Bored at the Chemist's
Published on 07/09/2007
Monday, September 3. Afternoon. On the “to do” list there’s only one prescription to prepare: a mouthwash. Anything difficult or interesting? Not at all: 4% sodium borate aqueous solution.
Mind you, these days it’s pretty hard to find alcohol in any mouthwash, unlike the early ones which were often welcomed by dire alcoholics with severe withdrawal syndromes.
The prescription didn’t even say how many millilitres I was supposed to make. So, the most exiting moment was when TWO assistants (after some sort of stormy argument, maybe) said that, although we had to sell it in a 500 mL bottle, I could make between 300 and 250 mL. I chose the highest limit because, at least, the bottle would have looked fuller.
After only two weeks, I realised I’ve always been right thinking I’d have done anything to not work at a chemist’s shop for the rest of my life. I chose Industrial Pharmacy, rather than Pharmacy, because that was something I had clear in my mind even at the high school, when, fortunately, I had limited experience of chemist’s shops as a costumer, too.
The only difference between now and then is that I don’t want to synthesize drugs any more, but I’m going to be a molecular biologist.
On my first week, I’d admit, everything was new and fresh: the colleagues, handling drugs I had only studied, some hard, manual work such as tiding up drawers and looking after the stockroom. And the galenic preparations seemed to increase number as people were coming back from holidays.
Now, instead, I’ve realised what an impossibly annoying job this is. I’m sorry but I haven’t worked hard for four years to work as a clerk, placing boxes on shelves. And, to tell you truth, this is not even the worst part of the day. It’s when you have absolutely nothing to do, that it gets unbearable.
If you think it’s better as a proper pharmacist, you’d be wrong: yes, you are paid and, rarely, your knowledge of pharmacology has to be brought out but, sadly, these are very uncommon episodes in a week.
The fact that this is a very boring job is also confirmed by the huge number of absolutely stupid hobbies my colleagues have.
On Monday, I also saw Michael Moore’s latest film, “Sicko”. If you saw it, you’d probably remember he visits an English chemist’s shop. There, the man behind the counter says pretty much what I’ve written so far: he didn’t spend all those years studying pharmacy to sell, like his American counterparts, soap powders or washing-up liquid. Thing is that chemist’s looked much more “trustworthy” than the one I work at and, moreover, it’s just a job that I’ve always disliked because I felt it wouldn’t suit me.
All this long tirade serves primarily to make an announcement: given that I am allowed to do it, I’ll finish my internship in the middle of October so that I’ll be able to start my thesis long before the scheduled time (December). This is another advantage of having done the exams of 5 years in 4.
Although I’m certainly on holiday at the moment (even if I’m theoretically and officially working), a man can’t remain inactive for too long, can he? At least I can’t.
As I highlighted when outlining the forthcoming massive series of posts, the title for my frequent updates on the thesis in progress was likely to change and, in fact, it has: it’ll be called, following the success of French Laboratoire Organique, Molekularbiologie. I chose German because I wanted to emphasize how quickly and efficiently I’m ready to carry on the project.
Now, for what concerns the blog, given the lack of interesting stuff I can get out of my internship, I’ll launch a series of post dedicated to something I reckon to be one of the most intriguing I’ve ever seen: glass.
Stay tuned.
