I've worked for CVS for 5 years now. Working in a close proximity of the corporate office in Woonsocket, RI, I can tell you the New England stores are at least decent with many being quite upscale. The stores in the area are generally run well with mostly decent people in charge. The company really does put a huge emphasis on customer service and many good managers out there try to uphold that, even when a lot of customers tend to be ridiclous and petty.

Working in the north for CVS, the stores are run tight and strict, but in a sensible way. Sure, its retail and there are often times unrealistic goals and too few hours/employees but working there was generally good for a retail pharmacy job.

Four months ago I transferred from my quaint New England store to a store in North Carolina were I now reside. I know every store in NC can't be quite this bad, but a lot of the local ones are really just dumpy and poorly run. In fact, traveling up and down the east coast many times I've visited many CVS stores and it seems like the further south you get, the less cared for they seem, save for Florida which has some really nice, friendly stores.

The working conditions and overall feel of the stores in NC just aren't the same. Many of the employees seem overly friendly at first but start to get annoyed when customers ask them more than one question. Back up north, we had so many demanding Cape Cod area yuppies, that dealing with their ridiclous ways just became part of the job.

The equipment and look of stores in this part of the country are incredibly dated as well. Doing a retail job is hard enough, but when you throw in faulty, non working, or straight up broken equipment is just incredibly frustrating.

The staff isn't even on par either. Most talk to customers like they're handicapped children or in a clearly annoyed tone because they were wondering where the Tylenol is. Not that all retail staff is perfect in any given part of the country but, here they just seem extraodinarily unfit for dealing with the general public.

I really hope all stores outside of the corporate radar are not like they are in North Carolina, CVS can be a tolerable job with the right people. However we seem to have a shortage of those here.