description more focused towards dispensing/consulting only. Be the envy of the full-time pharmacists.

So, work as a locum must make sure work enuff hours to ensure got enuff cash to pay for everything in the month, must whore ourself to many store managers to find slots for us to work because our primary branch doesn't really need us much, must adjust to different store layouts so can find where most things are, must make sure we don't fall sick because got no MC or claims from panel doctors, must make sure got enough cash to survive if go on holiday because got no public holidays or annual leaves that are paid for, must make sure our contract will be renewed next year, must make sure HQ sends the required letters so enforcement don't come fire us all ways...

Work work work.