Poor Customer Service

You are lucky the pharmacist is there. Ours runs several other shops and only spends half the week there so you have to ring first to check that he is available. Illegal I believe but his excuse is he cannot find another pharmacist to deputise.

That's happened to me in Boots before! I waited half an hour once then gave up and left.

It's not illegal to havecs chemist without a pharmacist.
However it is illegal to sell pharmacy meds without pharmacist present.
It's also illegal to hand out prescriptions without a pharmacist on the premises

We have a brilliant pharmacy but no GPs, so we go to the pharmacy if feeling unwell, they can now prescribe antibiotics for certain illnesses. When I went down with shingles, the assitant physician or nurse practitioner at the surgery where there are no GPs prescribed only one day of antivirals instead of 7, the pharmacist told me I had to go back to the docs and let them know. I did. A whole day later a new prescription was issued and the pharmacist rang to say it had arrived.
Sadly our pharmacy is in danger of closure. So then we won't have GPs or a pharmacy.

NanaPlenty

I’m normally the most patient person in the world but our local chemist causes everyone to complain. I went in today to pick up an urgent prescription and was second in the queue- the lady in front of me had been given what she came in for and then proceeded to ‘chat’ with the assistant . Their conversation about all sorts went on for ten minutes by which time there were ten people behind me all rolling their eyes! Why doesn’t the man who owns the shop say something ….I wasn’t rude but said to the lady excuse me there is now a queue back to the door! Apologies for the rant but really!

This happened to me in our local Post Office. The woman in front of me and the counter assistant were having a right old chap that lasted ages. I heard all about her leaving her husband, finding somewhere to live, him begging her to come back, her refusing etc etc. i just said “I’ll leave you to it. “ and walked out.

I then went to the next village where I knew the Manager would be and told him about it. He apologised and said he would speak to her. Now when I go in she is super polite and efficient.

I don’t mind a cheerful “good morning, how are you” but I don’t want to hear rubbish like that.

Nana56 my point has nothing to do with what’s legal or the pharmacist it was purely the thoughtlessness of the lady in front of me and also the fact that the lady serving her was ignoring the fact that she had a queue of people building up while she discussed all and sundry in earshot of said customers. I love to have a conversation with people in the village but there is a time and place.

Our pharmacist owns the shop and is available for private consultation if you need him.

I agree, NanaPlenty. I know one could make the point that this may be the only person that lady had spoken to for days, but it is inappropriate and causes inconvenience. She could complete her purchase then have a chat with someone at the back of the queue or even a random person in the street, waiting at a bus stop, or in a cafe, library etc.

Where I live there are happy to chat benches

I'm not very good at queuing, especially when I'm behind somebody chatting away instead of moving the queue forward. I have been known to leave a whole shopping basket worth of goods on the conveyor belt and stomping out before when this has happened. On another occasion I said "Can you please stop chatting, some of us have things to be getting on with". And don't even mention the ridiculous queues to get into shops during Covid!

On a recent visit to A&E, though, which involved a 9-hour 'queue' it was my husband getting impatient. I was stunned into silence at the carnage going on around me.

oh gosh, thanks for this reminder, I can be a little guilty of trying to be pleasant at my local supermarket! thinking I am cheering the checkout operator up!

Primrose53

NanaPlenty

I’m normally the most patient person in the world but our local chemist causes everyone to complain. I went in today to pick up an urgent prescription and was second in the queue- the lady in front of me had been given what she came in for and then proceeded to ‘chat’ with the assistant . Their conversation about all sorts went on for ten minutes by which time there were ten people behind me all rolling their eyes! Why doesn’t the man who owns the shop say something ….I wasn’t rude but said to the lady excuse me there is now a queue back to the door! Apologies for the rant but really!

This happened to me in our local Post Office. The woman in front of me and the counter assistant were having a right old chap that lasted ages. I heard all about her leaving her husband, finding somewhere to live, him begging her to come back, her refusing etc etc. i just said “I’ll leave you to it. “ and walked out.

I then went to the next village where I knew the Manager would be and told him about it. He apologised and said he would speak to her. Now when I go in she is super polite and efficient.

I don’t mind a cheerful “good morning, how are you” but I don’t want to hear rubbish like that.

I realise this is a serious topic and it's wrong and inconsiderate for assistants to chat to customers ad infinitum, especially while there's a long queue, but this sentence made me smile ... "The woman in front of me and the counter assistant were having a right old chap that lasted ages"

Yes, I do realise it's a typo. Hope the old chap is ok though.

This is really unsettling. No Pharmacists or only for a short time. And we don't always have access to a Doctor. What is our country coming to? A local GP’s, not mine, is now telling people to fill out a form online???????
This is disgraceful is it not?

I think I must have lost count of the times I've been stuck in a supermarket queue right behind a customer who - lo and behold - is a former neighbour/former school chum/long long distant relative of the checkout person. They haven't clapped eyes on each other since Queen Victoria was alive so there's plenty of catching-up to do.

And that's what they do........

Very nice when assistants acknowledge you with a greeting but some just don't seem to know what is and isn't appropriate like discussing a broken marriage as above. I'm generally patient if they are dealing with a very elderly person who needs help and wants a chat as I think that might be me in a few years but in any other case I do get annoyed.

I went to see the pharmacist for a spot beneath my lip. He told me it was an ingrowing hair causing the problem. Within a couple of weeks after a visit to my GP I was having it excised by the max.fax. surgeon at the local hospital, it was a squamous cell carcinoma, NEVER again will I ask a pharmacist for assistance.

At my local superstore the checkouts are all quite busy especially in the morning. There is one checkout where the cashier talks and chats about all and sundry to all the customers to the irritation of people waiting in the queue. I have noticed in the past two weeks that this checkout desk invariably has no-one queuing, seems we have all recognised the problem and give it a wide berth. I am surprised the supervisor assistants have not noticed.

JennyCee

This is really unsettling. No Pharmacists or only for a short time. And we don't always have access to a Doctor. What is our country coming to? A local GP’s, not mine, is now telling people to fill out a form online???????
This is disgraceful is it not?

I was worried when our GPs made us fill out forms online, but it's turning out to be much better than hanging on a phone for ages in a queue at 8 am. The form gets read quickly and the surgery gets in touch by phone to give you an appointment with whoever is suitable.

However, if you do not have access to a computer or smartphone you can still phone the surgery and explain.

Alison333

JennyCee

This is really unsettling. No Pharmacists or only for a short time. And we don't always have access to a Doctor. What is our country coming to? A local GP’s, not mine, is now telling people to fill out a form online???????
This is disgraceful is it not?

I was worried when our GPs made us fill out forms online, but it's turning out to be much better than hanging on a phone for ages in a queue at 8 am. The form gets read quickly and the surgery gets in touch by phone to give you an appointment with whoever is suitable.

However, if you do not have access to a computer or smartphone you can still phone the surgery and explain.

Yes, we have a system like this. In theory we could book an appointment online but there are never any appointments available. If I send a message they normally either call to give me an appointment or somebody medical calls for a telephone appointment.
A friend once worked as a GP's receptionist and she told me that they had the same group of people who demanded a weekly appointment but who didn't really have anything wrong with them at all.

We do have a local pharmacist and I always get my prescriptions sent there electronically. However there is also a supermarket with an excellent, well-staffed pharmacy and I do wonder if the local pharmacy may not last.

I always land up in the wrong queue at the supermarket! I take a good long look and decide which one will be the quickest (🙄)Low and behold the person in front of me will have a query, bringing something back or something else that involves me standing there for the next 10 minutes. I watch all the people from the other queues waltzing out with their shopping while I’m standing there fuming!

Whingey

Where I live there are happy to chat benches

Whingey, what a lovely idea. They should have them everywhere!

I volunteer in our local hospital shop. Some customers want to stop and chat which is difficult if there is a queue. I usually say ‘can I just serve this customer ‘. Usually they stand aside and carry on chatting while I serve. They just want someone to talk to.

It has probably happened to most of us at some point whilst queuing in shops etc.

I get very fidgety if I have to queue for too long.
But if someone in front of me starts chatting for any length of time, I can feel my blood boil.
.
So many inconsiderate people around without any conscience at all.