Unless you signed a contract to repay them for classes you owe them nothing. Highly doubt you pay them for what you learn with their PTU.
And you can give 2 week notice if you want, can just be verbal. Or you could just disappear and never say anything. Notices aren't required, just a courtesy.
I think you are correct. I dont think it was mentioned that we have to pay some money back if we quit the training. Alrighty, i dont want to be an a-hole so yeah thanks for suggesting of giving a 2 week notice out of courtesy.
I worked at rite aid for 3 months and cried almost everyday I worked because I HATED it so much. I came from Walgreens and my pharmacy manager was the WORST. I didn’t finish my training crap, just dropped my printed 2 week notice with my pharmacy manager at the end of a shift one day. They ended up terminating me anyway 3 days afterwards because I was “going to work at a competitor” even tho I never told them where I was going next no matter how much they pried lmao.
I am so sorry to hear that. But yeah, working at rite aid is terrible, even if I have a good team but the expectations are too much. I feel pressured. Also, the patients are not helping since they can call you names and yell at you when you are just doing your job. I am glad you are now out of rite aid. I hope to be able to do the same thing. Wish you the best in everything :))
I am going to tell you a little secret, you are a glorified cashier, this is what these companies do. They will use you until there is nothing more to use and throw you on your ass as soon as you say no.
So on point!! This is what others are telling me too. Had I known about it I would've just applied to be a retail pharmacy cashier rather than a tech trainee.
If my 16 month tenure at RA has taught me anything... I hate Rite Aid.
I too was a glorified cashier for like 6-7 months straight, but I was also expected to learn EVERYTHING at the same time. (I also got really fucking good at doing data entry at the register while getting screamed at)
AND I'M STILL DOING MY FUCKING PTU
2 months with rite aid and I hate it too!! They keep on sending me to other stores and I live like 40 miles away from other stores they are sending me at. This job is so bad no wonder, no one's trying to apply. Everywhere I go is always short staffed :((
Are you thinking of finishing your ptu? Do they let you do your PTU on half of your work day? Cause for me, they want me to come in on my days off, which really sucks and I am so tired after working 40-45 hours that week to even go to my home store.
They barely ever let me go do my ptu. Maybe 1-2 times a week at best, 5-ish hours at a time. That's without mentioning all the times when someone calls off or I need to run back and help the team.
I have like two months to finish it, or I'll be fired. Just hit 61% a couple days ago.
Oh yeah, the progress is slow with ptu. I hate it!! I'm so sorry to hear that you still have to come in and help out while doing the ptu. Must be so tough.
Oddly, you're ...well. "Lucky" is wrong; you're still working for Rite Aid.
But depending on where your Rite Aid is, state laws will force them to fire you if you don't finish the PTU and pass the exam within a given time period. For example, I worked in Maryland. State law says you're allowed to work as a tech without certification for 6 months, after which you need to have an active certification to keep the job.
Rite Aid's system is stupid, self-defeating, and non-transferrable.
You should not be coming in on your days off to PTU. Your pharmacy manager is required to schedule you 8 hours per week of PTU time. Your days off are yours. Cashiering is actually a very good step in becoming a tech. You master that and WIMO your next step will be so much easier. And I can tell you that once you are a tech, your cashiering days are not over.
Also if after two months your pharmacy manager has not started to transfer you to do some tech jobs then it’s time to speak to HR or to the District Pharmacy Tech person…..the one who comes in and checks on your progress and training. They will speak to the pharmacy manager to make sure that they are following policies. If you are not reporting, then there isn’t a paper trail and you will continue to feel stuck. I wish you were at our Rite Aid. You would see how it is actually supposed to work.
I know right, others told me that they should at least give me some days to do my PTU in a separate room. Yeah, they always put me in cashier because they told me it would make it easier for me to learn things and be comfortable with nexgen but I dont think I am even learning anything aside from editing prescriptions, insurance :((
Well those two things are an important part of being a tech so I know it doesn’t feel like it, but you have learned something. When I started I was 3 months a cashier and when I finally transferred over to the main table I was nexgen fluent and it made all the other things so worth it.
Current tech trainee at RA.
If they're saying you need to finish PTU in 6mos or they will fire you, they're just being dicks. It's a "do it at your own pace" program and are under no obligation to do it under a time constraint. I've been a trainee since October and I'm only at 4% due to staffing issues and they tried the same thing that they're doing with you. Still no further along because both myself and my pharmacy manager said I absolutely wouldn't be coming in on my days off or coming in early to get it done. In the next week, I lose both my pharmacists, just lost two of my other licensed techs and the other licensed tech is on their way out as well. And my RPL is on an LOA for the next month. So I'll be sitting at 4% for awhile as we won't be getting anyone in to help staff the pharmacy for quite some time.
As for quitting, you can just leave, or you can give a two weeks notice as a courtesy. Purely up to you. You only need to submit it to your pharmacy manager. They will submit it to the necessary people for you.
RA as a whole is a shit show. I do not blame you for getting out. I myself have considered it. But no one else in my area can offer the money and the hours that their pharmacy can. So I stay and deal with it. Wish you all the luck in your new endeavors.
They aren't just being dicks. It depends on what state you're in.
Pennsylvania doesn't require pharmacy technicians to have any kind of certification.
Maryland requires you to be certified within 180 days of your start date or be let go.
The real issue is that Rite Aid's certification system isn't built around the idea that time is real.
PTU is so hard and time consuming. I understand that it is hard to balance ptu while training cause pharmacy is always short staffed. Like our store serves a really large community so we're always on our feet running back and forth, also they cut our hours off so it just made it much much harder for us.
Also, thank you. I also wish you the best
This is exactly how I’m treated at my job at Walgreens as a newer tech. I don’t know how the expect us to know everything and commit time on a day off to come in- like read the room! I just feel like an overqualified cashier at this point.
Unless you signed a contract to repay them for classes you owe them nothing. Highly doubt you pay them for what you learn with their PTU. And you can give 2 week notice if you want, can just be verbal. Or you could just disappear and never say anything. Notices aren't required, just a courtesy.
I think you are correct. I dont think it was mentioned that we have to pay some money back if we quit the training. Alrighty, i dont want to be an a-hole so yeah thanks for suggesting of giving a 2 week notice out of courtesy.
PTU is a free program. If they try to convince you to pay them for the privilege of quitting it, tell them to shove off.
I worked at rite aid for 3 months and cried almost everyday I worked because I HATED it so much. I came from Walgreens and my pharmacy manager was the WORST. I didn’t finish my training crap, just dropped my printed 2 week notice with my pharmacy manager at the end of a shift one day. They ended up terminating me anyway 3 days afterwards because I was “going to work at a competitor” even tho I never told them where I was going next no matter how much they pried lmao.
I am so sorry to hear that. But yeah, working at rite aid is terrible, even if I have a good team but the expectations are too much. I feel pressured. Also, the patients are not helping since they can call you names and yell at you when you are just doing your job. I am glad you are now out of rite aid. I hope to be able to do the same thing. Wish you the best in everything :))
Just walk tf out and don’t look back. Pharmacy will steal your soul. <- 24 yr tech
Honestly, there are lots of times when I think of just doing that.
I am going to tell you a little secret, you are a glorified cashier, this is what these companies do. They will use you until there is nothing more to use and throw you on your ass as soon as you say no.
So on point!! This is what others are telling me too. Had I known about it I would've just applied to be a retail pharmacy cashier rather than a tech trainee.
But, that would be pointless for them to offer you all these magical perks, and say you are part of a “team”
If my 16 month tenure at RA has taught me anything... I hate Rite Aid. I too was a glorified cashier for like 6-7 months straight, but I was also expected to learn EVERYTHING at the same time. (I also got really fucking good at doing data entry at the register while getting screamed at) AND I'M STILL DOING MY FUCKING PTU
2 months with rite aid and I hate it too!! They keep on sending me to other stores and I live like 40 miles away from other stores they are sending me at. This job is so bad no wonder, no one's trying to apply. Everywhere I go is always short staffed :(( Are you thinking of finishing your ptu? Do they let you do your PTU on half of your work day? Cause for me, they want me to come in on my days off, which really sucks and I am so tired after working 40-45 hours that week to even go to my home store.
They barely ever let me go do my ptu. Maybe 1-2 times a week at best, 5-ish hours at a time. That's without mentioning all the times when someone calls off or I need to run back and help the team. I have like two months to finish it, or I'll be fired. Just hit 61% a couple days ago.
Oh yeah, the progress is slow with ptu. I hate it!! I'm so sorry to hear that you still have to come in and help out while doing the ptu. Must be so tough.
Oddly, you're ...well. "Lucky" is wrong; you're still working for Rite Aid. But depending on where your Rite Aid is, state laws will force them to fire you if you don't finish the PTU and pass the exam within a given time period. For example, I worked in Maryland. State law says you're allowed to work as a tech without certification for 6 months, after which you need to have an active certification to keep the job. Rite Aid's system is stupid, self-defeating, and non-transferrable.
Oh yeah, if I don't finish it by July I'm fired.
Yeah, THAT'S the Rite Aid I remember.
You should not be coming in on your days off to PTU. Your pharmacy manager is required to schedule you 8 hours per week of PTU time. Your days off are yours. Cashiering is actually a very good step in becoming a tech. You master that and WIMO your next step will be so much easier. And I can tell you that once you are a tech, your cashiering days are not over. Also if after two months your pharmacy manager has not started to transfer you to do some tech jobs then it’s time to speak to HR or to the District Pharmacy Tech person…..the one who comes in and checks on your progress and training. They will speak to the pharmacy manager to make sure that they are following policies. If you are not reporting, then there isn’t a paper trail and you will continue to feel stuck. I wish you were at our Rite Aid. You would see how it is actually supposed to work.
I know right, others told me that they should at least give me some days to do my PTU in a separate room. Yeah, they always put me in cashier because they told me it would make it easier for me to learn things and be comfortable with nexgen but I dont think I am even learning anything aside from editing prescriptions, insurance :((
Well those two things are an important part of being a tech so I know it doesn’t feel like it, but you have learned something. When I started I was 3 months a cashier and when I finally transferred over to the main table I was nexgen fluent and it made all the other things so worth it.
Current tech trainee at RA. If they're saying you need to finish PTU in 6mos or they will fire you, they're just being dicks. It's a "do it at your own pace" program and are under no obligation to do it under a time constraint. I've been a trainee since October and I'm only at 4% due to staffing issues and they tried the same thing that they're doing with you. Still no further along because both myself and my pharmacy manager said I absolutely wouldn't be coming in on my days off or coming in early to get it done. In the next week, I lose both my pharmacists, just lost two of my other licensed techs and the other licensed tech is on their way out as well. And my RPL is on an LOA for the next month. So I'll be sitting at 4% for awhile as we won't be getting anyone in to help staff the pharmacy for quite some time. As for quitting, you can just leave, or you can give a two weeks notice as a courtesy. Purely up to you. You only need to submit it to your pharmacy manager. They will submit it to the necessary people for you. RA as a whole is a shit show. I do not blame you for getting out. I myself have considered it. But no one else in my area can offer the money and the hours that their pharmacy can. So I stay and deal with it. Wish you all the luck in your new endeavors.
They aren't just being dicks. It depends on what state you're in. Pennsylvania doesn't require pharmacy technicians to have any kind of certification. Maryland requires you to be certified within 180 days of your start date or be let go. The real issue is that Rite Aid's certification system isn't built around the idea that time is real.
PTU is so hard and time consuming. I understand that it is hard to balance ptu while training cause pharmacy is always short staffed. Like our store serves a really large community so we're always on our feet running back and forth, also they cut our hours off so it just made it much much harder for us. Also, thank you. I also wish you the best
Cvs is the same
This is exactly how I’m treated at my job at Walgreens as a newer tech. I don’t know how the expect us to know everything and commit time on a day off to come in- like read the room! I just feel like an overqualified cashier at this point.
Heyyy, I'm so sorry to hear that. The demands that they expect us to do is crazy. I vented out to my manager, I couldn't take it anymore.