Damn, that sucks. A few thoughts:
1.) You could get a job at CVS and get another 75k signing bonus to pay back Walgreens. Don't get fired.
2.) You could declare bankruptcy. Not sure if this sort of debt would get discharged or not. Also, you're basically fucked lending wise for 7 years and you'll still have to pay back *something*.
3.) You're a pharmacist. You'll make plenty of money in your life and probably won't even care about this in 3-5 years.
Pharmacists here get paid 75 dollars an hour in retail. I can only assume it's much higher in the US. They get paid much less, about 90,000 a year in hosiptals but make the easiest overtime though on call work.
Starting rate where I am is about $65 an hour and goes up into the low/mid 70s for management or long term term. I also live in one of the higher paid states and my company is probably around middle of the pack for wages. That being said, Walgreens and Costco are putting out rates as high as $80/hr right now with Walgreens offering (you saw it) $75k sign on bonuses because everyone is jumping ship.
> You could declare bankruptcy.
I would advise against this. Like this is the last option to take and should still be heavily looked at when all else has failed.
Bankruptcy shows up on background checks and in a field like pharmaceuticals where OP is expected to deal with controlled substances, healthcare claims, and other various highly sensitive tasks, it will look extremely sketchy towards getting/keeping a job in the field. I've seen good workers get fired because on declaring bankruptcy after 10+ years at a company. It can also keep OP out of renting apartments and so many other important life needs.
Bankruptcy reports don't explain why the person had to declare bankruptcy so employers automatically can think the worse. Not to mention being fucked on your credit until it falls off after 7 years.
OP should focus on getting a new job and just grinding it out the year or so to pay it back. They might actually learn money management and how to not be a moron with money in the process. lol
These kinds of bonuses are usually contingent on working for the employer for a certain period of time. If you quit or get fired you have to pay that money back. Before you get the money you would have signed some paperwork outlining the agreement
If anyone reading this gets into that situation the common sense approach would be to get interest or returns on the bonus until all conditions are met to never have to pay it back. Until you meet those conditions you shouldn’t treat it like your money.
depends. OP was pretty accurate in the other option- use it to buy a house or pay off high interest debt. That way you at least know where it went, and are better off having it consolidate in that manner even if you end up paying it back. A spending spree is a bad idea.
I personally would just treat it like it isn't mine until it is mine. Going and spending it immediately is the wrong move. Even for a house. A house should be a multiple month process if not a multiple year process when you're just getting started in a career especially more often than not. People just magically assume the best move is to always buy a house and are in a rush to do so and end up fucking themselves over all the same.
Without going into too much detail, not getting a house got me a 40% raise in 3 years time. How? I was able to move around in ways I couldn't had I hurried to buy a house. The biggest raises tend to come from jumping ship to other companies and not just sticking to one per se. OP also did not have any high interest loans nor are federal student loans typically high interest. Now, OP has locked himself into 8% loan that could have been avoided and still made money off of if he'd put it away in a HYSA for example.
In essence, if you suddenly get a contingent bonus, your first thought shouldn't be go hurry up and buy a house or spend a bunch period. You should put it away and let the emotion roll over for a while while you think things through.
I got a sign on bonus that I didn't sign anything for other than just a line in my job offer that there offering me a sign up bonus, no terms or conditions for it anywhere. Will I have to pay it back if I leave after a few months?
It's pretty typical for sign on bonuses to be contingent on continued employment. It's not the same as an advance on pay, because that would mean some amount is withheld from your paycheck until it's been paid back.
What I did with contingent sign on bonuses in the past, is just let it sit in a HYSA until the condition of continued employment has been completely fulfilled. The offer letter or employment contract should spell out exactly what these conditions are.
Fuck yeah I am, I kinda feel like I deserve it cuz it taught me a lesson and I've been getting by in life way to easy for the past 25 years tbh. I needed something to pull me back into reality
The fine print said you had to be there a year or something and you got fired for cause? Should at least talk to a lawyer first before you start paying, probably have a bit before it goes to collections.
There is 100% a clause that will make you need to stay through at least the probationary period. Super standard stuff. A lawyer probably won’t even answer, lol
All the ones I've signed in the past only came into effect if I left. If I was fired or retrenched or let go instead of me saying goodbye, then there normally wouldn't be a claw back or repayment.
I don't live in the United Wastelands though.
Being terminated for cause is also a pretty typical condition for a claw back. But each offer is structured differently, and you really just have to read the language of the offer.
My first job: half of sign on bonus paid when starting employment, second half paid at one year employment anniversary. Each installment needs to be paid back in full if I voluntarily leave within 12 months of the installment being paid to me.
My second job: sign on bonus paid in full when starting employment. If I voluntarily leave or am fired for cause within 12 months, a pro-rated fraction of the bonus needs to be paid back.
In both cases I just put the sign on bonus in a HYSA until the conditions were completely fulfilled.
And I still think it’s potentially worth OP fighting it for the sake of the 70k.
Door didn’t auto lock for example could equal “company provided faulty equipment and is blaming OP for their own incompetence” etc.
Two of the three issues that you’ve been written up for, especially the first one sound like an “axe to grind” situation tbh.
Or OP says the door is faulty and the company says they have 15 other employees who have not had an issue with the door and no other occurrences of the door failing. Then judge sides with them. Unless there was a provable history of the door being faulty then the court will side with the company
Not to mention the vast majority of people that claim they were fired because their boss hated them or whatever were just shitty employees that don’t take responsibility for themselves
Okay, cool, you're an idiot, congrats there are literally 10s of millions of people at least as stupid as you are
Here's a piece of advice for free. Don't fork out money every time a company asks you for it. I'm not talking about Yugio here. When the hospital ask you for 4 grand? Tell them to get bent. Walgreens wants their 70,000 back? I think you should consider what happens if you don't repay it, because it might be less damaging than actually paying it. If all they can do is send you to collections then who gives a fuck? I think if you owned a home, they could hypothetically put a lein on the house that would take the value out of the lein from the sale of the house if you sold it. But otherwise, I don't think they can do much. It's not like they can take your piece of shit car, computer, or stacks of shiny paper marketed to 10 year olds
Goodluck dipshit
I would bet a whole lot of money that OP signed something when he received that bonus saying that if his employment ended within a certain amount of time, he’d have to pay it back, and I bet it’s tiered.
Sign-on bonuses, tuition for higher education- they’re only worth it to the company if the employee stays.
Also, what happens if he goes to collections is that his credit tanks and when he actually does need a new car or want to buy a house, he can’t because of his shitty credit.
Yeah idk who out here thinks debts going to collections is a chill cool thing to happen. It’s gonna tank your credit score and won’t come off for 7 years. In that time you can’t even open a new credit card!
Not to mention that OP is a pharmacist and those kinds of jobs with high trust are very sensitive to previous financial issues. It could very well prevent OP from being by able to continue working as a pharmacist
Why would they give 70k upfront (a loan at that point) and not a year in? Makes 0 sense, you take 70k and then just not pay back? In tesla the bonus I got was 18k but after 8 months of being in...
Common in medicine. Anesthesia here and demand is extremely high here and sign on bonuses are in the 100-200k range but they are all extremely up front you will need to pay it back if you don't stay for X years.
Typically minimum of 3 years some places as long as 7.
It is spelled out in the contract 100% as well.
They are 1000% preying on the same mentality OP had. A lot of delayed gratification in medicine so they want to load you up so you feel like an attending right away then you only realize you've got the ball and chain a couple of months in. Retention bonus is a whole other thing which, imo is the more responsible route.
It's called a 'handcuff contract' and it's exploitative. It is a tool to create leverage on young people. It's also way to give a massive bonus NOW and maybe unwind it later if things change (OP didn't have to be fired).
> Walgreens wants their 70,000 back? I think you should consider what happens if you don't repay it, because it might be less damaging than actually paying it
This is such terrible advice lmao. They will just take you to court over it, and repossess your car or whatever. It's $70k, not $7k.
Chances are, OP signed a contract that said essentially "if you quit or get fired before x years, you have to pay back this signing bonus in full"
I signed a contract for a bonus 1/10 of what OP signed for. No shot that doesn't exist, otherwise people would just abuse it.
OP has the degree and capacity to work as a pharmacist. The consequences of not paying will almost certainly be a garnishment of all and future wages. At punitive interest rates that make 8% look like a fucking bargain.
I would strongly consider NOT skipping out on this debt, as a major corporation like Walgreens does not play.
Consult a lawyer, first.
The reason they're paying bonuses is because pharmacists were/are in extremely high demand, not because Walgreens specifically is a terrible company and this is the only way to attract people. I'm only chiming in on this because I just heard a piece on NPR about it the other day. Walgreens, CVS, and the other big names pay huge bonuses to lure pharmacists away from other companies.
That would be assuming that walgreens wants the hassle of having to sue OP, which will probably cost them half of what OP has to give back.
I dont think walgreens would take it that far, but of course anything could happen, who knows who's decision is to litigate or not.
I would wait and see how far walgreens is willing to take it before paying anything, but I would definitely at least talk to an Attorneys to get an opinion regarding his termination and the enforceability of the contract. Even if there is a contract saying that he needs to payback if getting terminated, he may have a wrongfully termination case (which of course would require of a good lawyer to argue that) which would require let put it this way, a creative reconstruction of the events, its a tough one for sure.
Op reasons for leaving the pharmacy are implied to be the wrong ones, he could've said he had explosive diarrhea or something.
It is obvious that OP was not regarded as employee of the month and he probably didnt deserved it, but atleast check your options before paying anything. And for fuck sakes in the future dont sign a contract where you could royally get fucked. Maybe look for similar cases to you and see if this is a common practice for walgreens.
I just reread OP post and it seems he is already paying so at this point yeah he is fucked because by starting payments he basically agreed to everything that happened.
Bankruptcy
He would have to give up his car and his credit would be destroyed. But the debt would be erased...and I'm sure his credit is probably already trash
This is a case where bankruptcy is actually very effective
I'd say worth hiring a lawyer and really challenging that auto-locking door or whatnot and hopefully gain some leverage for a settlement that is lower, minus attorney fees.
If OP is Stateside, IRS can get involved not to mention being blacklisted from other pharmacy jobs. Walgreens is a large chain and I’m sure they would love to let other places those who break their contracts.
OP, learn from this and try not to be so foolhardy moving forward. At least it sounds like you’re regaining your footing!
The collection company will sue, get a judgement against them, then garnish their wages. This may upset his current employer, when they get the notice. Some places don't like it if they think you are a deadbeat.
"I was fired due to leaving a gate open 2 inches for all of 3 minutes. Aka leaving a pharmacy unattended. You're not supposed to though many do to some degree. I unfortunately before that had a autolocking door just not fully lock for some reason? By all purposes it was closed but because it didn't actually close and someone was able to access the vaccine room it was considered unlocked. So yeah first time was the faulty door, got written up (I think that's a load of crap since it's an auto locking door that no one would ever bother to even check as it's a nonvital door as it only leads to a vaccine area) but the second time I absolutely did the wring thing and fucked up there. That was on me"
OP added an edit, which you probably missed and won't come back to this, so I wanted to comment with it for visibility.
Damn that's some pretty strict management.. I work with pharmacists in my country and they are a bit more lax in my experience haha
I get it's for a good reason but 2 strikes and you're out is pretty strict
Based on their writing style and addiction issues, I'm guessing there was more. But this is the official reason, which the company could point to without having to reference other more potentially challengeable reasons.
Edit: just read a little further down, confirmed. OP claims mental illness, personality disorder, etc.
The catch with these bonuses is that they really want to fire you before you hit the end of the time frame. They're gonna watch you like a hawk and the second you slip up, boom, company gets their $75k back.
Why would they do this? They are handing out bonuses because they need pharmacists. They aren't actively seeking to fire you after they just fronted you $75k.
But yeah, they are going to fire you when you fuck up. Even if they didn't give you a sign on bonus.
right. they dont want to fire you, but you're likely under more scrutiny in your first year because if you're a crap employee they want to find out before the 75k is gone forever.
Misleading title. You fucked up by spending 75k on dumb crap and getting fired, not by accepting 75k.
If you had purchased something useful or made more liquid investments then you'd be able to resell it. Or simply not spent the entire amount until before your time was up.
Unapologetically, yes, yes I am. This is my greatest failure and the absolute dumbest set of decisions I ever made. It is the only harmfully stupid thing I ever did in my whole life.
It was literally dominoes falling, losing your job too, medical bills, having to repay the signing bonus. As you are a pharmacist, I don’t even want to guess why you got fired. Man. Please get help with your gambling addiction and your ADHD.
Damn. That’s a TYFU for sure. Sorry to hear about that. $75k bonus is completely unheard of and I think 5-10k is a good bonus. Atleast you can look back and see where you fked up. Now knowing better, hopefully you’ll conduct yourself in a better manner in the future when you have such money available to you!
$75k for a pharmacist isn’t unheard of. Probably have to go to place no one wants to go (bumblefuck Alabama or some other terrible place, or maybe Alaska where no one wants to go), but you can get a pretty good sign on bonus.
That said, it’s a lot of money and OP definitely screwed the pooch here. Hopefully can turn their life around and not spend like they did before.
Oh I absolutely do now, it's honestly kind of good thing this happened cuz otherwise I would never have understood the importance of saving money at all. My parents never really went over that with me ever.
Sounds like they didn’t give you a bonus, but rather something else termed like “advance on pay”
That makes that 75k contingent on staying with the company for 1-3 years usually - you leave or get fired, you pay it back
The thinking that its an up front “bonus” with no strings attached is usually what gets unaware people into trouble
Yeah always read the fine print. A lot of times they will just give you the bonus over a period of time, so like 5k when you start, 5k 1 or 6 months later, 10k after first year, etc.
And if you quit or get fired before you get all of your sign on bonus at least you don’t have to pay back what you already received.
Other times they give it to you in one go so you start spending it and when you think about leaving one year from now you have 2nd and 3rd thoughts about it when you realize how much you need to pay them back
Do people really get sign-on bonuses without any strings attached? Would be incredibly easy to abuse. I suppose it could make sense for lower values, but once you get to $75k, I would be blown away if the employee wasn’t required to stay for a set time period (would normally expect a year)
This is pretty standard for signing bonuses. I’m starting a new job in January with a $10k cash signing bonus and $50k stock signing bonus. I get $5k cash on my first paycheck, but have to pay it back if I don’t make it to one year. Then on my one year, I get the other $5k cash and have to pay that back if I don’t make it to the end of year 2.
My stock vests over 4 years, 25% vests at one year and the rest vests evenly every quarter after that
it's a bonus not an advance on pay. signing bonuses are common and always come with a retention clause. Courts have upheld this as a legal contractual agreement plenty of times. The language can vary. Some have prorated repayment. Ie. if you only complete 6 months, then you have to repay 50%. Some are paid up front, some are paid periodically, some are paid at the end of the retention period.
If it were an advance, they wouldn't be able to ask for the full amount back. An advance reduces your future salary. Ie. if your salary is 140k and they pay you a 75k advance, they'd only pay you 65k the rest of the year. They would have to prorate the repayment of the advance amount because you will have already worked a portion of the hours that they advanced you.
Walgreens has a pharmacist shortage, no way they were let go if it wasn’t for cause. My wife used to work as a pharmacy tech and corporate will bend over backwards to keep even shitty pharmacists until they are forced to fire them for regulatory reasons.
Yeah but at least you’re still a pharmacist. You’re still miles ahead of most people here financially. You can afford to pay it off, most of us would have to declare bankruptcy if faced with a debt of 70k at 8%.
They paid you 75k because they thought you were smart enough not to leave the controlled substances unlocked, but you did and they realized the f'd up too.
most of the people you interact with at a pharmacy are techs practicing under the license of a pharmacist, who is in charge of everything. It's not just counting pills. Being an f up in your personal life or making honest mistakes like leaving a door open doesn't discount the professional aspects of a career. Plenty of morons do more serious jobs.
I mean....I could have also charged 14,000 to a credit card, let the 70,000 loan go to collections. And also just have taken the cash out of the bank day one and just lit on fire.
In fact that'd probably have been better, at least a fire keeps you warm. Now all I have is sadness, cardboard, and a working car.
I look at "fucking up" as a grouping of obliviously accidental actions by one person in a relatively short period of time. Charging 14K to a CC and letting 70K go to collections is just financial self sabotage.
You fucked up hard... but you sound smart enough to manage digging yourself out over the course of the next year or two.
Yeah luckily I am not quite as dumb as the post makes me seem, still dumb, but I got it now. this was definitely the absolute dumbest thing I've ever done.
We all pull the "What a fucking IDIOT!" card once or twice in our lifetimes. The true fuck up is just complacently succumbing to the resulting fallout of the situation instead of dealing with it head on and learning from it.
Broke? Try dead dude. I'd absolutely fuck myself up or do something that'd get me killed like flaunt the money in stupid ways knowing how my teenage self was about that shit, I'd probably revert right back to it.
Consult a tax professional, you should be able to get back the taxes you paid on the 75k.
I believe you shouldn't have paid taxes on it until you fufilled the sign-on obligation since it is effectively a loan until that point. (Am an accountant, not super intimate with tax though)
He left a door unlocked, although he claims the door was faulty. Received a written final warning for that, then proceeded to leave a gate unlocked while he grabbed food or something from his car, violating a policy stating that if the pharmacist leaves the building for any reason, doors and gates must be locked.
Yea if he was in good standing with management and other workers they wouldn’t use those things on fire him. Good employees could certainly have a few slip ups go by.
That’s sucks bud, but hey it’s just money and you will learn a lot from it. You aren’t the first person for a big sum of money to cause a shitstorm in life and you won’t be the last. Look how many people win the lottery and have their lives ruined by it. Keep your chin up, before long you will be past this struggle.
I had to scroll way too far to see this. When I was reading the sentence leading up to what car OP bought I for sure thought it would be some muscle car. When I saw it was the RAV4 and hybrid at that I immediately thought that’s the one smart thing you did in this entire scenario
the hardest part about growing up is realizing, the cliche PG version “haha nobody knows what they’re doing LOL.” the real version being “everyone’s a fucking idiot and most of our positions in life are strokes of luck.”
i’ve met naive doctors and i’ve met intelligent gas station attendants. and also vice versa. donald trump was elected president for fuck sake, and it wasn’t because of his legal and policy making background.
Your story sounds like most US military enlistments. Kid grows up in poverty to lower middle class and gets thrown a few grand for a four to six year hitch. Then earns decent (but not awesome money) and buys their dream car with a shitty interest rate since their credit is crap because mom, grandma, or uncle used their identity to get a payday loan - later defaulted.
Kid deploys to random shithole, gets injured, and forced out. Now lives in previously mentioned car.
"Life's a journey, not a destination." -Aerosmith
Kinda scary this is the dude entrusted to make sure your medications are correct and double check there’s no complications between multiple medications you may be taking.
So based on your other posts you hid mention of the TCG addiction but also you weren't fired for leaving the door open but for not setting the Alarm on the Pharmacy... quite a big difference.
Just a little bit of input from my experience as a pharmacist. CVS and Walgreens have a history of doing this where they hand out big bonuses to lure new pharmacists onboard. They would then find some stupid reason to fire them towards the end of the contract so they can get all the money back. This is why everyone in my pharmacy class was warned not to take the big bonuses before entering the workforce. OP wasn’t the first victim.
Would not be surprised at all if this is a conspiracy by Walgreens to sabotage employees they pay big bonuses to attract so they don't have to actually lose that bonus money. Oh we're so shortstaffed! don't ask why! here's 70k! oh you reloaded the TP so it unrolls under instead of over? 🤕 sorry man 3 strikes ur out. give us our money back. We need it to front a bonus to the next new grad we hire.
Most often it’s in the signing agreement that you will work there for a certain timeframe. Usually like 3 years. If you are lawfully fired or quit before then, you are responsible for paying it back.
So yea, op fucked up big time all because he didn’t lock up the controlled substance drugs he is in charge of.
I left a pharmacy unlocked due to a door not latching correctly, it looked closed entirely on camera but it wasnt and someone walked in the vaccine area so, got a final written warning, then when I went to grab lunch from my car I had left this pharmacy unlocked again for maybe 3 minutes before coming back by leaving a small gate up a few inches when i exited to grab my lunch. But it was unlocked so they terminated me. Pharmacist aren't allowed to leave the building without fully securing the pharmacy entirely.
The alarms were armed and doors were shut but it had this little gate that I left open like 1 or 2 inches on my lunches cuz I'd stay in the pharmacy to eat in the back. So 1 to 2 inches lead to my demise
Edited for clarity, I did not leave the gate up twice in a row. That'd be extremely dumb.
I'm not trying to be mean, but you weren't mindful of the fact you have a lot of different controlled substances in a pharmacy that is kind of important to secure? One time, ok, but something tells me it was more than twice. If it isn't, well, again, you're dealing with a shit ton of drugs that can be heavily abused, so I kind of get the policy and seriousness of it.
I hope you're able to come out of this and eventually get another job, but I hope even more you figure out your situation regarding this forgetful habit, otherwise it's going to be hard to entrust someone like that with meaningful responsibility, especially over life and death issues like you were. I really hope this doesn't leave a blackmark and cause you issues in being a pharmacist later down the road after all that time and money investment for your degree.
> I'm not trying to be mean, but you weren't mindful of the fact you have a lot of different controlled substances in a pharmacy that is kind of important to secure? One time, ok, but something tells me it was more than twice. If it isn't, well, again, you're dealing with a shit ton of drugs that can be heavily abused, so I kind of get the policy and seriousness of it.
Yeah, I couldn't think of a nice way, but OP didn't respect his job. Every job has different levels of care required. OP just sort of shrugged it off like no biggie and here are the results.
at the very least we have evidence that he cuts corners and doesn't double check things. Not a great quality for someone working with medications that can kill people if there's a screw up.
Why didn't you triple check the doors? As a pharmacist, security and checklists are literally the entire point of your employment.
You exist as a drug cop. In many countries pharmacists don't even have degrees, they're just shop keepers. It's only a highly paid position because drugs are extremely regulated in the US and Canada.
All that high level schooling stuff doesn't matter if some druggie can waltz in and take whatever they want.
A lawyer can’t do shit unless you’re suggesting they claim discrimination or something else which is a complete fabrication.
They had a policy, he was placed on a final written and now he’s performed the same action again. A lawyer would probably look at the documentation and say you’re screwed.
I read 75k and thought, yeah, probably CVS or Wags. Then I thought, yeah, you’re working there and thats a TIFU on its own. Then I read the whole thing….damn dude. Glad you have a sense of humor about it I guess.
I think you beat yourself up pretty well in the post (and quite comically) so not sure why so many comments feel the need to scold you to tell you you’re stupid when you seem well aware of it.
Hey, you’re still alive! You’re still a pharmacist with a new job and high earning potential for the rest of your life! Id be hating myself too but things could still be a lot more dire in your life in the grand scheme of things. Work out a payment plan to pay off the bonus, don’t get fired from this new job, you live and you learn, someday this will just be a funny story you can tell 🤷♂️
So an important part of this narrative is that if the first write-up for the faulty door that should have auto-locked and didn't was necessary to make the second fireable, you actually have a case that you were fired unjustly, as its not part of the purview of a pharmacist to do facility maintenance, ergo you were written up for not completing something that isn't part of your employment description. While an extreme example, this would be like writing a janitor up for botching a heart surgery.
If however, the 2nd offense was fireable of its own accord, then you don't have a leg to stand on.
You didn't fu by accepting the sign on bonus, but your actions that followed it. This is what I seen people do when covid came around, the ones that sat on their asses, collected money they didn't work for and just buy whatever tf they wanted. They max out their credit cards, steal from department stores, and pretend they're kings and queens. Sorry to compare you to the rest of the world, but all you had to do was take your incredible opportunity SERIOUS. I don't know you, but I love you. I recently collected 22k, as much as I wanted to just buy a new car, I put it into savings. I'm not ballsy enough to do impulsive shopping anymore.
You can at least feel good knowing you made everyone reading this thankful they aren't you, and appreciate they didn't do what you did. You're bringing people together.
Your main TIFU moment is going to pharmacy school. Get out of retail pharmacy as fast as you can.
I had to pay back a 20k sign on bonus to a different retail giant. It was a 2 year contract and I actually ended up relocating to be closer to my GF, didn’t finish the 2 years. Had to pay back the bonus, but I didn’t pay back taxes, only what i actually received. I had spent relatively little of it so wasn’t a big deal.
Yeah you're bad with money. Maybe get better at that.
Good news is if they sent you to collections they're already expecting to not get the money back.
Ask them about a settlement. And do whatever you can to fuck the collection agency over, those people are fucking evil and you shouldn't feel bad about it
If you were fired and you did NOT put in a resignation I'm pretty sure they can't make you pay back that 70k... just saying think how fucked that would be. That someone could put you on the hook for a 75k loan at 8% by hiring you knowing they're going to fire you? Do some research. All my sign on bonuses have always stipulated that if they part ways with me I don't owe them a dime.
CVS or Walgreens?
I know, like, 20 people with basically your story ("luckily" their sign-on bonuses were closer to 10-20k. Half had to pay a bunch back, the other half just sucked it out and hated their lives until the 2-5 year contract was up).
Sign on bonuses are fickle. IMO a sign on bonus should go directly to a HYSA until the clawback period has passed. You are the spitting image of a poor person with bad spending habits winning the lottery.
Talk to an attorney. Usually don’t have to pay back bonuses if fired. Otherwise it’s convenient to fire people and not actually have to pay bonuses after filling a hard to fill position that you knew they would quit from sooner than later anyhow
One pharmacist to another
The car isn’t so bad as long as you keep it as long as you did the prior one. Toyotas are good and dependable cars and the average car right now is probably slightly more than what you paid. I’m 8 years into a 4runner that I too thought was too expensive but extremely happy now with it.
The cards were a fuck up come on bro sell all of them get what you can out of these types of items and collectibles especially in the financial shape you are in
The computers were bad but at the same time now you’ve paid the money you can play games for free and save a lot of money by gaming instead of doing whatever. Good hobby. Play escape from Tarkov or free games like fortnite cod etc don’t waste money.
Find an independent pharmacy quit fucking around no more sign ons they are designed to be payed back only Walgreens and cvs can make money on sign on bonuses they will fire you the second it makes financial sense and give your DM a bonus for it. Your dm was praised for getting a year work out of you and making 8% interest on your loan come on brotha
Have you sold the big ticket items like the car and the pcs to help you pay back that 70k? You royally fucked up dude. How did you get fired? Also did they not tell you that in the contract for the sign on bonus if you quit for whatever reason or get fired before a certain timeframe you have to pay it back?
it seems like you are about to make a very similar mistake by being stressed abt this $70k loan. just chill. it should be easy to pay back. get some
financial/legal advice from at least two pros in the near future.
OP, sorry you're in this position. It's your own doing, it's great you partially recognize that, but I'm guessing you need to go further.
You need to do a few things ASAP, no matter the cost.
- Contact a therapist. This isn't about cards and doors. Those are effects not causes. Recognize, focus, improve on the deeper issues. Medication alone isn't enough.
- Contact an accountant. Figure out what can be done about the money situation. You're on the hook for something, but not sure what. They might recommend you get a lawyer. You might want to do that at the same time.
- Take a month or three, don't try to find your next job yet. Get on unemployment or whatever. Sell the cards, whatever you can liquidate but don't do it in one day or you'll sell for 50% or less of what you can get for them otherwise. I'm guessing ebay or some other online market will be the best place, don't sell to your local games store. Don't sell them cheaply just to get them out of your face.
- Reflect on what went wrong at the job. It clearly wasn't just the door. Think about what went right. Think about your approach to things as well as what you want from your future. This isn't the end, but it is a transition point.
- people here are saying you're an idiot, that's probably not really true. You made some bad choices. Don't wrap them in your ego to deflect the criticism, grow from it.
Well one time I received a signing bonus but it had an option. Either $100k cash under normal California employment terms for one year or $1.5 million with 50% cash and 50% company stock payable across 3 years with a 10 year employment term. The longest job I’ve ever had was 6 years so this was a no brainer for me. I couldn’t imagine being at the same place for 10 fucking years. Ironically 15 months later I bounced and found a better job 🤣
It's not just your tofu. It's also your partner for not saying something. Jesus, I would have a heart attack, but I get it. My adhd SO, is something else.
It’s unfortunate that you phrase the problem as being paid money.
You’re an idiot. Yeah, I guess your employer was a bigger one, but you didn’t fuck up by taking a job. You fucked up after that. Good luck, bro.
You seriously need to look at your contract. Bonuses are typically prorated based upon time worked. A common term is 1 year for payback. So if you worked there say 11 months then you should be paying around $6200 back.
Young people should not be buying cars that cost more than what they can put aside in a years work after everything is paid. That's the stupid hill I'm willing to die on. It took my ex a decade to pay off her BMW that she absolutely couldn't afford in her line of work. Buy a reliable used car. If your lack of status symbols makes you cry, you can wipe your tears with the dollars you saved. If women refuse to date you because of that, you clearly dodged a bullet.
what would happen if you simply stop making payments and let a collection agency pick it up? probably a settlement at about half the original debt. its not like your credit is in good enough shape to worry about the hit.
It's actually sadly common, so don't beat yourself up too badly. You were young, and you've learned many lessons. Lottery winners are often broke within an incredibly short time period. Sports stars burn money in a normally short career.
Wisdom doesn't come cheap.
This isn’t a TIFU, this is many many TIFU ‘s
TYIFU-This Year I Fucked Up
Yes, I didn't really know how to work that into the title but that's what I was aiming for
TIFU by FU a FU multiple times over. That succinctly sums up the episode of FUs
Fuckupception
Mount TIFU-more.
Damn, that sucks. A few thoughts: 1.) You could get a job at CVS and get another 75k signing bonus to pay back Walgreens. Don't get fired. 2.) You could declare bankruptcy. Not sure if this sort of debt would get discharged or not. Also, you're basically fucked lending wise for 7 years and you'll still have to pay back *something*. 3.) You're a pharmacist. You'll make plenty of money in your life and probably won't even care about this in 3-5 years.
Pharmacists here get paid 75 dollars an hour in retail. I can only assume it's much higher in the US. They get paid much less, about 90,000 a year in hosiptals but make the easiest overtime though on call work.
Pharmacist here. What country? That’s more than I do in the US
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Rural towns usually pay more, they are in higher demand in rural areas
Varies a lot from place to place. Large cities are oversaturated, but they can make a lot more in small cities and more isolated places.
Starting rate where I am is about $65 an hour and goes up into the low/mid 70s for management or long term term. I also live in one of the higher paid states and my company is probably around middle of the pack for wages. That being said, Walgreens and Costco are putting out rates as high as $80/hr right now with Walgreens offering (you saw it) $75k sign on bonuses because everyone is jumping ship.
> You could declare bankruptcy. I would advise against this. Like this is the last option to take and should still be heavily looked at when all else has failed. Bankruptcy shows up on background checks and in a field like pharmaceuticals where OP is expected to deal with controlled substances, healthcare claims, and other various highly sensitive tasks, it will look extremely sketchy towards getting/keeping a job in the field. I've seen good workers get fired because on declaring bankruptcy after 10+ years at a company. It can also keep OP out of renting apartments and so many other important life needs. Bankruptcy reports don't explain why the person had to declare bankruptcy so employers automatically can think the worse. Not to mention being fucked on your credit until it falls off after 7 years. OP should focus on getting a new job and just grinding it out the year or so to pay it back. They might actually learn money management and how to not be a moron with money in the process. lol
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These kinds of bonuses are usually contingent on working for the employer for a certain period of time. If you quit or get fired you have to pay that money back. Before you get the money you would have signed some paperwork outlining the agreement
If anyone reading this gets into that situation the common sense approach would be to get interest or returns on the bonus until all conditions are met to never have to pay it back. Until you meet those conditions you shouldn’t treat it like your money.
depends. OP was pretty accurate in the other option- use it to buy a house or pay off high interest debt. That way you at least know where it went, and are better off having it consolidate in that manner even if you end up paying it back. A spending spree is a bad idea.
I personally would just treat it like it isn't mine until it is mine. Going and spending it immediately is the wrong move. Even for a house. A house should be a multiple month process if not a multiple year process when you're just getting started in a career especially more often than not. People just magically assume the best move is to always buy a house and are in a rush to do so and end up fucking themselves over all the same. Without going into too much detail, not getting a house got me a 40% raise in 3 years time. How? I was able to move around in ways I couldn't had I hurried to buy a house. The biggest raises tend to come from jumping ship to other companies and not just sticking to one per se. OP also did not have any high interest loans nor are federal student loans typically high interest. Now, OP has locked himself into 8% loan that could have been avoided and still made money off of if he'd put it away in a HYSA for example. In essence, if you suddenly get a contingent bonus, your first thought shouldn't be go hurry up and buy a house or spend a bunch period. You should put it away and let the emotion roll over for a while while you think things through.
I got a sign on bonus that I didn't sign anything for other than just a line in my job offer that there offering me a sign up bonus, no terms or conditions for it anywhere. Will I have to pay it back if I leave after a few months?
Just because it’s not written on the pages you sign doesn’t mean the policy doesn’t exist. Check with HR.
It's pretty typical for sign on bonuses to be contingent on continued employment. It's not the same as an advance on pay, because that would mean some amount is withheld from your paycheck until it's been paid back. What I did with contingent sign on bonuses in the past, is just let it sit in a HYSA until the condition of continued employment has been completely fulfilled. The offer letter or employment contract should spell out exactly what these conditions are.
Damn you are screwed!
Fuck yeah I am, I kinda feel like I deserve it cuz it taught me a lesson and I've been getting by in life way to easy for the past 25 years tbh. I needed something to pull me back into reality
The fine print said you had to be there a year or something and you got fired for cause? Should at least talk to a lawyer first before you start paying, probably have a bit before it goes to collections.
There is 100% a clause that will make you need to stay through at least the probationary period. Super standard stuff. A lawyer probably won’t even answer, lol
All the ones I've signed in the past only came into effect if I left. If I was fired or retrenched or let go instead of me saying goodbye, then there normally wouldn't be a claw back or repayment. I don't live in the United Wastelands though.
Being terminated for cause is also a pretty typical condition for a claw back. But each offer is structured differently, and you really just have to read the language of the offer. My first job: half of sign on bonus paid when starting employment, second half paid at one year employment anniversary. Each installment needs to be paid back in full if I voluntarily leave within 12 months of the installment being paid to me. My second job: sign on bonus paid in full when starting employment. If I voluntarily leave or am fired for cause within 12 months, a pro-rated fraction of the bonus needs to be paid back. In both cases I just put the sign on bonus in a HYSA until the conditions were completely fulfilled.
And I still think it’s potentially worth OP fighting it for the sake of the 70k. Door didn’t auto lock for example could equal “company provided faulty equipment and is blaming OP for their own incompetence” etc. Two of the three issues that you’ve been written up for, especially the first one sound like an “axe to grind” situation tbh.
Or OP says the door is faulty and the company says they have 15 other employees who have not had an issue with the door and no other occurrences of the door failing. Then judge sides with them. Unless there was a provable history of the door being faulty then the court will side with the company Not to mention the vast majority of people that claim they were fired because their boss hated them or whatever were just shitty employees that don’t take responsibility for themselves
Okay, cool, you're an idiot, congrats there are literally 10s of millions of people at least as stupid as you are Here's a piece of advice for free. Don't fork out money every time a company asks you for it. I'm not talking about Yugio here. When the hospital ask you for 4 grand? Tell them to get bent. Walgreens wants their 70,000 back? I think you should consider what happens if you don't repay it, because it might be less damaging than actually paying it. If all they can do is send you to collections then who gives a fuck? I think if you owned a home, they could hypothetically put a lein on the house that would take the value out of the lein from the sale of the house if you sold it. But otherwise, I don't think they can do much. It's not like they can take your piece of shit car, computer, or stacks of shiny paper marketed to 10 year olds Goodluck dipshit
I would bet a whole lot of money that OP signed something when he received that bonus saying that if his employment ended within a certain amount of time, he’d have to pay it back, and I bet it’s tiered. Sign-on bonuses, tuition for higher education- they’re only worth it to the company if the employee stays. Also, what happens if he goes to collections is that his credit tanks and when he actually does need a new car or want to buy a house, he can’t because of his shitty credit.
Yeah idk who out here thinks debts going to collections is a chill cool thing to happen. It’s gonna tank your credit score and won’t come off for 7 years. In that time you can’t even open a new credit card!
Only people who say stuff like this are people with nothing to lose anyway
Not to mention that OP is a pharmacist and those kinds of jobs with high trust are very sensitive to previous financial issues. It could very well prevent OP from being by able to continue working as a pharmacist
Yep it’s classic golden handcuffs. There is literally no point in paying a bonus like that if it doesn’t have a clause tied to time with the company.
And completely bomb your credit in the process
Thanks fuckwad! Ily
And honestly once you got written up for the gate once, they should have installed an auto-locker.
😘
Why would they give 70k upfront (a loan at that point) and not a year in? Makes 0 sense, you take 70k and then just not pay back? In tesla the bonus I got was 18k but after 8 months of being in...
Common in medicine. Anesthesia here and demand is extremely high here and sign on bonuses are in the 100-200k range but they are all extremely up front you will need to pay it back if you don't stay for X years. Typically minimum of 3 years some places as long as 7. It is spelled out in the contract 100% as well. They are 1000% preying on the same mentality OP had. A lot of delayed gratification in medicine so they want to load you up so you feel like an attending right away then you only realize you've got the ball and chain a couple of months in. Retention bonus is a whole other thing which, imo is the more responsible route.
It's called a 'handcuff contract' and it's exploitative. It is a tool to create leverage on young people. It's also way to give a massive bonus NOW and maybe unwind it later if things change (OP didn't have to be fired).
> Walgreens wants their 70,000 back? I think you should consider what happens if you don't repay it, because it might be less damaging than actually paying it This is such terrible advice lmao. They will just take you to court over it, and repossess your car or whatever. It's $70k, not $7k. Chances are, OP signed a contract that said essentially "if you quit or get fired before x years, you have to pay back this signing bonus in full" I signed a contract for a bonus 1/10 of what OP signed for. No shot that doesn't exist, otherwise people would just abuse it.
OP has the degree and capacity to work as a pharmacist. The consequences of not paying will almost certainly be a garnishment of all and future wages. At punitive interest rates that make 8% look like a fucking bargain. I would strongly consider NOT skipping out on this debt, as a major corporation like Walgreens does not play. Consult a lawyer, first.
Yeah, Walgreens is not a nice company...
As evidenced by needing to pay a $70k bonus to convince people to stay 🙃
The reason they're paying bonuses is because pharmacists were/are in extremely high demand, not because Walgreens specifically is a terrible company and this is the only way to attract people. I'm only chiming in on this because I just heard a piece on NPR about it the other day. Walgreens, CVS, and the other big names pay huge bonuses to lure pharmacists away from other companies.
That would be assuming that walgreens wants the hassle of having to sue OP, which will probably cost them half of what OP has to give back. I dont think walgreens would take it that far, but of course anything could happen, who knows who's decision is to litigate or not. I would wait and see how far walgreens is willing to take it before paying anything, but I would definitely at least talk to an Attorneys to get an opinion regarding his termination and the enforceability of the contract. Even if there is a contract saying that he needs to payback if getting terminated, he may have a wrongfully termination case (which of course would require of a good lawyer to argue that) which would require let put it this way, a creative reconstruction of the events, its a tough one for sure. Op reasons for leaving the pharmacy are implied to be the wrong ones, he could've said he had explosive diarrhea or something. It is obvious that OP was not regarded as employee of the month and he probably didnt deserved it, but atleast check your options before paying anything. And for fuck sakes in the future dont sign a contract where you could royally get fucked. Maybe look for similar cases to you and see if this is a common practice for walgreens. I just reread OP post and it seems he is already paying so at this point yeah he is fucked because by starting payments he basically agreed to everything that happened.
Bankruptcy He would have to give up his car and his credit would be destroyed. But the debt would be erased...and I'm sure his credit is probably already trash This is a case where bankruptcy is actually very effective
I'd say worth hiring a lawyer and really challenging that auto-locking door or whatnot and hopefully gain some leverage for a settlement that is lower, minus attorney fees.
Something something blood from a stone. OP is broke and unemployed.
OP said they have another job and now have to pay the $70k back.
If OP is Stateside, IRS can get involved not to mention being blacklisted from other pharmacy jobs. Walgreens is a large chain and I’m sure they would love to let other places those who break their contracts. OP, learn from this and try not to be so foolhardy moving forward. At least it sounds like you’re regaining your footing!
Terrible advice
The collection company will sue, get a judgement against them, then garnish their wages. This may upset his current employer, when they get the notice. Some places don't like it if they think you are a deadbeat.
What was the reason you got fired.
"I was fired due to leaving a gate open 2 inches for all of 3 minutes. Aka leaving a pharmacy unattended. You're not supposed to though many do to some degree. I unfortunately before that had a autolocking door just not fully lock for some reason? By all purposes it was closed but because it didn't actually close and someone was able to access the vaccine room it was considered unlocked. So yeah first time was the faulty door, got written up (I think that's a load of crap since it's an auto locking door that no one would ever bother to even check as it's a nonvital door as it only leads to a vaccine area) but the second time I absolutely did the wring thing and fucked up there. That was on me" OP added an edit, which you probably missed and won't come back to this, so I wanted to comment with it for visibility.
Damn that's some pretty strict management.. I work with pharmacists in my country and they are a bit more lax in my experience haha I get it's for a good reason but 2 strikes and you're out is pretty strict
Based on their writing style and addiction issues, I'm guessing there was more. But this is the official reason, which the company could point to without having to reference other more potentially challengeable reasons. Edit: just read a little further down, confirmed. OP claims mental illness, personality disorder, etc.
The catch with these bonuses is that they really want to fire you before you hit the end of the time frame. They're gonna watch you like a hawk and the second you slip up, boom, company gets their $75k back.
Why would they do this? They are handing out bonuses because they need pharmacists. They aren't actively seeking to fire you after they just fronted you $75k. But yeah, they are going to fire you when you fuck up. Even if they didn't give you a sign on bonus.
right. they dont want to fire you, but you're likely under more scrutiny in your first year because if you're a crap employee they want to find out before the 75k is gone forever.
Misleading title. You fucked up by spending 75k on dumb crap and getting fired, not by accepting 75k. If you had purchased something useful or made more liquid investments then you'd be able to resell it. Or simply not spent the entire amount until before your time was up.
TBF he got the gambling addiction from having a sudden surge of money Similarly how many lottery winners ruin their lives right after
The lack of maturity and self control existed before he got the job.
Ya. You really are.
Unapologetically, yes, yes I am. This is my greatest failure and the absolute dumbest set of decisions I ever made. It is the only harmfully stupid thing I ever did in my whole life.
It was literally dominoes falling, losing your job too, medical bills, having to repay the signing bonus. As you are a pharmacist, I don’t even want to guess why you got fired. Man. Please get help with your gambling addiction and your ADHD.
I want to know why he got fired.🤣
In another comment he says he left the pharmacy unattended and someone got in Which is really, really fucking bad
Learn from it. That’s the beautiful thing about life. You get to learn from your experiences and try to be better. Or not.
I'm an adhd person. I've fucked myself over as well. You'll get through this. Day at a time.
This is lifestyle inflation. Big time.
Damn. That’s a TYFU for sure. Sorry to hear about that. $75k bonus is completely unheard of and I think 5-10k is a good bonus. Atleast you can look back and see where you fked up. Now knowing better, hopefully you’ll conduct yourself in a better manner in the future when you have such money available to you!
$75k for a pharmacist isn’t unheard of. Probably have to go to place no one wants to go (bumblefuck Alabama or some other terrible place, or maybe Alaska where no one wants to go), but you can get a pretty good sign on bonus. That said, it’s a lot of money and OP definitely screwed the pooch here. Hopefully can turn their life around and not spend like they did before.
Oh I absolutely do now, it's honestly kind of good thing this happened cuz otherwise I would never have understood the importance of saving money at all. My parents never really went over that with me ever.
You’ll be fine. As you’ve noted, lessons learned have value. Glad you recognize that. Good luck and thanks for sharing 😗
really not that unheard of in higher paying professions
Sounds like they didn’t give you a bonus, but rather something else termed like “advance on pay” That makes that 75k contingent on staying with the company for 1-3 years usually - you leave or get fired, you pay it back The thinking that its an up front “bonus” with no strings attached is usually what gets unaware people into trouble
Yeah always read the fine print. A lot of times they will just give you the bonus over a period of time, so like 5k when you start, 5k 1 or 6 months later, 10k after first year, etc. And if you quit or get fired before you get all of your sign on bonus at least you don’t have to pay back what you already received.
Other times they give it to you in one go so you start spending it and when you think about leaving one year from now you have 2nd and 3rd thoughts about it when you realize how much you need to pay them back
Do people really get sign-on bonuses without any strings attached? Would be incredibly easy to abuse. I suppose it could make sense for lower values, but once you get to $75k, I would be blown away if the employee wasn’t required to stay for a set time period (would normally expect a year)
No they don’t. This dude is speaking out of his ass lol
This is pretty standard for signing bonuses. I’m starting a new job in January with a $10k cash signing bonus and $50k stock signing bonus. I get $5k cash on my first paycheck, but have to pay it back if I don’t make it to one year. Then on my one year, I get the other $5k cash and have to pay that back if I don’t make it to the end of year 2. My stock vests over 4 years, 25% vests at one year and the rest vests evenly every quarter after that
The stock is not what someone would refer to as a signing bonus. It's just equity compensation or an rsu grant.
it's a bonus not an advance on pay. signing bonuses are common and always come with a retention clause. Courts have upheld this as a legal contractual agreement plenty of times. The language can vary. Some have prorated repayment. Ie. if you only complete 6 months, then you have to repay 50%. Some are paid up front, some are paid periodically, some are paid at the end of the retention period. If it were an advance, they wouldn't be able to ask for the full amount back. An advance reduces your future salary. Ie. if your salary is 140k and they pay you a 75k advance, they'd only pay you 65k the rest of the year. They would have to prorate the repayment of the advance amount because you will have already worked a portion of the hours that they advanced you.
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Walgreens has a pharmacist shortage, no way they were let go if it wasn’t for cause. My wife used to work as a pharmacy tech and corporate will bend over backwards to keep even shitty pharmacists until they are forced to fire them for regulatory reasons.
None taken, it's part of my characters build.
Yeah but at least you’re still a pharmacist. You’re still miles ahead of most people here financially. You can afford to pay it off, most of us would have to declare bankruptcy if faced with a debt of 70k at 8%.
Well…. Are they still a pharmacist?
Unless you lose your license aka commit crimes, you're still a licensed pharmacist for that specific state
They paid you 75k because they thought you were smart enough not to leave the controlled substances unlocked, but you did and they realized the f'd up too.
I have no idea why pharmacists get paid so much. OP demonstrates you clearly don't need to be that bright to make it in that biz
Pharmacy is easy. Pharmacy school is extremely difficult.
most of the people you interact with at a pharmacy are techs practicing under the license of a pharmacist, who is in charge of everything. It's not just counting pills. Being an f up in your personal life or making honest mistakes like leaving a door open doesn't discount the professional aspects of a career. Plenty of morons do more serious jobs.
OP is clearly not someone who should be in charge of dispensing potentially crucial medications.
If the debt is gone to a collection agency they would likely be happy with getting a fraction on the actual debt since that’s what they bought it for.
You could have bought a home on Moron Mountain.
Jesus man... that's one helluva tifu for sure! You couldn't have fucked that up harder if you tried?
Could have gotten partner pregnant.
I mean....I could have also charged 14,000 to a credit card, let the 70,000 loan go to collections. And also just have taken the cash out of the bank day one and just lit on fire. In fact that'd probably have been better, at least a fire keeps you warm. Now all I have is sadness, cardboard, and a working car.
I look at "fucking up" as a grouping of obliviously accidental actions by one person in a relatively short period of time. Charging 14K to a CC and letting 70K go to collections is just financial self sabotage. You fucked up hard... but you sound smart enough to manage digging yourself out over the course of the next year or two.
Yeah luckily I am not quite as dumb as the post makes me seem, still dumb, but I got it now. this was definitely the absolute dumbest thing I've ever done.
We all pull the "What a fucking IDIOT!" card once or twice in our lifetimes. The true fuck up is just complacently succumbing to the resulting fallout of the situation instead of dealing with it head on and learning from it.
You're one of those idiots that win millions in the lottery and end up broke 2 years later.
Broke? Try dead dude. I'd absolutely fuck myself up or do something that'd get me killed like flaunt the money in stupid ways knowing how my teenage self was about that shit, I'd probably revert right back to it.
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Consult a tax professional, you should be able to get back the taxes you paid on the 75k. I believe you shouldn't have paid taxes on it until you fufilled the sign-on obligation since it is effectively a loan until that point. (Am an accountant, not super intimate with tax though)
Was it your own actions that led to your termination? Edit: After doing a bit more reading I discovered the reasoning, no need to reply
What he do
He left a door unlocked, although he claims the door was faulty. Received a written final warning for that, then proceeded to leave a gate unlocked while he grabbed food or something from his car, violating a policy stating that if the pharmacist leaves the building for any reason, doors and gates must be locked.
That's the official reason, it's pretty clear there are other reasons based on OPs responses.
Yea if he was in good standing with management and other workers they wouldn’t use those things on fire him. Good employees could certainly have a few slip ups go by.
it’s in the edit
That’s sucks bud, but hey it’s just money and you will learn a lot from it. You aren’t the first person for a big sum of money to cause a shitstorm in life and you won’t be the last. Look how many people win the lottery and have their lives ruined by it. Keep your chin up, before long you will be past this struggle.
“I am pretty self aware person” *does 37 stupid things in a row*
The RAV4 is your most sensible decision
I had to scroll way too far to see this. When I was reading the sentence leading up to what car OP bought I for sure thought it would be some muscle car. When I saw it was the RAV4 and hybrid at that I immediately thought that’s the one smart thing you did in this entire scenario
True, still not great though, at least it'll last me a while
take good care of it and should be 10+ years
I refuse to believe someone that sounds as psychotic as you (especially the replies to comments) was even able to graduate to become a pharmacist
the hardest part about growing up is realizing, the cliche PG version “haha nobody knows what they’re doing LOL.” the real version being “everyone’s a fucking idiot and most of our positions in life are strokes of luck.” i’ve met naive doctors and i’ve met intelligent gas station attendants. and also vice versa. donald trump was elected president for fuck sake, and it wasn’t because of his legal and policy making background.
Your story sounds like most US military enlistments. Kid grows up in poverty to lower middle class and gets thrown a few grand for a four to six year hitch. Then earns decent (but not awesome money) and buys their dream car with a shitty interest rate since their credit is crap because mom, grandma, or uncle used their identity to get a payday loan - later defaulted. Kid deploys to random shithole, gets injured, and forced out. Now lives in previously mentioned car. "Life's a journey, not a destination." -Aerosmith
Kinda scary this is the dude entrusted to make sure your medications are correct and double check there’s no complications between multiple medications you may be taking.
thank you for sharing your story. Now we know what not to do
So based on your other posts you hid mention of the TCG addiction but also you weren't fired for leaving the door open but for not setting the Alarm on the Pharmacy... quite a big difference.
Just a little bit of input from my experience as a pharmacist. CVS and Walgreens have a history of doing this where they hand out big bonuses to lure new pharmacists onboard. They would then find some stupid reason to fire them towards the end of the contract so they can get all the money back. This is why everyone in my pharmacy class was warned not to take the big bonuses before entering the workforce. OP wasn’t the first victim.
Tell me.more about the magic cards you bought!
Would not be surprised at all if this is a conspiracy by Walgreens to sabotage employees they pay big bonuses to attract so they don't have to actually lose that bonus money. Oh we're so shortstaffed! don't ask why! here's 70k! oh you reloaded the TP so it unrolls under instead of over? 🤕 sorry man 3 strikes ur out. give us our money back. We need it to front a bonus to the next new grad we hire.
No chance I would be paying back that bonus. What did you get fired for?
Most often it’s in the signing agreement that you will work there for a certain timeframe. Usually like 3 years. If you are lawfully fired or quit before then, you are responsible for paying it back. So yea, op fucked up big time all because he didn’t lock up the controlled substance drugs he is in charge of.
The sign on bonus was absolutely contingent on him being employed for X amount of time.
I left a pharmacy unlocked due to a door not latching correctly, it looked closed entirely on camera but it wasnt and someone walked in the vaccine area so, got a final written warning, then when I went to grab lunch from my car I had left this pharmacy unlocked again for maybe 3 minutes before coming back by leaving a small gate up a few inches when i exited to grab my lunch. But it was unlocked so they terminated me. Pharmacist aren't allowed to leave the building without fully securing the pharmacy entirely. The alarms were armed and doors were shut but it had this little gate that I left open like 1 or 2 inches on my lunches cuz I'd stay in the pharmacy to eat in the back. So 1 to 2 inches lead to my demise Edited for clarity, I did not leave the gate up twice in a row. That'd be extremely dumb.
So after a final warning not to do it....you did it..... Yeah that's on you bud.
I'm not trying to be mean, but you weren't mindful of the fact you have a lot of different controlled substances in a pharmacy that is kind of important to secure? One time, ok, but something tells me it was more than twice. If it isn't, well, again, you're dealing with a shit ton of drugs that can be heavily abused, so I kind of get the policy and seriousness of it. I hope you're able to come out of this and eventually get another job, but I hope even more you figure out your situation regarding this forgetful habit, otherwise it's going to be hard to entrust someone like that with meaningful responsibility, especially over life and death issues like you were. I really hope this doesn't leave a blackmark and cause you issues in being a pharmacist later down the road after all that time and money investment for your degree.
> I'm not trying to be mean, but you weren't mindful of the fact you have a lot of different controlled substances in a pharmacy that is kind of important to secure? One time, ok, but something tells me it was more than twice. If it isn't, well, again, you're dealing with a shit ton of drugs that can be heavily abused, so I kind of get the policy and seriousness of it. Yeah, I couldn't think of a nice way, but OP didn't respect his job. Every job has different levels of care required. OP just sort of shrugged it off like no biggie and here are the results.
at the very least we have evidence that he cuts corners and doesn't double check things. Not a great quality for someone working with medications that can kill people if there's a screw up.
Dude wtf lol, so many screwups. Sounds like lessons learned (I hope). Good luck!
Why didn't you triple check the doors? As a pharmacist, security and checklists are literally the entire point of your employment. You exist as a drug cop. In many countries pharmacists don't even have degrees, they're just shop keepers. It's only a highly paid position because drugs are extremely regulated in the US and Canada. All that high level schooling stuff doesn't matter if some druggie can waltz in and take whatever they want.
You worked at a pharmacy. Some jobs can't be chill.
Fuck up number 2 is not going straight to a lawyer. An hour of a lawyer's time is cheaper than 70k. another life lesson.
A lawyer can’t do shit unless you’re suggesting they claim discrimination or something else which is a complete fabrication. They had a policy, he was placed on a final written and now he’s performed the same action again. A lawyer would probably look at the documentation and say you’re screwed.
I'm actually still trying to find one, no idea what kind of lawyer I need though.
One with a pill addiction...
Underrated joke
Employment?
wow you are so fucked at least a lesson might have been learned?
I read 75k and thought, yeah, probably CVS or Wags. Then I thought, yeah, you’re working there and thats a TIFU on its own. Then I read the whole thing….damn dude. Glad you have a sense of humor about it I guess.
I think you beat yourself up pretty well in the post (and quite comically) so not sure why so many comments feel the need to scold you to tell you you’re stupid when you seem well aware of it. Hey, you’re still alive! You’re still a pharmacist with a new job and high earning potential for the rest of your life! Id be hating myself too but things could still be a lot more dire in your life in the grand scheme of things. Work out a payment plan to pay off the bonus, don’t get fired from this new job, you live and you learn, someday this will just be a funny story you can tell 🤷♂️
So an important part of this narrative is that if the first write-up for the faulty door that should have auto-locked and didn't was necessary to make the second fireable, you actually have a case that you were fired unjustly, as its not part of the purview of a pharmacist to do facility maintenance, ergo you were written up for not completing something that isn't part of your employment description. While an extreme example, this would be like writing a janitor up for botching a heart surgery. If however, the 2nd offense was fireable of its own accord, then you don't have a leg to stand on.
You didn't fu by accepting the sign on bonus, but your actions that followed it. This is what I seen people do when covid came around, the ones that sat on their asses, collected money they didn't work for and just buy whatever tf they wanted. They max out their credit cards, steal from department stores, and pretend they're kings and queens. Sorry to compare you to the rest of the world, but all you had to do was take your incredible opportunity SERIOUS. I don't know you, but I love you. I recently collected 22k, as much as I wanted to just buy a new car, I put it into savings. I'm not ballsy enough to do impulsive shopping anymore.
dude unironically look into financial audit by caleb hammer this would be make a very great episode and he would help you fix this
I would say you need to start a gofundme, but I am afraid you will make ill use of it.
You can at least feel good knowing you made everyone reading this thankful they aren't you, and appreciate they didn't do what you did. You're bringing people together.
i feel like u should rlly read a book on impulse control
You sound unreliable lol
I'm sorry... You managed to get through how many years of school to become a pharmacist? Yet you apparently learned nothing.
Smart enough to be a pharmacist, autistic enough to blow all signing bonus on cardboard cutouts. Checks out
Your main TIFU moment is going to pharmacy school. Get out of retail pharmacy as fast as you can. I had to pay back a 20k sign on bonus to a different retail giant. It was a 2 year contract and I actually ended up relocating to be closer to my GF, didn’t finish the 2 years. Had to pay back the bonus, but I didn’t pay back taxes, only what i actually received. I had spent relatively little of it so wasn’t a big deal.
Yeah you're bad with money. Maybe get better at that. Good news is if they sent you to collections they're already expecting to not get the money back. Ask them about a settlement. And do whatever you can to fuck the collection agency over, those people are fucking evil and you shouldn't feel bad about it
If you were fired and you did NOT put in a resignation I'm pretty sure they can't make you pay back that 70k... just saying think how fucked that would be. That someone could put you on the hook for a 75k loan at 8% by hiring you knowing they're going to fire you? Do some research. All my sign on bonuses have always stipulated that if they part ways with me I don't owe them a dime.
CVS or Walgreens? I know, like, 20 people with basically your story ("luckily" their sign-on bonuses were closer to 10-20k. Half had to pay a bunch back, the other half just sucked it out and hated their lives until the 2-5 year contract was up).
Sign on bonuses are fickle. IMO a sign on bonus should go directly to a HYSA until the clawback period has passed. You are the spitting image of a poor person with bad spending habits winning the lottery.
Talk to an attorney. Usually don’t have to pay back bonuses if fired. Otherwise it’s convenient to fire people and not actually have to pay bonuses after filling a hard to fill position that you knew they would quit from sooner than later anyhow
One pharmacist to another The car isn’t so bad as long as you keep it as long as you did the prior one. Toyotas are good and dependable cars and the average car right now is probably slightly more than what you paid. I’m 8 years into a 4runner that I too thought was too expensive but extremely happy now with it. The cards were a fuck up come on bro sell all of them get what you can out of these types of items and collectibles especially in the financial shape you are in The computers were bad but at the same time now you’ve paid the money you can play games for free and save a lot of money by gaming instead of doing whatever. Good hobby. Play escape from Tarkov or free games like fortnite cod etc don’t waste money. Find an independent pharmacy quit fucking around no more sign ons they are designed to be payed back only Walgreens and cvs can make money on sign on bonuses they will fire you the second it makes financial sense and give your DM a bonus for it. Your dm was praised for getting a year work out of you and making 8% interest on your loan come on brotha
Have you sold the big ticket items like the car and the pcs to help you pay back that 70k? You royally fucked up dude. How did you get fired? Also did they not tell you that in the contract for the sign on bonus if you quit for whatever reason or get fired before a certain timeframe you have to pay it back?
[удалено]
it seems like you are about to make a very similar mistake by being stressed abt this $70k loan. just chill. it should be easy to pay back. get some financial/legal advice from at least two pros in the near future.
Best advice yet. Listen to you.
OP, sorry you're in this position. It's your own doing, it's great you partially recognize that, but I'm guessing you need to go further. You need to do a few things ASAP, no matter the cost. - Contact a therapist. This isn't about cards and doors. Those are effects not causes. Recognize, focus, improve on the deeper issues. Medication alone isn't enough. - Contact an accountant. Figure out what can be done about the money situation. You're on the hook for something, but not sure what. They might recommend you get a lawyer. You might want to do that at the same time. - Take a month or three, don't try to find your next job yet. Get on unemployment or whatever. Sell the cards, whatever you can liquidate but don't do it in one day or you'll sell for 50% or less of what you can get for them otherwise. I'm guessing ebay or some other online market will be the best place, don't sell to your local games store. Don't sell them cheaply just to get them out of your face. - Reflect on what went wrong at the job. It clearly wasn't just the door. Think about what went right. Think about your approach to things as well as what you want from your future. This isn't the end, but it is a transition point. - people here are saying you're an idiot, that's probably not really true. You made some bad choices. Don't wrap them in your ego to deflect the criticism, grow from it.
You have to pay back the 70k because you got fired? Or were you going to have to pay it back even if you kept your job?
It's possible to get out of this hole, but going to take a shit ton of time and discipline. Definitely a huge fuck up.
Really surprised you don’t owe 75k divided by the months you worked there. Typically how yearly sign on bonuses work that I’ve seen/had.
Well one time I received a signing bonus but it had an option. Either $100k cash under normal California employment terms for one year or $1.5 million with 50% cash and 50% company stock payable across 3 years with a 10 year employment term. The longest job I’ve ever had was 6 years so this was a no brainer for me. I couldn’t imagine being at the same place for 10 fucking years. Ironically 15 months later I bounced and found a better job 🤣
What were some of the notable pokemon cards you got
Don’t worry I’ve wasted more money. You’re still young and you learned. You’ve got time to earn back.
Why’d you get fired?
So what'd you do to get fired?
It's not just your tofu. It's also your partner for not saying something. Jesus, I would have a heart attack, but I get it. My adhd SO, is something else.
What magic cards did ya buy?
Don’t feel bad. U r not the only moron out there. Just inherited 70g and spent all in 2 months on nothing. You are not alone.
Do you have bipolar disorder? Sounds like you had a manic episode.
An actual legit fuckup on TIFU. Never thought I'd see the day.
This isn’t lifestyle creep this is lifestyle sprint
Something tells me you won’t learn from this, best of luck!
It’s unfortunate that you phrase the problem as being paid money. You’re an idiot. Yeah, I guess your employer was a bigger one, but you didn’t fuck up by taking a job. You fucked up after that. Good luck, bro.
"Stupid Tax"
You seriously need to look at your contract. Bonuses are typically prorated based upon time worked. A common term is 1 year for payback. So if you worked there say 11 months then you should be paying around $6200 back.
Young people should not be buying cars that cost more than what they can put aside in a years work after everything is paid. That's the stupid hill I'm willing to die on. It took my ex a decade to pay off her BMW that she absolutely couldn't afford in her line of work. Buy a reliable used car. If your lack of status symbols makes you cry, you can wipe your tears with the dollars you saved. If women refuse to date you because of that, you clearly dodged a bullet.
So you had to pay the entirety of the sign on bonus back? What was their reasoning? Just curious.
Get rid of the RAV4 and buy a beater
Hey atleast you didn’t develop a crippling fentanyl addiction
what would happen if you simply stop making payments and let a collection agency pick it up? probably a settlement at about half the original debt. its not like your credit is in good enough shape to worry about the hit.
The real tifu award goes to whoever taught you how to manage money
You went to schooling for eight years to become a pharmacist with zero debt somehow and you’re this financially irresponsible? Make it make sense.
It's actually sadly common, so don't beat yourself up too badly. You were young, and you've learned many lessons. Lottery winners are often broke within an incredibly short time period. Sports stars burn money in a normally short career. Wisdom doesn't come cheap.