Staff Photo by Holly Leber
Curt Coley says working with people is a plus on his job as he serves as a pharmacist at the North Market Street Walgreens.* Name: Curt Coley
* Position: Pharmacist
* Location: Walgreens on North Market Street
* First job: Mowing lawns
* Best part of the job: "Personally, I think the best part is my interactions with people, helping them to overcome their sicknesses, helping them make good decisions with medications they use to treat themselves. I've developed a lot of long-term friendships through this job and met a lot of very interesting people. I like being on the cutting edge of new medical information coming out, because lots of people come to us when they hear about something new before they go to their doctor, so we have to stay up on new developments."
* Worst part of the job: "Sometimes it's very intense, very busy, and you don't get to spend the time with the people that you'd like to."
* Why he chose it: "I always had an interest in science and medicine, and when I was deciding which way to go in college, I did not feel I had the financial ability to go into medicine. Dental practice was an option, but that didn't appeal to me -- the thought of working in people's mouths all the time. So I chose pharmacy."
* What he's learned: "People that I deal with oftentimes don't feel good. They come in here, they're not always in the best of moods. But I've found that if you show them compassion and caring, later on they're going to think you're a very good person. I try to apply that outside of here, too. If someone is in a bad mood and snaps at you, it doesn't mean they hate you. They might have something else going on in their lives. If you try to be kind to them, you might learn later on that they're really a nice person after all."
* How to make a career of it: Becoming a pharmacist requires a doctor of pharmacology degree, generally a four-year program.
-- Contact Holly Leber at hleber@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6391. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/hollyleber.