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Wardrobe for a Pharmacist

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Hi All!

Long time reader, first time poster.

I have been a pharmacist for almost 4 years and work in the retail setting. I have always loved menswear but started my career with Target where I was forced to wear a uniform (red polo, khaki pants). About a year and half ago that changed since Target Pharmacy is no more.

Since then I have been building a wardrobe that I am not getting as much wear out of as I would like.


Shirts: 4 SuitSupply MTM (1 solid white, 2 blue with contrast collars, 1 white with blue stripes (white collar), 1 SuitSupply white linen, 10 Sid Mashburn (3 solid white, rest are blue or white with stripes).


Pants: 4 Incotex (charcoal, blue, khaki, blue patterned), 4 SuitSupply (mid grey, charcoal, khaki, blue) 4 Sid Mashburn ( essentially the same colors)


Suits: 1 SuitSupply Navy Traveler, 1 SuitSupply Brown (winter weight) DB, 1 Suit Supply MTM brown SB (3 Season), Sid Mashburn Charcoal SB (3 season), Sid Mashburn Pine SB, Sid Mashburn Heather SB (3 roll 2), Sid Mashburn Air Force Blue.


Shoes: Allen Edmonds Mora brown Double Monks, Allen Edmonds Grayson Black Tassel Loafers, Allen Edmonds Lake Forest Oxblood Loafers, Allen Edmonds brown Dalton dress boots, Alden Brown Suede Tassel Loafers, Sid Mashburn Tobacco Suede Loafers, Tods brown Gammino Drivers, Edward Green black wholecut oxfords.



Ideally I would wear a suit everyday. Would I be foolish to do so? I guess I could and remove the jacket and replace it with the white coat every morning?

I do have an issue with shoes at work. None of my leather soled shoes are comfortable enough to stand for 12-14 hours. And all of my work shoes (cole haan grand/zero grand) look terrible to begin with and even worse with suits.

In addition these shoes get destroyed within 3 months (scuffs, scratches, creases, etc). I have worn my Allen Edmonds and Aldens to work before but find myself worrying about scuffing/scratching them all day, not to mention my feet are killing me by hour 10.

Should I just wear suits everyday and not be concerned about what people will think? Continue with the Cole Haans or start wearing my "real" shoes?

Sorry for the long post, just need some help figuring it all out. I would like to be well dressed at all times and am not sure exactly how to accomplish that. Should I just change careers and be an investment banker or an associate at WLRK?

Thanks!
 

ThomGault

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I think that you are the only one who can answer your questions. No one else here works at your job site, so no one else can gauge what is appropriate. How do your supervisors dress (or do your supervisors not work in the store?) Try using them as a guide, as it's probably not wise to out-dress them. You must determine if dressing in suits is bad for your career. Otherwise, decide if looking good is worth more than a few odd looks you receive.

Regarding shoes, what is causing them to be destroyed so quickly? You shouldn't need to be overly concerned about quality shoes getting damaged unless you're working in a physically dangerous environment, and a pharmacy doesn't strike me as such.
 
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johng70

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Honestly, there is no benefit to wearing a suit to work - you have to remove the jacket anyway for your coat. All you'll do is put wear and tear on expensive suit bottoms and you really don't want to dry clean the pants without the jacket as you want to keep them looking the same.

As for shoes - you've already experienced that standing for 12 hours in dress shoes is less than ideal. Plus you are paranoid about messing up your shoes.

I wear dress shoes because I work in an office. I have associates that work in our plants - if I was doing that and out on plant floors quite a bit, dress shoes would be silly. Being uncomfortable is sometimes necessary - in your situation it isn't. You're causing yourself discomfort and anxiety over your shoes because you want to dress up at work and not only does your job not require that level of formality, it is actually counterproductive - because it's causing you pain and anxiety.

Honestly, you should look at some of the more comfort dress shoes from brands like Cole Haan and Johnston & Murphy. Yes, they aren't made as well, but comfort insoles and softer leather can definitely be more comfortable when standing long periods (and I say this as someone who owns a dozen pairs of AEs and Aldens). You can then strike a balance between comfort and style and not have to go to a more casual shoe. Wear slacks and button down shirt. Just something to think about
 

ter1413

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You can still dress very well w/o wearing a suit to work every day. Loads of threads on SF show that every day.

I don't believe the BS about out dressing your supervisors, in this case. You are a pharmacist. Not an analyst looking to be a PM in a few years.
 

johng70

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Sure you can wear a suit. But since he is required to wear the lab coat, the suit jacket immediately comes off and stays off. So, not much point to wearing the suit then and the down side is the wear/tear on the suit vs. less expensive slacks that, with a lab coat look just as good as suit pants do.
 

ThomGault

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I don't believe the BS about out dressing your supervisors, in this case. You are a pharmacist. Not an analyst looking to be a PM in a few years.


No need to create undue interpersonal conflict at work. Supervisors control raises and other personnel decisions. Why would one not at least consider this aspect of appropriate attire?
 

thesilentist

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As someone who wore dress shoes all day for four years and stood around on a sales floor, your body does get used to it. But it does take about 3 weeks and a lot of ibuprofen. Nowadays at my current job I have a standing desk with a stool that I use every now and then along with a padded mat to stand on at my workstation.

You might be able to put different insoles in your dress shoes. Otherwise, I'd definitely look at finding a "dress shoe" that looks OK but focuses on comfort and padding for that. Regardless, it takes a LOT of time to get used to standing on your feet all day. Leather shoes won't help that process. You could stand around all day in sneakers and still have pain at the end of the day at the beginning.

Sounds like you don't need to wear a full suit. For your profession it's probably wiser to just invest in footwear that will make it easier for you to focus on your job.
 

maxalex

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Alternatively, consider laying down some sort of impact-absorbing rubberized floor mat where you typically stand. When I was a young man I worked for many years as a bartender and such mats were essential. That way you could wear nice leather soled dress shoes and still have some padding below you. I can't imagine why any pharmacy owner would object.
 

scatterbrain

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Alternatively, consider laying down some sort of impact-absorbing rubberized floor mat where you typically stand. When I was a young man I worked for many years as a bartender and such mats were essential. That way you could wear nice leather soled dress shoes and still have some padding below you. I can't imagine why any pharmacy owner would object.

I initially read this as "Alternatively, consider laying down."

And then I imagined walking up to a pharmacist's counter and seeing the guy laying on the ground, in nice dress shoes...
 

maxalex

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I initially read this as "Alternatively, consider laying down."

And then I imagined walking up to a pharmacist's counter and seeing the guy laying on the ground, in nice dress shoes...


I also did that as a bartender but that's another story.
 

MGWS

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I recently made the switch to inpatient pharmacy but was in retail for 6 years in FL, HI, and WA. How about having your white coat tailored heavily or have one made for you? Medelita makes a slim fit lab coat which looks a lot nicer than the ones that are given to us. I would usually wear blackbird, obey, uniqlo pants and shirts from uniqlo to higher end. For shoes I would wear dress shoes (Allen edmond) to trainers (CP Achilles) and would just take the reprimand if it wasn't per policy ( I made really good numbers so they usually left me alone). The problem I found with investing heavily in a pharmacy wardrobe was the wear and tear from daily activities. We never actually stop moving and it takes it toll on your clothes. Also, your tailored wardrobe gets hidden behind an ill fitted white coat anyways so what's the point? The other consideration is the added dry cleaning cost that sucks. In the inpatient setting I am at a desk for longer periods so it's mostly scrubs and dress clothes once a week so I tend to wear nicer clothes due to the environment. Best of luck with CVS.
 
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I think that you are the only one who can answer your questions. No one else here works at your job site, so no one else can gauge what is appropriate. How do your supervisors dress (or do your supervisors not work in the store?) Try using them as a guide, as it's probably not wise to out-dress them. You must determine if dressing in suits is bad for your career. Otherwise, decide if looking good is worth more than a few odd looks you receive.

Regarding shoes, what is causing them to be destroyed so quickly? You shouldn't need to be overly concerned about quality shoes getting damaged unless you're working in a physically dangerous environment, and a pharmacy doesn't strike me as such.

Thanks for the reply!

My supervisors do not work in the store. I see them about 12-15 times a year for store visits, meetings, etc. My immediate supervisor is a woman and she dresses in business attire, always a conservative business suit or dress and heels. She is not particularly well dressed but her attire definitely leans more towards business formal than the business casual dress code that is outlined in the employee handbook (although supervisor positions aren't included in the employee handbook that us store employees received).

The next level manager (her boss) is always with her or store visits and I see him just as frequently. He dresses in the typical American business casual (ill fitting mens wearhouse suits with billowing dress shirts and no tie, the occasional sweater vest and aldo quality square toed dress shoes).

I do not really agree with the not out-dressing the boss advice. I do not want to wear what I consider sub-par clothing just to avoid damaging someone ego or stirring up some ill feelings toward me based on what I choose to wear. I do acknowledge this can be detrimental to my career regarding promotions and upper managements' general opinion of me. Can some of the people who are currently in upper level management positions weigh in on this? Have you all or any of your colleagues made comments or decisions regarding promotions, raises, etc. based on your employees dress (being too well dressed or poorly dressed)?

Another important point is that I am not really interested in being promoted. I am saving to hopefully open/buy my own shop at which point I will definitely wear what I want on a daily basis.

I am thinking looking good is worth the odd looks though, "If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good. If you play good, they pay good." right?

And as one of the other posters stated, I am constantly moving around all day, picking up totes/boxes of drugs, etc. I also seem to always have scratches and scuffs on the same areas of all my shoes (I will post pictures later). I have been trying to pay attention to what specifically I am doing to cause this but I haven't yet determined a root cause.
 
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Honestly, there is no benefit to wearing a suit to work - you have to remove the jacket anyway for your coat. All you'll do is put wear and tear on expensive suit bottoms and you really don't want to dry clean the pants without the jacket as you want to keep them looking the same.

As for shoes - you've already experienced that standing for 12 hours in dress shoes is less than ideal. Plus you are paranoid about messing up your shoes.

I wear dress shoes because I work in an office. I have associates that work in our plants - if I was doing that and out on plant floors quite a bit, dress shoes would be silly. Being uncomfortable is sometimes necessary - in your situation it isn't. You're causing yourself discomfort and anxiety over your shoes because you want to dress up at work and not only does your job not require that level of formality, it is actually counterproductive - because it's causing you pain and anxiety.

Honestly, you should look at some of the more comfort dress shoes from brands like Cole Haan and Johnston & Murphy. Yes, they aren't made as well, but comfort insoles and softer leather can definitely be more comfortable when standing long periods (and I say this as someone who owns a dozen pairs of AEs and Aldens). You can then strike a balance between comfort and style and not have to go to a more casual shoe. Wear slacks and button down shirt. Just something to think about

I was definitely thinking about the wear and tear on the pants vs the jacket but when I began to really think about it I came to a different (maybe incorrect) conclusion. For those of you that wear a suit often do you take the jacket off while driving? When you get to the office and sit at your desk? (I've heard sitting in suit jackets for extended periods is bad for them?) It seems that even for those that would not have to change from a suit jacket to a white coat there would still be more wear on the pants? Is that not the point of buying 2 pairs of trousers for each suit?

And yea, 12 hours is definitely tough. Even 8 hours can be difficult depending on the day. However, I have seen some guys on the forum say that their leather bottom AEs, EGs, etc. are just as if not more comfortable than trainers. There was even an older pharmacist (part of my inspiration) that I saw wearing leather soled tassel loafers on multiple occasions and he told me they were extremely comfortable and he never had any problems. So I am not sure if maybe it is breaking in issue for me? Those higher end shoes I mentioned probably have only about 5 wears each (such a waste).

I have 6 pairs of Cole Haans and 1 pair of Johnston and Murphy's and have blown through 2 pairs of Dansko clogs (worked overnight (7 on, 7 off 12 hour shifts for a while). Those are pretty much my daily shoes but to me they look horrible with high quality (Incotex, Sid Mashburn, etc.) trousers. I hate getting on the elevator in the morning in my building and seeing guys well dressed from head to toe and then looking at me well dressed from head to ankle. I just wish I could finish off the look with matching quality and I definitely do not want to decrease the quality of my clothing to match Cole Haan/Johnston and Murphy.
 
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You can still dress very well w/o wearing a suit to work every day. Loads of threads on SF show that every day.

I don't believe the BS about out dressing your supervisors, in this case. You are a pharmacist. Not an analyst looking to be a PM in a few years.


I agree and feel that I do dress very well now, however in my mind wearing a suit (vs shirt, tie, trousers) elevates a man's style significantly. In addition, before and after work when I am not wearing my white coat I am still stuck in that shirt, tie, pants, medium quality dress shoe outfit which from what I understand is breaking a style rule. If a man is wearing a shirt and tie he should be wearing a jacket, correct? This leaves me in the grocery store, elevator, or meeting up with friends after work for dinner/drinks with a tie and no jacket.

Sure I could remove the tie but then I'd have to be sure I wore a v neck undershirt those days and that my shirts have collars that would stand up well with no tie. Having a suit jacket to put on seems like it would be easier. But maybe I am overthinking it?
 
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Alternatively, consider laying down some sort of impact-absorbing rubberized floor mat where you typically stand. When I was a young man I worked for many years as a bartender and such mats were essential. That way you could wear nice leather soled dress shoes and still have some padding below you. I can't imagine why any pharmacy owner would object.


I have had those mats in my previous stores and they did help some. Especially during a busy shift with sufficient help which means I can stand in one place most of the day. However, recently our help (support staff) has been greatly reduced company wide and I find myself running around the pharmacy all day. So unless I could convince corporate to make the entire floor out of those mats (not gonna happen) then they would not be as helpful in my current situation.
 

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