Being quizzed by chemist's assistant in Boots.

I’m sorry, but valdavi and Callistemon, your posts made me chuckle.
However, there is a serious point there, and it’s don’t believe a word of anything a sales assistant in a chemist tells you.
The worrying thing is that some people may believe them!

valdavi

Chemist's assistants can be a bit of a liability. I asked for some OTC eardrops once & assistant checked the box & told me not to put them into my ears "just on the outside because they're for external use only" !!

I had an ear problem and was sold a nasal spray. When I went back and queried it, I was told "Yes, just spray it in your ears, it should clear them"
🤔

I misunderstood too.

Chemist's assistants can be a bit of a liability. I asked for some OTC eardrops once & assistant checked the box & told me not to put them into my ears "just on the outside because they're for external use only" !!

Oh, sorry, misunderstood 😁

Callistemon21

pascal30

Callistemon21

Germanshepherdsmum

Thank you all. Please don’t be upset, Maddy - my skin has thickened a lot over the years (not literally, unfortunately!). I was a little surprised to be called an elderly bovine animal on another thread yesterday, but I always think that anyone who has to resort to personal insults has run out of valid arguments (if they ever had any in the first place!).

Call me a cow if you like (they are generally lovely creatures but defensive of their young - that's me!) but elderly???

Certainly not, that's offensive.

completely childish and pathetic...

Who - me?

Mooooooo!

No of course not Callistemon.. I was talking about the insults to GSM

Not only part time and less expensive, but unable to prescribe!

Luckygirl3

*This is a slippery road. Exactly the same as the use of Physician Associates* Just today the BMA have asked for a halt to PAs to reevaluate.

IMO Physician Associates are the present government's idea of doctors on the cheap.
No wonder there is trouble with fully qualified doctors just now. The government is trying to replace them with a part trained less expensive version.

Two supporting votes, the first for GSM, whose input I always find helpful.

The second is for my local branch of Boots, which has a regular turnover of pharmacists, all of whom I have always found competent and helpful. It also has a pharmacy assistant of long standing, who is an absolute treasure. She is very efficient, and knows and is sympathetic to all her regular customers. I shan't reveal the branch; I don't want it swamped by Gransnetters looking for a better service.

In my early teens I was sent to our local chemists for some indigestion tablets for my Mum. They were called Tums
The assistant, a fair haired very young man blushed to his roots, when I asked for a packet of “Tums”, reached under the counter and handed me a package in plain brown paper.

pascal30

Callistemon21

Germanshepherdsmum

Thank you all. Please don’t be upset, Maddy - my skin has thickened a lot over the years (not literally, unfortunately!). I was a little surprised to be called an elderly bovine animal on another thread yesterday, but I always think that anyone who has to resort to personal insults has run out of valid arguments (if they ever had any in the first place!).

Call me a cow if you like (they are generally lovely creatures but defensive of their young - that's me!) but elderly???

Certainly not, that's offensive.

completely childish and pathetic...

Who - me?

Mooooooo!

Seriously - did someone use offensive language to you germanshepherdsmum

grandtante our pharmacy still has such a line and screens, introduced for the pandemic, they’ve remained.

Callistemon21

Germanshepherdsmum

Thank you all. Please don’t be upset, Maddy - my skin has thickened a lot over the years (not literally, unfortunately!). I was a little surprised to be called an elderly bovine animal on another thread yesterday, but I always think that anyone who has to resort to personal insults has run out of valid arguments (if they ever had any in the first place!).

Call me a cow if you like (they are generally lovely creatures but defensive of their young - that's me!) but elderly???

Certainly not, that's offensive.

completely childish and pathetic...

Thanks Dickens.

Germanshepherdsmum

Thank you all. Please don’t be upset, Maddy - my skin has thickened a lot over the years (not literally, unfortunately!). I was a little surprised to be called an elderly bovine animal on another thread yesterday, but I always think that anyone who has to resort to personal insults has run out of valid arguments (if they ever had any in the first place!).

I was a little surprised to be called an elderly bovine animal on another thread yesterday



... just rude and unnecessary.

And says more about them than ever it does about you!

Well, the actual word was ‘old’. Which normally precedes the ‘bovine’ insult. I agree, they are lovely so long as they don’t have calves to protect.

Germanshepherdsmum

Thank you all. Please don’t be upset, Maddy - my skin has thickened a lot over the years (not literally, unfortunately!). I was a little surprised to be called an elderly bovine animal on another thread yesterday, but I always think that anyone who has to resort to personal insults has run out of valid arguments (if they ever had any in the first place!).

Call me a cow if you like (they are generally lovely creatures but defensive of their young - that's me!) but elderly???

Certainly not, that's offensive.

Thank you all. Please don’t be upset, Maddy - my skin has thickened a lot over the years (not literally, unfortunately!). I was a little surprised to be called an elderly bovine animal on another thread yesterday, but I always think that anyone who has to resort to personal insults has run out of valid arguments (if they ever had any in the first place!).

Skye17

maddyone

I feel upset myself by unkind comments about GermanShepherdsMum.
She is a knowledgable poster who has never been either unkind or rude to another poster to my knowledge.
Please leave her alone.

Me too.

I find GSM’s comments generally very helpful and knowledgeable.

It was an unknowm poster who was rude, but making no meaningful contribution whatsoever.

We never know who is reading posts on GN, do we.
Could be shy lurkers, trolls, anyone.

Skye17

maddyone

I feel upset myself by unkind comments about GermanShepherdsMum.
She is a knowledgable poster who has never been either unkind or rude to another poster to my knowledge.
Please leave her alone.

Me too.

I find GSM’s comments generally very helpful and knowledgeable.

Agreed.

maddyone

I feel upset myself by unkind comments about GermanShepherdsMum.
She is a knowledgable poster who has never been either unkind or rude to another poster to my knowledge.
Please leave her alone.

Me too.

I find GSM’s comments generally very helpful and knowledgeable.

Astitchintime

V3ra

The OP should have asked to speak somewhere privately if that is what they wanted.

I think the onus is on the person on the counter, who needs to ask these questions, to suggest a chat in a private room.
The general public don't know what questions will be asked until it's too late.

Yes V3ra, my point exactly. But why should it be the counter assistants responsibility? Surely, if a customer goes in for advice on a sensitive problem, itchy vagina, piles, discharge from penis, flatulence etc, then it is the customers responsibility to use their own common sense and ask to discuss in private, not over the counter, but then again, that means using common sense

I don't agree, customers may be nervous and don't want to be a nuisance, or not aware its possible. It is up to the pharmacy to offer it.
but then again, that means using common sense 😁 . This is rude.

When my mother was alive, in her late eighties, she had a rash which looked very much like thrush, under her bosom. I said I’d go to the chemist to get some Canesten for her to try. I asked the assistant who asked what age my mother was, and before I could speak, my friend jumped in and said 89. The assistant said she needs to see the GP, she couldn’t sell it to me. I went to the chemist across the road and said the cream was for me. I took it to mum, she used it and it improved and healed. Had it not improved, mum would have consulted her GP.

No wonder there are so few GP appointments. We can self treat simple conditions even if we’re 89. It costs the NHS nothing if we self treat such a simple condition.

Incidentally, had I gone to Superdrug, I could have picked it up from the shelf, no questions asked. It just happened to be more convenient to go to the nearby chemist shop.

grandtanteJE65

Are we not forgetting here that to a certain extent one has always been asked faintly embarrassing questions at the chemist's?

I have personally need on different occasions to ask for or collect prescribed vaginal suppositories, ointment for haemarroids, pills to stop violent tummy upsets and so on and so forth.

It would be a good idea if the shop was provided with a line painted on the floor, like the ones in banks and post offices, instructing people to wait a suitable distance away from the person being served.

And we need to remember that it is bad manners to appear to be, or actually be listening to others' conversations.

It would be a good idea if the shop was provided with a line painted on the floor, like the ones in banks and post offices, instructing people to wait a suitable distance away from the person being served.

... a good idea! My local pharmacy has already done that. It's only a small space between the person at the counter and those queuing - but, as you are facing the counter without someone breathing down your neck, it does give a certain level of privacy.