$200,000 to be a psychiatrist yet nothing taught me more about people than working retail pharmacy for $4.25 an hour.
“There's not a white man in America who would trade places with me, and I'm rich!” - Chris Rock
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The Customer Ain’t Always Right
Almost every week for months, Dorothy would come into the store and give me absolute hell. (My Momma told me to always be nice so her hatred was unwarranted.) She’d grab the weekly sales flyer near the front and walk the store looking for deals. By the time she was ready for checkout, she’d intentionally wait in my line and there was ALWAYS an issue. She’d put 12 oz Prell shampoo on the counter but the coupon would be for the 16 oz. She would huff and puff under her breath. She’d always wait till the last minute of me ringing her up, ask for an audit “you rang this up at $1.99 right?” and then and only then, she’d take out her checkbook to write the check. Of course, she would never write “Eckerd Drugs” in the “Pay To The Order Of” line, instead saying “oh, I’m sure y’all have a stamp for that.”
No, Dorothy, we don’t. The worst day was when I corrected her coupon shenanigans and she proclaimed: “IF I WERE WHITE YOU’D GIVE IT TO ME.” Dear reader, Dorothy and I are both Black. And no, I didn’t give her the white people discount.
One day, I got tired of being her therapeutic outlet. I called her on her shit. I let her put all her purchases on the counter, with corresponding coupons. I calmly looked at her with a line building behind her, and said:
“Dorothy. You have never been happy with how I check you out. So before we get started, if you’d like me to get the manager, I can call them now.”
She floundered and bloviated until finally saying “no, no, you can just check me out.” And I never had another problem out of her while I was at my original Lufkin store.
Moral of the story: The customer ain’t always right. In fact, most times the customer has baggage that prevents them from recognizing the humanity of the person serving them. We’re all in this together so don’t project your shit onto others.
The best lie
Eckerd was funny because our products were overpriced; the only benefit we offered was convenience. People would come into the store all the time and say “ugh, I can get this same thing from Wal-Mart.” To which I’d think to myself: “then go to Wal-Mart.” Instead, being the dutiful sales associate I was, I’d reply “yeah, I can understand we’re more expensive but you’re paying for convenience.” That satiated most people and for those it didn’t…we’ll, they kept coming so what does that say about them?
But the best Eckerd lie was the photo printing/photo lab services. Lordamercy: the amount of money we charged people for 3x5, 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 was criminal. We had a kiosk for people to label their film and drop into the Qualex box to be shipped off an developed. Each “set” was 25 to 50 cents (unless you used the occasional coupon.) Eckerd saw how much money Qualex was making and eventually brought photo-printing in house. They taught us how to mix chemicals and everything. Hopefully I don’t have cancer. But their big lie taught me something important: we can absolutely do more with less…we just choose not to. And choosing is hard. Trust and believe, I saw people on budgets make tough choices to get the costs down.
Ride-or-die coworkers
Lee! Shirley, James, Charles, Kim, Dax, Franchesca, Monica, Lance, Candice, Judy, Sheila, Paula, Ken, Clayton, Dolores…we did the damn thing. There was nothing like working the holiday rush: stocking merchandise, printing photos, filling scripts, and cleaning toilets amongst people who would cover your shift if you were sick and who invited you into their home. I was lucky to help open multiple stores in Lufkin and Waco and moved from front end associate at $4.25 and ending at $8.50 after 6 years as a certified pharmacy tech. They taught me the power of work friendship and shared purpose. Our 2025 culture lacks that shared sense of sacrifice in almost every industry. We’re more connected yet more separate than ever.
Today’s DEFENSE MECHANISM TEACHING POINT:
Altruism - according to AI, it’s a MATURE defense mechanism fueled by “the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others. It involves acting to benefit others, potentially at a cost to oneself, without expecting a reward or personal gain.” Good co-workers in retail take the fury they have with crappy customers and fuel it into meaning relationships with one another. There’s almost no stronger work bond I’ve ever encountered.
What are you going to DO with this information?
Be thankful: we take for granted how many photos we can generate with our fancy phones. Imagine if each photo cost you 25 cents. Would you be so tap-happy or would you spend time curating your content?
Check yourself: workers/servers are not there for harassment. If you can’t tip, don’t eat out. And they never set prices so if you wanna complain, go to corporate and leave them alone.
Get a retail job: I’m a firm believer that the world would be better off if every adult spent a year in either retail, foodservice, or childcare. Trust and believe that serving others is the fastest way to humble yourself.
Today’s main idea: treat others as you’d like to be treated.
I’m not YOUR psychiatrist,
but I am your Psychiatrist General :D
Everyone needs a therapist. If you need a psychiatrist (medication +/- therapy), I can help you find one. Call 988. Reach out to someone if you feel lost, depressed, or have thoughts of harm to self or others. It will get better. (Nothing I write or say on this site constitutes medical advice so seriously, reach out to your local resources if you need it.)
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Psychiatrist General Soundtrack
I love music! While the song below changes each post, you can click through to the running (and growing) Spotify playlist.
To Make Me Who I am by Aaron Neville: Y’all, other than like the deepest of bass voices, there’s nothing like a man with a good falsetto. (Mine is decent.) Mr. Neville is from my favorite city in the country and sings his ass off. Soul, warmth, love, humor…when you couple those things with vocal acrobatics (vibrato, melisma, runs)…it’s magic. Aaron is magic. And I feel blessed to have encountered his music at such an early age (thanks to my parents.)
