by Rachel Don Bosco
Counter Assistant – Regent Pharmacy
What is the definition of a FrankenChemist?
The Rachel’s Dictionary of Life depicts it as a pharmacist with a multiple personality disorder, who is able to be human by portraying both characteristics essential for when dealing with different members of the public and characteristics influenced by their main source of fuel, also known as coffee. Symptoms differ from individual to individual but may include bad jokes, singing, unnatural patience, talking to yourself and short outbursts of madness.
The FrankenChemist seed was planted into my mind after I was able to witness four different pharmacists in action within the duration of a week. I took notes as I knew that one day I too would become one of them (sharp intake of breath).
So who do I begin with? Probably with the man who is also known as… The Doctor… yes the boss himself, Mr Sunil Kochhar.
Sunil K. Kochhar
He was my first ever sighting and I could not comprehend how someone who constantly watches vines could successfully run a pharmacy and coach sixteen other local pharmacies at the same time. But it was his knowledge which intrigued me the most, and it left me wondering how I am going to be able remember so much. For real though, customers can come in with the weirdest problems and symptoms, and it is expected of the pharmacist to solve the issue with an over the counter product. And somehow he manages it, not only leaving them informed, but satisfied with the recommendation. Many times they have returned to the pharmacy telling me to thank the ‘doctor’ for his advice. But between managing the pharmacies, dealing with the customers enquiries and dispensing medication without any faults, tensions can rise and misunderstandings formed. In the moment things can be said harshly but once chaos dies down, Sunil makes sure that the misunderstandings are resolved. See Sunil, I can do constructive criticism, P.S don’t fire me 😉
Next up is Avani, with her pre-historic phone and her ability to make everybody smile with her strange sense of humour.
Avani Patel
And when I mean strange I don’t mean wacky or bizarre, I mean disgusting and vile. For example, I can’t even count the amount of times we have joked about each other’s bodily fluid. And you might think that’s overstepping some boundaries, but the customers love it! I mean the woman is pure banter. She can engage with the elderly and young in a way that I have never seen before. Avani lives by the motto ‘Everyone helps everyone wins!’, as she does not feel superior with the Pharmacist title, instead she mucks in with the rest of us no matter what the job is. This can lead to her getting in trouble with the dispensing stuff, but she makes the day go faster and the customers always leave happier. OMG she is never going to let me live this down, why Rachel why are you soo nice!
Then we come to Manjeet, who is probably at the opposite end of the spectrum!
Manjeet Panesar
Manjeet lives by the monks vow of silence, look it’s not his fault he’s a man and multitasking is not in their DNA. But his tough love has its benefits, by not being spoon fed every answer to every problem my knowledge on [P] line products has increased and I feel more confident to give advice. You can always count on Manjeet correcting you if you get anything wrong, and he will explain the right way of handling certain situations. Secretly he has an inner comedian just waiting to burst out. You never know when, but it comes out. He deals with the pressure of being a pharmacist, not with coffee but with a symptom I mentioned earlier, singing. Yes Manjeet sings, his inner singer is not as ermm how do you say..polished as his inner comedian but err its getting there?
Finally we come to my chemist mother the lovely April (aka tea, white no sugar), now lets take a minute of silence for this woman.
April Arrowsmith
She is quite the diplomat. As a pharmacist you have to deal with a variety of characters and April deals with them with a smile, and its genuine. Her motto would probably be ‘Kill them with kindness’, as even with the most difficult patients she can be so friendly and happy. I don’t know how she remains so calm with a store full of customers and prescriptions up to her eyeballs. But she quite literally keeps calm and carries on, although the dispensary can be left looking like bombsite as the aftermath.
So after observing each pharmacist at such close proximity and intensity I come to one conclusion, I have to build a FrankenChemist (everyone gets that’s me, right?). And when I do , I will give it Sunil’s knowledge and organisation, Avani’s witty personality, Manjeet’s teaching skills, and April’s patience.
