Paths of advancement in the company

I started at cvs in 2015 as a tech. I got certified in 2016. Back then, pharmacists expectations were outlandish. Working 12 hours straight, expecting clear queues before they could go home, ect. I worked with pharmacists that worked through miscarriages, safes falling on them and breaking their legs, illness, depression, no food, ect. I worked with pharmacists that would cry in the back corner over their lunch because they couldn’t leave but were in excruciating pain. Pharmacist that were putting their blood, sweat, and tears into to job and being expected to move mountains with no help and then getting demoted or belittled when they couldn’t. There was no grace for anything. Car accident on the way to work? Oh well, you still better be there! House burnt down? Too bad, sleep at work. Your family died? Well your team is sill alive and they need you. Your mental health is crap? Everyone gets sad but helping people will make you feel better! That really skewed my view of being a pharmacist. Why would I want to go get a doctorate degree, be over $200,000 in student loan debt just to have a job like that? Now, it seems like pharmacists are treated a little more like humans. They at least get a lunch break. The financial aspect is encouraging. And my favorite part of tech work is actually pharmacist work. I have went about as far as I can go as a technician. I want more. But what direction to choose? I have never been classified as a front store employee but I have tons of experience up there. I am the lead tech. I enjoy inventory specialist tasks. I enjoy customer interaction and helping solve problems. I love training new techs. I love making schedules. I enjoy supporting my team. I like being busy. My current pharmacy manager has opened my eyes to the fact that you can have your employees backs in a corporation. The customer is not always right. You don’t have to take abuse and disrespect. I want to make every store I ever work in like that. The job and demands are difficult enough to navigate without constantly being thrown under the bus or not supported by your boss to customers. The lights came on and I realized that I could be a good pharmacist but an even better pharmacy manager. I could make a difference in patient’s and employees lives. And I’m tired of being poorish. I was thinking the other day and trying to decide if smit was a program I would enjoy or if being a pharmacist is more my speed. I realized that I don’t know much about what it means to be a store manager. Store managers that I have worked with have always just done stuff and I haven’t heard about it. So for those of you that are store managers or smit, is it worth it? What would you change about it? Does it serve you? Can you advance from there? What are some of your favorite aspects of it and least favorite? For those of you that are pm’s but started as techs, is it basically the same job just better pay? Does the weight of the student loans make the increase in pay unnoticeable? Was the slight shift in role/responsibilities rewarding or disappointing?