Sorry! It’s that time of year!
I haven’t written for a while. We’ve actually been very busy at work. A new doctor’s office opened in the vicinity and he works very odd hours… and lots of them, so he has been pumping a lot of business into our pharmacy. As well, the student that we had helping out has now gone on rotations, so we are down a body in the pharmacy. We are soon to have 3 vacant pharmacist positions in our general area within our company due to resignations and maternity leaves, and our script volume has increased enough to warrant another part time tech/student if not another full time one.
The thing that has irked me to write… is a situation that has bothered me for a long time, but seems to come around worse in cycles that peak right after Christmas. The bills start rolling in for everyone, and brokeness abounds. Everyone has something to complain about in regards to their finances.
I am a single parent. I have two kids, whose father doesn’t give me ANYTHING. Not a cent. I pay rent, childcare, utilities, groceries all on my own. All of my pharmacists are in marriages where their partners are also professionally employed. They earn over triple what I do on their own, not factoring in what their partners earn. They have regular bills, understandable, but it really bothers me when THEY complain to ME about how in debt they are. How their trip to <insert exotic place here> is costing them way too much, how their Gucci purse or Ugg boots were so0o0o0o0o0 expensive. The list goes on to refinancing mortgages to buy new BMWs , $10,000 credit card bills (on each of multiple cards).
I can’t afford to take a holiday… haven’t taken a week off work in over 2 years because I get paid holiday pay once a year… which usually goes towards paying off the accumulated bills that I have put off bit by bit over the course of the year, or perhaps treating my kids to a few new clothes. I really don’t want to hear about your trips to Hawaii or Florida or Mexico or Spain or Egypt.
My kids get their clothes gifted to them or bought at WalMart… I don’t want to hear about your kids’ Gap/FCUK/boutique type clothing.
My kids don’t have any extracurricular activities… we don’t have the money.. or the time. As a single parent it’s hard enough making sure I have child care during work hours, let alone trying to find time to schedule in some sort of extras. I don’t want to hear about how your nanny takes your kids to soccer, gymnastics, skiing, music lessons, swimming, etc etc.
If we get to go out for a meal, it’s to rotten Ronnies… We don’t go to gourmet sushi places… or where burgers cost 12 bucks a piece. We don’t drink expensive wine… then complain about being hung over the next day… . we drink store brand juice.. or milk.. and we don’t have dinner parties with 27 of our closest friends over for prime rib dinners every other weekend. I don’t want to hear about your shenanigans.
I am not going to argue that pharmacists earn every penny they get for doing what they do. I am also not going to argue that I should be getting paid more for what I do… but comparatively, I earn pretty well. What makes me so angry is that …. I live within my means. If I can’t afford it, I don’t buy it. I don’t even have a credit card… I got my vehicle on a lease. I could have probably gotten a bit nicer one if I had scrooged a bit more, but what I have suits what I need. I live in a rental apartment that isn’t a showpiece. I have hand me down furniture, that I don’t care if my kids spill on. We have everything we need… but it’s servicable, not luxurious.
I am the last person on earth that these people should be complaining to about their financial woes. While it’s nice for them that they have all the wonderful things that can be bought, I don’t want to hear about the debt they have because of it. Live within your means…. the more you have the more you spend? It shouldn’t be that way, but sadly society seems to say that the more you have… the more you need.