The colleagues (pharmacy assistants) are very easy to get along with and kind. They help one another and patiently teach new employees. They are the only thing of value about the entire store. When someone is sick, the boss gives them a bottle of tonic.

Salary and working hours:

The advertised salary does not match the actual salary received. The company is extremely stingy and deducts bonuses and wages under various pretexts. You work nine hours but are paid for eight. The promised one-hour break is actually only a half-hour meal break, and using the restroom for “too long” during work hours will also be criticized. Each month includes seven full days off and two half-days off; the evening shift often requires overtime until 11 p.m. The three-month bonus can only be received after passing an “exam,” and the bonus allocation formula is not transparent. You must also sell certain designated products to receive part of the bonus. Sick leave is paid at half salary, but the perfect-attendance bonus is fully deducted, and days off cannot be scheduled during the first three months.

Training:

Exams are held frequently. The boss teaches classes (or suppliers come to teach), but the boss and store manager tend not to teach much, while new employees are expected to learn everything on their own. The environment is highly oppressive and high-pressure; you have to review your own mistakes to find the correct answers (which is quite time-consuming), and the test papers are collected afterward. Training relies almost entirely on experienced pharmacy-assistant colleagues. Apart from learning miscellaneous tasks (such as transferring inventory and parts of the system), you have to study the professional knowledge yourself.

Interpersonal relations:

Everyone is two-faced and very snobbish. Getting along with the boss, the boss’s wife, and the store manager is extremely painful; everything is entirely driven by personal gain (money). The three-month bonus also requires passing an exam—the requirement was not disclosed initially, and the grading criteria are unknown. Once money is involved, they make things difficult in all sorts of ways. They gossip behind people’s backs, seriously smear others, maliciously speculate, and disparage former employees. The store manager takes credit for sales and bullies new employees, appearing friendly on the surface while speaking ill of them to the boss behind their backs. They are also inconsistent in what they say, and the rules change frequently. Basically, the boss, the boss’s wife, the store manager, and the branch employees are all on the same side, and employees here are frequently subjected to unfair criticism. Many employees have been driven away.

Products sold:

Some products are quite controversial and often cause consumers to misunderstand them.