A former Walgreens worker contends that her store was so understaffed that she was sometimes summoned from cashier duties to work in the pharmacy section of the store—even though she wasn’t qualified to do so.
The video comes from creator Amanda (@djmandyd), getting more than 321,000 views on the TikTok video as of Monday.
Using a popular audio snippet featuring comedian Theo Von saying, “I don’t know what I’m talking about and I never have, I never really have,” Amanda shared her story via on-screen caption in a short video.
It read, “When I worked at Walgreens as a CASHIER but they were so understaffed they forced me to work in the PHARMACY and I was accidentally giving people unmixed amoxicillin.”
She went on to observe via caption, “Like those jobs are not really interchangeable.”
A 2016 article from Pharmacy Times discussed the dangers of what Amanda described. It noted, “The Institute for Safe Medication Practices has received numerous reports involving the dispensing of unmixed oral suspensions, particularly unmixed antibiotics, to patients. Most of the cases have involved pediatric patients who received overdoses of antibiotics when their parents administered the unmixed drug powder to the children. The community pharmacies involved had failed to mix the antibiotics before dispensing them.”
It then gave some strategies to ensure pharmacy workers follow protocol.
@djmandyd Like those jobs are not really interchangeable 🤨
♬ original sound – Theo Von
The video prompted a number of concerned comments.
One, also claiming to have worked at Walgreens, said, “HUH OMG I worked at walgreens and got sent to pharmacy a lot but they never made me do this??? THATS ILLEGAL.”
That led another person to claim that someone could legally do what the creator described, setting off a back-and-forth.
Someone else started with “LMAOOOOOOO” before claiming, “Fyi it depends on the state on what is allowed but still dying regardless.”
Another cryptically said, “My trip to cvs yesterday suddenly makes so much more sense.”
One commenter confessed, “While i was training i did this one time because nobody told me it needed to be mixed until i asked a 2nd time and my heart SANK.”
Another claimed, “They tried to do this to me a few years back, I said HELL NO. They threatened to write me up, I said do it. Never got written up.”
Amanda did clarify, in a follow-up video, that she did have her pharmacy tech license, but asserted that getting the license where she’s from is a mere matter of filling out paperwork and paying a fee. She also clarified that the incident occurred a year ago while she was still working at Walgreens.
@djmandyd Replying to @Amanda ♬ original sound – amanda
For some, the video was a jumping-off point to complain about Walgreens.
One said, “Working at Walgreens (even pre-pandemic w/o worker shortages) was the worst job ever.”
Someone else noted, “Odd because I’ve tried applying for any job at Walgreens and CVS and they are never hiring … yet are constantly short staffed.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment and to Walgreens via email.